Bearden's Trent Stephney 'as complete a player as a sophomore can be'

Trent Stephney remembers attending a Kentucky-Tennessee game at Rupp Arena when he was 12-years old. He dreamed of someday playing in a similar environment.

“Rupp Arena gets really loud and exciting.” Stephney said. “After the game, we stayed there for a little bit and I imagined me playing on a court and people cheering for me and stuff like that.”

That dream came true last season. He might not have been playing in Rupp, but Stephney was still thrilled every time he heard cheers from the Bearden High School student section.

“I love how the students get into the game,” Stephney said. “I think it’s really amazing … You are into the game and you see the students and it gets you even more pumped. It gets your adrenaline pumping.”

Stephney and his teammates gave the Bearden student section plenty of reasons to cheer last season. He was part of a talented corps of sophomores that helped guide the Bulldogs (22-10) to their first state tournament appearance since 2011. Along the way, Stephney was the District 4-AAA Tournament MVP, and made the region 2-AAA All-Tournament team.

For the season, Stephney averaged 17.7 points per game, 4.1 rebounds per game, 2.5 assists per game, 2.5 steals per game and shot 50 percent from the floor en route to being named 2016-17 PrepXtra Boys Basketball Sophomore Player of the Year.

“Trent is as complete a player as a sophomore can be right now,” first-year Bearden coach Jeremy Parrott said. “He can be a force on both ends of the floor. That’s the thing about Trent, he’s not really one-dimensional. I have enjoyed coaching him because of that.”

Parrott also observes that Stephney and his teammates have yet to reach their potential. They were good last year, but they can still be even better next season.

“Sometimes you reach a ceiling with a player, but these guys have not scraped it yet,” Parrott said. “They have not even begun to realize how good they can be.

“The work ethic has got to continue to be there. (Stephney) has not yet arrived. But it can be a really good arrival if he wants to add that next dimension to his game.”

And if Stephney does add that next dimension to his game, he will continue to hear cheers from the Bearden students, further fulfilling that dream he once had in Rupp.