Basketball at Saint Stephen’s has been on an upward trajectory in recent years. After failing to post a winning record for seven consecutive seasons, the Falcons have now done so in five of their past eight campaigns and won the first two district championships in school history (2019 and 2023).

Current Head Coach Matt Fletcher, a former assistant, took over the program in 2021-22. Despite a slow start that season, the Falcons won four of their final six games and reached the district tournament championship game to set the path forward. The 2022-23 Falcons (21-8) built on that momentum, winning the district title and recording the program’s first-ever regional tournament victory by topping St. Petersburg Admiral Farragut in the quarterfinals.

Following a long stretch of futility, the Falcons began establishing a winning culture during the 2017-18 season and eventually qualified for back-to-back post-season bids, their first since 1999. The 2017-18 campaign produced the school’s first regional playoff berth in nearly two decades and the Falcons hosted a regional game for the first time ever in 2019.

SSES was a combined 36-16 from 2017-19 and lost just one regular-season district game during that stretch (19-1). The climb reached its summit in 2018-19, when the Falcons went undefeated in district play and won the first district tournament championship in school history. Their 21-6 season created hoops excitement like never before on campus.

After a tough 2023-24 campaign, the Falcons will look to get back on a winning track this season.