Stephenson will not return to Cincinnati

Lance Stephenson, a 6-foot-5 guard from Brooklyn, has hired New York attorney Alberto Ebanks to represent him.

Ebanks described himself as the family’s long-time attorney.

“He’s working real hard,” Ebanks said today. “He’s excited about everything going on now. He had a great experience at Cincinnati. It was a big decision, a tough decision for him to make to move on.

“He loved it there. He had an opportunity to go away from home, to leave Coney Island and to meet new people in a really nice environment, which that campus is, surrounded by quality coaches that care about him, out of the big light, which is what he wanted. It was a very tough decision not to go back to that. It was a very welcoming environment.”

In the season the guard averaged 12.3ppg, 5.4rpg and 2.5apg.