Stephon Ashley follows in his brother’s footsteps as Neumann Goretti’s scoring guard

If you’re not made of the right stuff, a well-known surname could swallow you whole.

Fortunately for Neumann Goretti, its standout guard is comfortable in his own skin.

“I’m Stephon Ashley-Wright,” the junior guard said Wednesday night after the Saints dispatched visiting Bonner-Prendergast. “I’m a dog.”

Ashley, the younger brother of Baylor freshman Rob Wright III, led his pack with a team-high 25 points in Wednesday’s 93-77 triumph.

The Saints (7-7, 2-3) desperately needed the win after starting Catholic League play with three consecutive losses. With consecutive wins now in hand, the Saints hope to keep their momentum going against Roman Catholic at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Drexel.

“[Wednesday] was really important for us because everybody was doubting us,” Ashley said. “We had a couple of tough losses against teams I think we should beat, but we didn’t let that faze us. We knew we were going to come out with the win as long as we stayed together.”

Perhaps in some ways, Ashley, a Wilmington native, is uniquely equipped to help the Saints face doubters.

For years, he’s been compared to his older brother, who starred for the Saints before transferring to Montverde Academy for his senior year.

“I mean, people are always going to doubt,” Ashley said. “My dad just really told me, ‘Don’t pay attention to that and just play your game. Run your own race.’ That’s all he told me to do.”

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Ashley, 17, leads the Saints in scoring with 19.4 points per game. He played sparingly as a freshman, when Wright, now 19, led the PCL in scoring. Last year, Ashley averaged 11.9 points during PCL play. His other brother, Latrell Wright, 17, plays point guard at Salesianum School, an independent Catholic School in Wilmington.

It’s not hard to guess what that household was like growing up.

“It was really competitive,” Ashley said. “My dad used to take us to the park every day. We’d just all play against each other. Of course, Rob was the oldest, and he was always better. But every day, he knew I was coming. I just wanted to win. It was competitive, and we just wanted to win at everything we did.”

That doesn’t mean, though, that they don’t also help each other win these days.

Ashley said he’s been to Baylor a few times and has worked out with his brother there, too.

“It’s definitely been great just seeing how he’s at where I want to be,” he said. “He’s just pushing me, and I’m just following after him and hope to just keep going.”

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Their games, of course, have similarities.

Wright was known in Philly as a scorer, a trait he’s taken to Baylor. He dropped 22 points in a loss to Connecticut last month.

Ashley can also score in bunches. He shot 9 of 12 from the field Wednesday, including 5 of 7 from behind the three-point line. He also plays tenacious defense and might play above the rim more often than his older brother.

That last trait might come as a shock if you knew Ashley as a baby. His mother, Blair, nicknamed him “Munchie,” he said, “because I was a little chubby, and I used to eat a lot.”

These days, though, it seems only haters are on the menu.