Montour’s Stevenson making his own name
Montour’s Vason Stevenson isn’t the only WPIAL player with basketball in his bloodlines, but his situation is a bit different than most.
Although plenty of local players have descended from parents who were talented players in their own right, only one has a father with the nickname “DunkaRon.”
Ron Stevenson was a star big man for Langley High School and Duquesne University in the 1980s. A 66 center known for his jawdropping dunks, Ron led the Mustangs to the 1983 City League title as a senior along with his close friend, Maurice Vason. Ron would later marry Vason’s sister, Kay — hence the name of their first child together.
After spending most of his first two seasons lighting up the scoreboard for the JV team while riding the bench on varsity, Stevenson has stepped out of his father’s shadow and emerged as the leading scorer for a team with serious title aspirations as a junior. A 6-3 guard averaging 14 points per game, Stevenson propelled the Spartans (12-7, 11-2) to the No. 3 seed in Class 4A after a secondplace finish in the rugged Section 2.
“I think this season right now, the game slowed down for him,” said Montour coach Bill Minear. “I thought as a freshman, he was still learning the game. Then last year on JV, you could see signs that he was going to be a special player. And now, the game is slowing down enough for him that he’s seeing things before they happen.”
Although he has heard all about his father’s basketball exploits from those who got the chance to watch him play, Stevenson said he has only heard his father bring up his playing days once or twice in his life. Ron never pressured Stevenson to play basketball at an early age, instead allowing the game to come naturally to him.
Stevenson played football throughout elementary school, but didn’t join his first competitive basketball COVID-19 pandemic, and to make matters worse, the live stream of the Hopewell game was offline while he made the dunk, so nobody could see it live other than the few people in the gym. Still, his father was as proud as could be once he saw the footage after the game. “That game I also had 25 [points], so he was pretty excited about it,” Stevenson said. “As soon as I sent him the dunk, he shared it to just about everyone.” At 6 foot 3, 180 pounds, Stevenson has a strong build, a slick handle and a knack for getting to the basket. Minear said he has also added more range to his jumper this season as he continues to evolve his midrange game. “He’s really good around the basket,” Minear said. “I think the other thing that makes him a tough cover is that he can outjump a guard. “He’s really, really improved his mid- range jumper. He’s still working on his 3, but his ballhandling is tremendous. With either hand, he can get to where he wants to, because he’s so fast.” With the Spartans getting set to host Beaver (2-16) in their first-round playoff game Thursday, it’s hard not to look ahead to what could be a deep postseason run. Montour is extremely battle tested, with Class 6A No. 1 Upper St. Clair, Class 5A No. 1 Chartiers Valley and Class 5A No. 2 New Castle among the many quality opponents on its non-section schedule. Still, if the Spartans want to even qualify for the state tournament this year, they’ll have to win a WPIAL title first. And for Stevenson, the best way to continue making a name for himself and carving out his own legacy is by doing just that. “There’s never been really any pressure put on me by [my father] or anyone else by any means, but I think I kind of put self pressure on myself,” Stevenson said. “At the end of the day, that’s him. It’s my story that I have to write.” team until sixth grade. As soon as he did, he instantly fell in love — and a couple years later, he quit playing football to focus on basketball full time. “Seeing everyone around me, all my mentors and how much they love basketball, it brought me closer to the game,” Stevenson said. Stevenson has a halfbrother, Ronnie, who was a standout receiver at Montour and is now playing at Temple. Ronnie never played basketball at Montour, but the two did have plenty of battles growing up on the hoop in their driveway. “Dunk-a-tron Ron” rarely came out to show off his skills in front of them — Stevenson said his father hasn’t dunked since he was in his 30s — but he did spend countless hours passing down his knowledge of the game. “We never really played one-on-one, but it kind of amazed me how he would say one thing and he would stress it and I would never do it, and then as soon as I did it, it would work. Like, immediately,” Stevenson said. “He’s always on the sideline. He pushed me a lot to get better. “After games, it was never focusing on the good things. It was always the bad things, so it helped me to go farther as well.” Although father and son play completely different positions, they do share some distinct similarities on the court — starting with their leaping ability. Stevenson is a few inches shorter than his father, and he may not have quite the same bounce — at least not yet — but he does already have a pair of in- game dunks to his credit. Both came on the road, one in a 53-48 win Jan. 19 at Hopewell and another in a 93-67 win Feb. 19 at Ambridge. “I’ve seen Vason do much more spectacular dunks in practice, to be honest with you,” Minear said. “He still doesn’t get up as high as his father. For his size, his vertical could be the same, but he’s not above the rim as high as his dad was.” Visiting parents weren’t allowed in the stands at either game because of the