WEST POINT — Oak Hill Academy boys basketball coach Andrew Howell wants his program to have a reputation for sending players to the next level.
“We want guys to know that when they play here, they do have a chance to go play after high school,” Howell said.
On Friday, less than six hours before his high school graduation — held that afternoon at the school — Branden Stevenson became the latest Raider to achieve that goal.
The athletic 6-foot-4 forward, who transferred to Oak Hill from West Point High School, wasn’t initially 100 percent sure he’d be able to play in college, a goal of his. But through hard work, Stevenson got better, being named the Raiders’ most improved player, and local colleges started taking notice.
Stevenson picked Meridian Community College, holding a signing ceremony Friday at Oak Hill in front of family and friends.
“I’m extremely proud of Branden, and I’m glad that we can be a small part of the start of his journey,” Howell said.
The coach said Stevenson’s improvement on and off the floor helped him make “the leap” to the college level, where the forward will be a “monster” athlete with plenty of upside.
“He’s one of those that realized he had the opportunity to be pretty good,” Howell said. “Hopefully the JUCO circuit will help him with that development.”
Howell said Stevenson had never shown much interest in the defensive side of the ball before this season, but when the player realized he could put his relentless energy into it, things changed.
“(H)e realized the better he got defensively, the better we were gonna be as a team, and the more opportunities he got to dunk it on the other end,” Howell said.
Videos of Stevenson’s rim-shaking slams eventually got out and quickly got around, introducing coaches who wouldn’t normally have an MAIS Class 3A school on their recruiting radar to the forward’s unique athletic ability.
“Being a small school, he was kind of one of those guys who fell through the cracks,” Howell said. “Not everybody knew about us. As a 3A private school, the college coaches don’t run to our school to come watch our games. Once we got videos out, we got lots of calls.”
Stevenson said the Eagles’ focus on academics as well as athletics was a major selling point.
“Talking to them, they made me feel like I was coming to a welcoming place,” he said. “They focused on making me a man before a basketball player and a student before basketball.”
Stevenson wasn’t the only Raider to sign Friday. Jacob Davis, a tennis standout at Oak Hill, put pen to paper on his letter of intent to play at the Mississippi University for Women.
“It really means a lot,” said Davis, who noted that he planned to play tennis in college ever since he started watching the sport when he was young. “It’s just really close to home. I like the coach, and I like the opportunity I’m gonna have to play over there and to continue my education.”
With Oak Hill, Davis won the 2019 MAIS Class AA mixed doubles championship alongside Raylee Craven — an accomplishment he called “kind of like a dream for a while.”
“It was just really exciting to accomplish something like that, so I’m glad I got to do it,” Davis said.
With his official visit canceled due to the pandemic, it hasn’t always been easy for Davis to stay patient, but he has kept in contact with head coach Laura Marro and his future roommate in Columbus as he awaits getting on campus.
“It was kinda hard just to be patient about it,” Davis said.
He’ll have to wait roughly three more months to get on campus, but Friday cleared one more obstacle out of Davis’ way.
“My goal was to go play at another level, and I’m really glad I get to go play there,” he said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.