Matt Levins - The Hawk Eye / John Gaines Photography
Shay Stephens had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Stephens, a 6-foot-5 senior guard for the Notre Dame High School boys basketball team, was driven by the stinging pain of a loss to North Linn in a Class 1A substate final which brought his junior campaign to a grinding halt.
Stephens, a Western Illinois University recruit, had all eyes on him this season, and a heavy burden of expectations.
Stephens easily could have crumbled under the weight, a mighty load for a high school senior to carry.
Instead, he took his game to another level, earning first team all-state honors while helping the Nikes reach the Class 1A state tournament for the first time in 17 years.
The Nikes won the SEI Super Conference South Division with a 14-0 record, won the SEI Super Conference Shootout and knocked off Calamus-Wheatland in a substate final on the same court they lost just a year ago.
Notre Dame finished the season with a 25-3 record, falling to eventual state champion Fort Dodge St. Edmond in the Class 1A semifinals.
Stephens earned all-tournament honors for his efforts.
What could have been a season of what-ifs turned into one of the best seasons in school history.
“It was a great pressure on me being a leader,” said Stephens, The Hawk Eye’s Boys Basketball Player of the Year. “Our team did a great job of helping me with that. We had great pieces around me. We all played really good together.”
Stephens more than upheld his end of the bargain for the Nikes. He averaged 24.5 points, 9.2 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 3.1 steals and 0.3 blocks per game. He shot 61.6 percent from the field, 37.4 percent from 3-point range and 70.9 percent from the free-throw line.
On more than one occasion Stephens electrified the crowd with athletic dunks, including a windmill dunk during a game.
For Stephens, it was all part of having fun his senior year.
“Coming off my junior year where we lost in the substate game, it was a chance for me to work even harder to get us to state,” Stephens said. “That loss was in the back of my mind all season. We worked hard as a team to take that next step.”
As much fun as it was winning games and entertaining the crowd with dunks, Stephens derived the most pleasure watching his teammates step up every night. There seemed to be a different player come up big every game to take some of the burden off Stephens’ shoulders.
“That was so much fun and super special,” Stephens said. “Seeing my teammates do really well was a lot of fun. I love getting everyone involved. It was nice knowing that every night it wasn’t going to be the same person. A different person stepped up every night.”
For Stephens, it was a season of memories he will cherish a lifetime.
“For some of us, basketball isn’t the main sport,” Stephens said. “It was really important for everyone to realize that we had a big chance here to make it to state. Everyone did a great job of buying in to get us to state. Everyone really put in a lot of hard work. The summer and preseason was a grind. But everyone came to open gyms and practice and kept working hard to get better. It all paid off with an amazing season.”