Tiny Morton was an assistant coach at Lincoln when Stephon Marbury played there and was the head coach when Sebastian Telfair won three city titles at the Brooklyn school.
After coaching Lance Stephenson for the past four years, he’s come to a conclusion: “He’s the number one player to come out of Coney Island.”
He can make a strong argument after Stephenson helped the Railsplitters win a fourth consecutive PSAL title, the first time that has ever been done, with 24 points in a 78-56 victory over JFK in front of a crowd of 3,502 at Madison Square Garden.
Tom Konchalski, a recruiting expert who goes back to the days of Lew Alcindor, agreed with Morton’s assessment.
“You can’t say anyone’s better,” he said. “He’s won four championships and set the state scoring record. What else is there to conquer?”
For Stephenson, the next step would appear to be college, after Lincoln moves on to play in next week’s state Federation tournament in Glens Falls, where the Railsplitters will face CHSAA champion Rice in the semifinals.
“I accomplished a lot,” Stephenson said on the court, shortly after the win. “I didn’t care about the points. I wanted the four city titles more than anything.”
Stephenson said he arrived at that goal after seeing Telfair win his third championship before heading to the NBA.
“I said, ‘I can do this,’ ” said Stephenson, who won the titles alongside fellow senior Darwin Ellis, who had 15 points. “For the next kid, it’s going to be tough. I don’t think anybody’s ever going to do it again.”
But Stephenson, who is scheduled to announce his college decision at the end of the month in Miami at the McDonald’s All-American Game, hardly won this game by himself.
Though he won the game’s MVP award, James Padgett was the most dominant force on the court.
“Padgett beat us,” JFK coach Johnny Mathis said of the Maryland-bound senior, who had 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Lincoln was terrific without Stephenson, going on an 8-0 run after its star went to the bench after picking up his third foul to close out the first half after Kennedy cut the lead to 33-31.
“When Lance went out of the ball game, our intensity dropped,” Mathis said.
Not Lincoln’s.
“When your leading scorer goes out, you have to play better,” Padgett said.
Nevertheless, the main reason Lincoln won this title, along with the last three, was the presence of the 6-foot-5 Stephenson.
“A kid that big and strong is kind of hard to find,” said Morton, aware of the difference Stephenson makes. “I was lucky.”
It didn’t seem that way earlier in the season, when Lincoln, widely expected to pull off the unprecedented feat, was hovering around .500 and bickering amongst itself.
“We knew we would bounce back,” Ellis said. “This was too important to us.”
As tough as JFK was, it wasn’t able to recover from Lincoln’s first-half run.
“They’re a different team than anyone else,” said Mathis, led by Naquan Pierce’s 17. “They’re just better.”
Lincoln 78 JFK 56