It took some time for Mount Saint Joseph basketball star D’Angelo Stines, a rising senior, to get acclimated to the varsity level last season.
All the while, the versatile guard worked hard and showed all the different things he could do to help the Gaels win games.
By the end of the regular season and particularly in the playoffs — a 16-point effort in a 76-63 win over rival St. Frances for the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association championship the highlight — he began to excel and colleges took note.
Old Dominion stood out.
Stines, who maintains a 3.9 GPA at Mount Saint Joe, committed to the Conference USA school out of Norfolk, Virginia, over the weekend, a decision he said felt right.
“Old Dominion was just that right place for me. Since I started keeping in contact with them, I would say the relationship we built was really genuine and I talked to them almost every day,” he said.
It’s definitely a good feeling, especially knowing I’ll be taken care of away from home. I had a lot of schools recruiting me in the area that I highly considered and could have went to, but knowing that I had that security being away from home was big. It’s really just a relief to be committed and have my college choice figured out because not everybody is in that situation right now.”
In the 2019-20 season, the Gaels were senior-laden and played quality team to finish with 29 wins.
Stines, who averaged 13 points and five rebounds, and was often assigned to guard the opponent’s top scorer, fit in just fine to play a vital role.
“He’s a very mature young man, more of guy of actions than words,” said Mount Saint Joe coach Pat Clatchey. “He works extremely hard, and it took him some games to get acclimated to the varsity level. But once that took place, he realized what he was capable of and what we needed from him in order to accomplish what we did. I think Old Dominion is getting a very good player, a guy that’s going to work hard and continue to get better. He’s about winning, he’s about the team, and I think he can help a team win in a variety of ways.”
Further improving his basketball skills has been Stines’ priority during the pandemic. He hit the weight room and added ten pounds of good weight to his frame, also working diligently on his shooting, ball handling, footwork and finishing around the basket to further polish his game.
“Basketball is really everything to me. It’s the only sport I’ve ever played and it’s taken me to a lot of places and let me see a lot of things. I hope that continues,” Stines said.
“Before I go to Old Dominion, with this senior season, I hope we can win two more championship and I’ll do whatever it takes to get us there. At Old Dominion, my goal is to get in the rotation my freshman year and hope my career takes off. I just want to get better every day.”