High School Male Athlete of the Week: Jack Stone is Corona del Mar basketball’s scoring machine

A dozen years ago, there was not necessarily a precursor to Jack Stone becoming the best scorer that the Corona del Mar High boys’ basketball team has seen in years.

Back then, Stone was just trying to survive pickup games with his two older brothers.

Max Stone graduated from CdM in 2013, and Ryan Stone two years later. Both played basketball for the Sea Kings.

“[I was] getting pushed around a lot,” Jack Stone said. “It was competitive, but also in a loving way. We’re all super-close to each other. I mean, they definitely pushed me to play better, to be stronger. Even outside of playing those basketball games, just around the house I’d get pushed around. It was just that sibling rivalry.”

Both of Jack’s older brothers earned Daily Pilot High School Male Athlete of the Week honors as a senior. Jack now becomes the third Stone brother to earn the honor, after surpassing what each of his older brothers was able to accomplish at the offensive end.

Ryan Schachter, in his 14th year in charge, said that Jack Stone is the best scorer he’s had during that tenure. Stone came into the week averaging 27.1 points per game for the Sea Kings (11-4). He helped CdM win the Artesia Winter Classic, earning tournament MVP honors after scoring 34 points in the tournament title game win over Palos Verdes on Dec. 7.

CdM went 2-2 in the CdM Beach Bash tournament it hosts, and one of the wins came almost exclusively due to Stone. He scored 10 points in the final 33 seconds of a 64-63 consolation win over West Torrance. Then, on Dec. 17, Stone poured in a career-high 40 points in a 79-60 nonleague victory at Covina.

The highlights keep coming for Stone, a shooting guard who helped the Sea Kings finish third in the Cactus Winter Hoops Shootout in Phoenix, Ariz. on Saturday with a 64-51 win over Westview (Ariz.) in the third-place game. Stone was an all-tournament team selection and scored 21 points in the third-place game.

He is the only returning starter for CdM, a fact magnified when Ethan Garbers and Jack Humphreys decided not to play basketball this winter after leading the CdM football team to a perfect 16-0 season and CIF Southern Section Division 3 and CIF State Division 1-A titles.

“He’s tough, man,” Schachter said. “He’s definitely the best scorer we’ve had in terms of all three levels — three-pointer, mid-range and finishing at the basket. We don’t really love that second level, the mid-range, but he’s good at it. He’s strong, he knows how to get spacing and he’s got nice touch.”

Stone, bound for Carnegie Mellon, said the success of the football team has motivated him to have a strong basketball season as a senior as well.

“After the football team wins state championships, you kind of are more inclined to push toward making it deeper in CIF,” he said.

In hoops, the Sea Kings have lost in the first round of the postseason each of the past two years. It’s a young group this year, but Stone has CdM contending again. He said he’s happier this year, partially because some of his best friends who were on the junior varsity team last year — guys like Ryan Steinke, Liam Ganion, Jack McKenna and Andrew Fairchild — have joined him on varsity as a senior.

“I’m more relaxed, and not so hard on myself because I have those guys on my team in timeouts talking to me,” Stone said. “I’m in a good place.”

Freshman guard Efe Gucoglu, who moved to California from Turkey over the summer, and junior guard Mathys Djomby-Enyawe have been emerging players for the Sea Kings.

In terms of Stone’s game, not always settling for the three-pointer has made a difference, though he’s shooting them at about a 40% clip.

“I think I’m bigger than a lot of the people who guard me,” he said. “Realizing that has been pretty big. I’m not sitting outside of the three-point line as much, being in the low post and getting those looks. Also, just my confidence is better. I mean, everyone believes in me and knows what I can do. Having your coaching staff and your teammates trusting you to take a lot of the big shots and take a lot of the load of the offense.”

The Sea Kings open Sunset Conference play Friday, when they play at Marina in a crossover game. Last year CdM finished in a four-way tie for first place in the Surf League. They open league play this year with a home game against rival Newport Harbor on Jan. 17.

The 27 points per game isn’t what matters to Stone. Another first-place finish would mean more.

“He cares about basketball and cares about the team, and his heart is always in it,” Schachter said. “If he can learn to focus his attention on being present in the moment and what not, he’s going to be even better. He still lets other outside factors get in his head sometimes, but he’s matured a ton this year and is really trying to focus his attention.”

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Jack Stone

Born: Aug. 24, 2001

Hometown: Newport Beach

Height: 6 feet 2

Weight: 190 pounds

Sport: Basketball

Year: Senior

Coach: Ryan Schachter

Favorite food: Hamburgers

Favorite movie: “The Benchwarmers”

Favorite athletic moment: Competing against Lakewood Mayfair last year in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs.

Week in review: Stone scored a career-high 40 points in a 79-60 nonleague win at Covina on Dec. 17, and 19 points in a 61-59 win over San Clemente on Dec. 20 at the North/South Challenge.

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