The Catholic League prepared Zion Stanford for Temple’s high-pressure AAC Tournament win

FORT WORTH, Texas — Zion Stanford has played on big stages before.

As a high school senior last year, he led West Catholic to the Catholic League semifinals. West Catholic went on to capture its first PIAA Class 3A state title.

So when he found himself in another high-pressure situation on Wednesday, he didn’t blink. Temple’s double-digit lead evaporated in the second half of its first-round American Athletic Conference tournament game, and Texas San Antonio looked poised to capture its first lead of the game after Chandler Cuthrell came up with a steal, his team trailing by just one point. But Stanford, the 6-foot-5 guard, rejected the 6-8 junior’s shot and coolly sank two free throws at the other end to give his squad some breathing room.

Stanford played a key role in keeping the Owls on track during that up-and-down second half, scoring 11 of his 19 points during the latter period of the 64-61 win. But he admits it wasn’t just him keeping the team steady.

“Not only myself, but credit to my teammates,” he said. “We all kind of just pitch in when we see that things aren’t going our way. But I just try to tell guys to stay together and keep pushing because we’ve been in these circumstances many times this year. Just trying to understand that we’ve still got an opportunity to win this game. Let’s just close it out and not worry about all those past possessions.”

Owls junior guard Hysier Miller is familiar with those same bright lights. Packed crowds at the Palestra; deep PIAA runs. Especially after a game like Wednesday’s, the Neumann Goretti alumnus and 2021 Class 4A player of the year is happy for Stanford, who is the only freshman on the roster.

“That’s my roommate right here, so I get to spend a lot of time with him,” said Miller, who had 11 points and five assists on Wednesday. “Just seeing him on this stage, I mean, being another Philly kid, coming from the Catholic League like myself, it means a lot. Especially the way he’s doing it. Efficiently, passing the ball. He’s drawing attention. He’s doing so many things for our team that we truly need, so I’m just happy for him and his progression.”

Like the Owls as a whole, Stanford’s path this season hasn’t always been linear. Even before he set foot on North Broad as a college player, there was a coaching change from Aaron McKie to Adam Fisher. Stanford honored his commitment, though, saying at the time that he still liked the “family” atmosphere. After averaging 12.1 points and 4.6 rebounds through his first nine games, he was held scoreless and saw his playing time plummet over the next six. The Owls, meanwhile, started to waver, falling into a 10-game slide in AAC play before a win over UTSA on Feb. 18.

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But progress was made, and that wasn’t lost on the coaching staff.

“During that [10-game skid] … it’s ‘Are we getting better?’ That’s how we judged it. And I thought we really were in certain circumstances,” Fisher said. “It’s these guys. I mean, they’re making big-time plays. They’re talking. They’re having fun — it’s a game. So I’m really proud of our guys. I think they figured it out.”

Stanford grew individually, too, as his playing time crept up toward the latter half of the season. Heading into Thursday’s quarterfinal against No. 6 seed Southern Methodist, he has appeared in all but two games and is averaging 7.0 points and 2.4 rebounds. His ascent culminated in the Owls’ penultimate game, when he scored a career-high 20 points in a loss to Alabama-Birmingham. And, of course, on Wednesday afternoon.

“I just feel like all the work that we had been going through, like through the beginning of the season, we’ve just got to keep staying poised, do what we do, and don’t change,” Stanford said. “Don’t switch up too much just because of the stage. I feel like if we can do that, we can keep winning.”