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HIGH SCHOOL: Played for his father, Dean Stepp, at South Eugene High...led the state of Oregon in scoring as a senior at 24.5 ppg and was named the state of Oregon 4A Player of the Year...South Eugene went 17-6 for the season and finished second in the Midwestern League with an 11-5 record, three of the losses mid-year forfeits...lost to Oregon City 53-50 for a State 4A berth...scored 52 points against North Medford as a senior, and 36 against Creswell...only junior named to the state of Oregon 4A team in 1999, averaging 18.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals...finished second in the 1999 All-State voting to senior Michael Dunleavy who signed a letter-of-intent with Duke...South Eugene went 23-3 his junior season...was a first-team pick on Frank Burlison's "Best in the West" squad in the Orange County Register...played for the State in the two-game Metro-State series in June of 2000...scored 24 points in the first game while hitting 6-of-11 3-pointers in a 117-109 setback...came back with 29 points in the second game, his back-to-back 3-pointers closing the gap to 102-99 in a 120-108 loss.
SOPHOMORE (2001-02): Had surgery in the spring of 2001 to repair a torn meniscus on his right knee...found a deterioration of the knee joint and a procedure called micro-fracture was performed in late spring to stimulate a healing process in the knee to replace the deteriorated bone...could not bear weight on the knee until late June or early July...hampered all season with the knee and was unable to participate in a full practice all season...started all but two contests, missing games against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (11/29) and Portland State (12/1) with a sprained ankle...tied his career high with 21 points at home against San Francisco, going 8-for-11 from the field including 3-of-6 from 3-point range...grabbed a career-high 9 rebounds at Loyola Marymount and matched his career high with 10 assists at home against Portland...played a lot of point guard to allow Dan Dickau to move to the off guard at times...averaged 3.9 assists/game, second best on the team behind Dickau's 4.7/game...had 10 double-digit point games among his 9.2 ppg average...eight games of 5 or more assists...went 0-for-7 from the field including 0-for-2 from 3-point range in opening-round game of West Coast Conference Tournament against Loyola Marymount...contributed in other ways with 7 rebounds and 4 assists against LMU...broke out of a 3-for-17 shooting slump to go 8-for-15 from the field, including 5-for-11 from 3-point range, in semifinal win over host San Diego...his deep 3-pointer with :50 to go gave Gonzaga an 82-77 lead in 87-79 victory...scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half in championship game against Pepperdine...went 7-for-14 from the field, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range...his 3-pointer with 7:35 to play broke 67-67 tie and gave Gonzaga the lead for good, propelling the Bulldogs on a 21-6 run as he scored 8 points in that spurt...named to the All-WCC Tournament team...scored 4 points, grabbed 2 rebounds and had 3 assists in NCAA Tournament First Round against Wyoming, struggling with a 1-for-13 day from the field. JUNIOR (2002-03): Had off-season knee surgery to chart the progress of the micro-fracture procedure performed a year earlier and it was found that the micro-fracture had healed and that his problems of the previous year were a thrice-torn meniscus...was back at full strength by mid-summer...got off to a slow start with just 19 points in his first two games and hitting just 6-of-17 field goal attempts including 3-of-10 from 3-point range...scored 20 points against Indiana at the Maui Invitational, connecting on three 3-pointers in the final 2:02 to fuel a Gonzaga comeback that fell short in 76-75 loss...Indiana game started a 5-game stretch where he scored 20, 24, 33, 22 and 34 points for 26.6 ppg...set career high with 33 points against Washington, then broke it two games later with 34 at Washington State...tied single-game record for free throws made with 16-for-20 night against Washington, equaling record of Frank Burgess and current teammate Ronny Turiaf who did it twice during the season...scored final 7 points at Montana to seal win that saw Gonzaga come from 61-50 deficit with 10:35 to play to win 75-67...scored in double-digits final 17 games of the season...had 22 of 31 points at Portland in first half, going 7-of-9 from the field, 6-of-8 from 3-point range in the opening half...scored 28 points in WCC Tournament semifinal against Saint Mary's, going 6-for-11 from the field and 14-of-15 from the free throw line...scored 38 points in two WCC Tournament games for 19.0 ppg average, including 16-of-19 from the free throw line...named to the WCC All-Tournament team...scored 12 points in NCAA First Round against Cincinnati, including 7-of-8 from the free throw line...had 7 assists and a steal in win over Cincinnati...came back against Arizona to play 47 minutes in double-overtime loss...scored 25 points against the Wildcats, going 9-for-24 from the field with 8 assists...his 8-foot put back at the buzzer of Tony Skinner's 3-pointer in the second overtime was just long, ending what many believe to be one of the greatest games in the history of the NCAA Tournament...averaged 18.5 ppg in NCAA Tournament, 7.5 assists...14 games of 20-plus points, 28 double-digit games for the season...led WCC in scoring in conference play at 20.6 ppg...paced conference for overall games in assists (6.0/game) and in 3-point field goals made (98)...ranked in the top five in scoring (T2nd/18.0 ppg), free throw percentage (T3rd/83.3) and steals (2nd/1.6/game)...is second in Gonzaga single-season 3-pointers (98) and 3-point attempts (243), 3rd in assists (198) and is 5th in steals (54)...14th in career scoring at Gonzaga (1,217), 4th in 3-pointers (209), 3rd in 3-point attempts (545), 3rd in assists (433), tied for 5th in steals (116), 9th in free throw percentage (80.8) and 8th in free throws made (298)...named Associated Press honorable mention All-America, NABC All-District 14 first team, WCC first team and WCC Player of the Year...also named to Basketball Times West Coast All-Region team...selected to the Verizon/College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America third team, Verizon/CoSIDA All-District VIII team and to WCC All-Academic team with 3.21 GPA in business administration. SENIOR (2003-04): Selected to be a member of the USA Basketball Men's National Team for the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from Aug. 2-6...appeared in all five games of the bench, team going 2-3...averaged 14.6 minutes/game, 3.2 ppg, 1.0 rpg and 0.8 assists/game...his 3-pointer with 1:24 to go in the opening game against Argentina broke a 74-74 tie and propelled USA to an 80-79 win over the favored Argentinans..scored tournament-high 7 points, going 2-for-4 from the field, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range.
Misc.: Born 2-4-82...brother Bart, a 1989 South Eugene High grad, was also All-State and was coached by Dean Stepp. |
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