Sam Bernstein staff writer
Described by friends as a De’Aaron Fox lookalike and described by teammates as “hard-working” and “‘confident”, boys varsity basketball has a fresh face at the wing with new student Marcel Stevens. Stevens, a junior, transferred from Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance. Stevens said the move went well and appreciates the culture on campus.
“For me, it was a smooth transfer. I made friends easy, and I know a lot of people now. I feel like I’ve been here for a year or two already. I like the people [at Beverly] more [than at Bishop Montgomery]. The teachers are better. I have better grades here,” Stevens said.
Stevens, who is being recruited by Pepperdine University and Loyola Marymount University, says that the transfer will help him be a Division One scholarship athlete in college. On top of that, his connections to Beverly go further than basketball. His sister, Karmel Stevens, class of 2016, is a graduate from Beverly.
One of the major factors for his transfer is his fondness of varsity boys basketball coach Jarvis Turner. Stevens feels that Turner is a good influence on the team.
“[Coach Turner is] very involved. He’s making me become better and more mature. He’ll tell me if I’m doing stuff wrong, and he’ll tell me if I’m doing good and what I need to work on. He’s helped me a lot,” Stevens said.
Stevens, who’s already close with nearly all of his teammates, feels like he gels with the team well.
“Chemistry is good. Over the weekends, we hang out together. We go see movies together. I’m really close to most of them, and we talk almost every day. [Chemistry] is very important because teamwork will go a long way. If you click with your guys, you’ll play better than if you don’t click with your guys,” Stevens said.
One of those teammates, junior Chandler Sooferan, had high praise for Stevens.
“[Marcel] is a really good player. He came in with a ton of confidence which really helped our team progress as a whole,” Sooferan said. “He brings up our level of enjoyment at practice and progression rate up.”
Sooferan also raved about Stevens’ style of play.
“[Marcel fits in] perfect. Jarvis is based on defense and hard work and he’s about how offense will come. Marcel really portrays that when he plays because he’s one of our hardest workers and will do great things for us this season,” Sooferan said.
Because of Turner’s original style of play, Stevens has an unconventional position on the team. He plays a wing position, which he believes matches his skill set well.
“I play a two through four position because we don’t have a four. I do almost everything,” Stevens said.
Stevens is confident in his team’s prospects for the year.
“As a team the goal is to get a ring and win CIF. I think that we can achieve it easily, but we just have to put in the hard work and always be focused on what we want,” Stevens said. “We’re gonna be good. Everybody come watch us play.”