Dos Pueblos grad Julyan Stone just became the all-time assist leader at UTEP. (Photo Courtesy of UTEP Sports Information)
One night after receiving his college degree, former Dos Pueblos High basketball star Julyan Stone rewrote the record book at the University of Texas, El Paso.
Stone became the school’s all-time leader in assists, passing Miner legend and former NBA star Tim Hardaway.
In a game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday, Stone fed Jeremy Williams for his 564th career assist. He finished the game with five assists and now needs nine more to pass Corey Santee of TCU as Conference USA’s third best all-time assist man.
The 6-7 Stone is the first player in UTEP history to have more than 500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists in a career.
“To be the type of player that gets their teammates involved and after all the great (UTEP) point guards it means a lot to me,” Stone told the Prospector, UTEP’s student newspaper. “I’m all about making my teammates better, Randy is a great scorer, and (former UTEP guard) Stefon (Jackson) was a great scorer, without them knocking down shots I would have no assists.”
The night before rewriting the record book, Stone walked across a stage at the Don Haskins Center and received his degree in organizational communication with a minor in business management.
He told the El Paso Times, “I’ve always known I would do this someday. I knew it would happen at some point. My mother was always on me about this and I knew I would have to do this to make her proud. It is pretty special that we are graduating in the Don Haskins Center. That’s been our home away from home. Nothing could be better than graduating under that banner (from last year’s NCAA Tournament team). We are graduating in there where we pretty much live.”
Stone said that he is the first in his family to graduate from college.
“I’ve got everyone coming,” he said before the graduation. “My parents, my nieces and nephews, even a couple of kids I mentored back home.”
TOUGH LOSS: Carly Wopat and the Stanford Cardinal suffered a heartbreaking five-set loss to USC in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament.
Wopat, a freshman out of Dos Pueblos, had a productive first season. She finished with 147 kills (5th on the team) and was the team leader in block assists with 90. She played in 106 sets.
Across the country, Karina Evans, a teammate of Wopat’s at DP, also played in the NCAA Tournament with Delaware. The Blue Hens were eliminated in the first round by Virginia Tech.
Evans posted 33 kills and 47 block assists in 51 sets in her first year of Division 1 volleyball.
