Alverton native Brandon Stone finds familiarity at Robert Morris

Andy Toole turned and pointed to his bench. Brandon Stone immediately popped up and headed to the scorer’s table. It was hard to miss the slender, 6-foot-11, 200-pound Stone, who grew up in the southwestern Westmoreland County village of Alverton, as he was buzzed into the game during a stoppage in play at Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center.

It was early on in the Colonials’ Horizon League game against Oakland, a rare Friday night affair in a relatively new league against a relatively unfamiliar opponent.

Robert Morris made the move to the Horizon in 2020 after a long union with the Northeast Conference and is in its second year of competition against a new lineup of teams.

The Colonials inbounded the ball, and Stone took up residency at the top of the key, accepting a pass and, in turn, quickly zipping the ball to another teammate to his left before bolting toward the basket, where the ball returned to him just in time for Stone to flip it over a defender and into the cylinder.

Two points for the Colonials.

Moments later, Stone found an open spot in the right corner of the floor and accepted a pass behind the 3-point arc. He turned and sized up the target.

Swish!

On the next possession, Stone got loose in the opposite corner and fired away.

Nothing but net.

Just then, a funny thing happened — except nobody on the Colonials’ side was laughing after Stone was beaten to the hoop at the other end by an Oakland player, resulting in an easy layup for the visiting Golden Grizzlies.

Timeout.

Toole aggressively met Stone on his way back to the bench, and a one-sided conversation ensued with Stone serving as the listener to Toole’s monologue, complete with animated pointing and hand-waving.

After turning away, Toole returned to Stone’s face and continued to rail against the junior big man.

All Stone appeared he could do was stare straight ahead, obviously, disgusted with the magnitude and timing of his blunder, which slowed Robert Morris’ momentum.

He stayed on the bench for a period but remained engaged in the happenings on the court, where Robert Morris and Oakland were locked in a tight battle that went down to the wire before the Colonials succumbed, 71-68.

“I really like where we’re at,” Stone said on a different occasion and in a more relaxed state.

The kid who began his high school career at Southmoreland before transferring to Christ School (N.C.) has watched his circuitous journey to Robert Morris pass through La Salle, where he spent a year with the Philadelphia-based Explorers of the Atlantic 10 Conference, before he entered the transfer portal and was signed by RMU, which originally was recruiting him during his sophomore year at Southmoreland.

“Our record (6-19 entering this week) doesn’t really show how good we are,” he said. “We have the pieces to make a (NCAA) tournament run with this team. I definitely think we have a chance in the next couple of years.”

Though Robert Morris fell short against Oakland, the Horizon League’s second-place team, Stone wound up leading the Colonials in scoring, tying his career high of 17 points — he scored 17 for La Salle in a 72-70 victory over Wright State on Nov. 26, 2019 — on 7-of-8 shooting.

Stone converted all three of his 3-point attempts and also grabbed eight rebounds in the loss to Oakland.

“When we started recruiting Brandon, he was getting some looks from higher conferences,” Toole said. “When he decided to leave La Salle, given our transition to the Horizon League, as a coaching staff, we felt he’d be a good fit for our program, so we got involved recruiting him again. The familiarity certainly helped.”

In his final season at Southmoreland, Stone proved to be one of the top players in the WPIAL, averaging 25.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game and earning Class 3A second-team, all-state honors.

He grew 10 inches between grades seven and 11.

As a junior at Christ School, a prep school just outside Asheville, N.C., Stone averaged 16.0 points and 11.0 rebounds as a junior, leading the Greenies to an appearance in the North Carolina state semifinals.

“That was definitely a good experience playing against the top players with eyes on you,” Stone said. “I was starting over and never really had been asked to play defense the way we were introduced to it there.”

Stone said he was “a little up-and-down” about the decision to leave his Alverton home and his friends and teammates at Southmoreland.

“Looking back,” he said, “if I would have finished it out there, we would have had a chance to win a (WPIAL) section championship for the first time in a long time. Maybe we could have even won a WPIAL championship.”

But there were goals, and they haven’t changed, Stone said: To receive a Division I scholarship, to obtain a degree (at Robert Morris, he majors in organizational leadership and minors in business) and to play professional basketball.

“Obviously, the NBA is always your ultimate dream,” he said. “I’ve got my eyes on playing somewhere, whether it be here or overseas. If I can improve my game, that’s always going to be a possibility.”

Both coach and player agree Stone would benefit by some added muscle. Stone said he’s always struggled to put on weight, no matter what and how much he eats. Hitting the weight room harder, he said, is his best bet. But it comes with a cost.

“From my freshman year ’til now, I’ve definitely gotten a lot stronger,” he said. “When I put on weight, I could see it paying off, but I also lost some of my athleticism. I wasn’t moving as well as I previously did.”

Stone has battled injuries throughout his career. He started the year on the injured list when he came down on another player’s foot and tore ligaments while suffering high and low ankle sprains.

He is just rounding back into form as the season hits the home stretch, a good thing, he hopes, for the Colonials and a bad thing for opponents.

In 16 games, all in a reserve role, Stone was averaging 5.9 points and 3.2 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game with Robert Morris. He had recorded 12 blocks, seven assists and six steals while shooting 46% overall, including 42.9 (9 for 21) from 3-point range.

He had missed just one free throw in 16 attempts.

“We’ve emphasized with Brandon the importance of the weight room, as we’d like him to get a bit stronger,” Toole said. “That’s going to benefit him in the Horizon League. He’s worked hard this year through the injury, and you’re starting to see some of that pay dividends. His activity on the court only makes us a better team.

“For a big guy, he has a nice touch when it comes to his passes and sharing the ball, and I don’t want him to shy away from that. The more opportunities he has on both ends of the court are going to help him in his development and help him gain confidence moving forward.”

Toole said Stone’s versatility, like his stature, stands tall.

“He has a unique skill set in that he’s pretty active around the basket but isn’t afraid to step out and display his mid-range and 3-point shots,” Toole said. “His length can be a factor on the glass and rejecting shots, too. Those are skills we want to keep developing.”

Stone is committed to making Robert Morris his home until he graduates, and he’s excited about the opportunities he’s getting to contribute on the court.

“The atmosphere here is a lot different than at La Salle,” Stone said. “There’s no football team there, but just having that college football game day experience is something that stands out to me. Moon Township is definitely different than North Philly.”

Stone’s girlfriend, whom he met at La Salle, will be moving to Pittsburgh after this school year, he said. Elizabeth Osborn, a Portland, Ore., native, was a 6-foot outside hitter on the La Salle women’s volleyball team, where she earned first-team all-Atlantic 10 honors last season as a junior.

“She’s transferring to Duquesne,” Stone said.

Seems like a win-win situation for the Colonials and Dukes.