Did it fall in? But of course. As did some of his other subsequent free throws that at first dinged iron.
As St. Joseph's Prep scuffled its way past visiting Archbishop Ryan, 56-44, in a Catholic League game, Vasturia shot 14-for-14 at the line en route to 22 points.
The 6-5, 190-pound senior, a swingman here but likely a combo guard at his next stop, Notre Dame, was not alone in displaying quality free throwing. The Hawks hit their first 21 - perfection became history when guard Miles Overton (Wake Forest) clanked the front end of a double-bonus with 1:10 left - and the final numbers were 23-for-25.
For the season, Vasturia is 55-for-66 at the line and that computes to 83.3 percent.
Impressive, yes. Completely Vasturia-worthy, no.
As confirmed by stat man Joe Donahue, who also coaches the freshman team and serves as the PA announcer at varsity games, Vasturia's 2011-12 percentage was an outrageous 91.4 (128-for-140).
When asked whether his 41-for-52 performance (78.8) pre-Monday had been bothering him, Vasturia responded, "Yeah. You want to make every shot you take. That's your mindset. Anytime you don't make it . . . "
"I don't have an explanation [for the slight drop-off]. You just have to keep working at it every day. You're always trying to make yourself better. Concentration and repetition. That's what it takes. If you think you're shooting them the right way, you want to do the same thing every time you go to the line."
During his 4-year varsity career at the Prep, Vasturia has shown himself to be quite the long-range sniper, as well. In this one, however, he went 0-for-4 behind the arc, and his field goals came mostly on drives that featured outstanding body control. Even the use of his left (off) hand to finish. He complemented his 22 points with nine rebounds.
Unlike one of the city's other upper-echelon senior guards, Roberts Vaux' Rysheed Jordan - who has not yet announced his college decision and is driving folks crazy with tongue-in-cheek tweets that he's about to - Vasturia was certain of his choice long ago.
He committed to the Fighting Irish roughly a month before the start of the 2011-12 season and now maintains regular contact with the coaches. He took his official visit last fall, during the weekend when the football team hosted Michigan, and he routinely watches ND hoops games on TV.
Sometimes he has to do so alone, or close to it, because the family is everywhere during basketball season.
Stephen's older brother, Patrick, plays for Ursinus. His younger one, Michael, a freshman, is already making waves for St. Augustine Prep, in Richland, N.J.
"He wanted to do his own thing, I guess," Stephen said.
Mindful that the Prep is a 40-minute drive from the family's home in Medford, N.J., and that the treks to Ursinus (hour-plus) and St. Augustine (hour-minus) are also lengthy, he added with a laugh, "We do know how to make it hard for my parents."
Vasturia's dad, John, starred in football and baseball at Cardinal O'Hara and Penn, and is a member of the Quakers' baseball hall of fame. His mom, the former Kathy Weir, owns a spot in Dickinson's hoops HOF.
If not for the Prep, Stephen would likely be playing basketball at Shawnee, the local public school and long a top-tier program in South Jersey, or Bishop Eustace, in Pennsauken.
"Playing basketball here has really been enjoyable," he said. "I'm just trying to enjoy this last year and go out with a fun ride."
Overton's final stats showed 14 points, five boards and two assists. Kyle Thompson added two treys and nine rebounds.
For the undersized Raiders, who claimed only 15 boards, Bryan Okolo (16) and Gage Galeone (13, three treys) were the leading scorers.
Meanwhile, Vasturia said he would suggest no punishment for Overton despite the late-game, streak-ending miss.
"Ah, we all miss 'em sometimes," he noted.
Except for No. 32 on 1/21/13.
