When Point Loma High School’s boys basketball leading scorers Grant Stewart and Na’Sean Hardy carpool together, the conversation often starts with hoops and ends with sandwiches.
The backcourt duo has much in common. Both stand 6-foot-3, both punch above height as rebounders and, off the court, they share a love for gourmet sandwiches.
Stewart’s top choice is grilled ham and cheese, while Hardy prefers chipotle chicken, always with a cookie on the side.
“Our connection on the court starts with our connection off the court,” Hardy said.
“Knowing he’s a nice guy off the court makes it a lot easier on the court, because if I make a mistake, he has my back, and he’s always looking for me to shoot,” Stewart said.
For the Pointers, 17-7 heading into the final week of the regular season this week, Stewart and Hardy have been the offensive engine, scoring a combined 31 points per game.
Stewart, a senior, has relied on Hardy, a junior, to drive to the hoop, drawing the defense and opening space for three-point shots.
“Every time he attacks the basket, everyone focuses on him,” Stewart said. “It makes it super easy for him to kick it out for wide-open shots. After I see a few go in, it’s a feel thing; I am hunting my shots. He’s also such a good rebounder.”
“Grant is a one-of-a-kind player,” Hardy said. “He’s unselfish. He can get a stop on defense and he can get a bucket when we need one.”
In addition to leading the team in scoring, Hardy and Stewart are first and second in rebounding — especially important for a team that lacks a true center. Nobody on the roster is taller than 6-foot-4.
“Grant and Na’Sean mean a lot to our program,” said PLHS head coach Josh Aros. “They both are team players. You can tell from the jumps they have had year to year how much time and effort they have put into their game. And they aren’t just good basketball players but they are good academically as well. Grant is a 4.6 [GPA] student and Na’Sean is over 4.”
Three-year starter Trevor Dorris hasn’t filled the stat book like Hardy or Stewart, but according to Aros, the 5-foot-11 guard has been the Pointers’ unsung hero.
“Trevor sets the tempo and mood,” Aros said. “He doesn’t score as much as the other kids, but he means a lot in of pushing the ball [and] defensively bringing the intensity every game. If we were to lose him, we’d be in trouble.”
With Dorris, Hardy and Stewart as the only returners from last years’ 18-9 team, there were more unknowns than expectations for Aros going into the season.
“Beyond those three, we had some questions,” Aros said. “A lot of kids have stepped up and have played well, with younger guys getting big minutes.”
The Pointers opened the season with a two-point loss at Del Lago Academy before rattling off seven consecutive wins. A nine-game winning streak ran from mid-December to mid-January.
“This group works really hard,” Aros said. “They are very aggressive and play with a chip on their shoulder. There’s not too much selfishness on our team. We like to run, push and shoot. When we don’t do that, we struggle.”
Heading into the CIF San Diego Section playoffs, Aros looks back on a 64-29 drubbing in December at Francis Parker as a turning point in the season.
“What I preach is ‘Go out and play hard and stick to what we want to do; don’t deviate from the plan,’” Aros said. “Francis Parker was hitting shots and we were stressing trying to score when we should have been stressing trying to get stops. Those are learning opportunities to understand [that] sometimes we may not be shooting well but the defensive intensity needs to be there, regardless of if we are scoring.”
Stewart called it “a good loss.”
“Before that, we were on a … win streak [and] we never had that knock in the chest,” he added. “I think it helped us overall.”
But having dropped their past three games and five of the past six, Stewart acknowledged that defensive focus and communication need to pick up.
“When teams get up on us, we do kind of panic a little and we don’t really move the ball,” Stewart said. “We force everything and feel like we have to score instead of getting stops. Our on-ball defense is not as good as it could be, and it forces us to overhelp each other, and that’s when we give up open shots.”
The Pointers close out the regular season with road games against City League rivals Mira Mesa at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, and Madison at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13.
“I think right now as a team we are in a little slump, but we are starting to pick it up and we are going to have a really good run in the playoffs,” Stewart said.
“The strength of the team this year has been playing as a team and picking each other up when things don’t go our way,” Hardy said. “We have the ability to get up and move on from a loss and lock in for our next game.”
Hardy and Stewart have yet to go out to eat together — something they plan to change at season’s end.
But Stewart is hoping to delay that end as long as possible.
“I started playing basketball at 5 at the … YMCA,” he said. “It felt like [the past four years] went by so fast. I didn’t realize it until Senior Night [that] I only have a few games left. I am really trying to enjoy every single minute I am on the court, knowing it’s almost over.”
