Long after the game was over and an autograph session had concluded on the concourse above, guard Eddie Stansberry purposefully made his way back down to the Stan Sheriff Center court.

There, in an arena so empty that the bounce of the basketball echoed, Stansberry painstakingly went about diagnosing the ills of his jump shot from all angles.

He had managed just one 3-pointer in eight tries in an exhibition victory over Chaminade and only one in nine attempts against Florida A&M in the season opener. Hardly the opening anybody had envisioned for his senior season.

So, Stansberry plugged away looking for the rhythm and feather-like touch that had so uncharacteristically deserted him, not willing to leave the arena until they got reacquainted.

Two nights later, the relief in the arena was palpable as Stansberry rallied to score 21 second-half points against South Dakota and, after that, a game-high 26 against Pacific in the Rainbow Classic. For the two games he hit a combined seven of 12 from 3-point range and 15 of 23 overall.

Suddenly, he showed signs of being where he was projected to be, where he needs to be this season, as the Rainbow Warriors’ scoring leader.

Stansberry is now averaging 17.3 points a game in the ’Bows 2-1 start entering Friday’s game with Portland State.

Last year, as a junior college transfer from San Francisco City College, Stansberry averaged 11.3 points a game and was tied with Jack Purchase for the team lead in 3-pointers (77).

But with three of the top four long-range shooters (Purchase, Brocke Stepteau and Sheriff Drammeh) having departed, Stansberry’s degree of marksmanship takes on more importance.

“To be honest, I told myself, ‘I have to get back to my game,’ ” Stansberry said. “Obviously, I wasn’t happy with the (early) results and I wanted to correct that. I wanted to get the extra work, to get it flowing again.”

Acting head coach Chris Gerlufsen said the solution may have actually been fairly simple, really. “I think he finally just saw one go in (again) and, fortunately, he did,” Gerlufsen said. “For a guy like Eddie, who is such a high-level shooter and scorer, sometimes all you need to do is see the ball go in one time and you pick it right up. I’m glad he kind of shook himself out of that little slump.”

Gerlufsen said, “I have nothing but confidence in Eddie and our perimeter guys. I told them that if they miss one, then shoot the next one.”

In that Stansberry has what is, perhaps, the second best attribute of a shooter: a short memory about the misses.

“For a shooter it is not gonna be every night that you see them go in,” Stansberry said. “For me, I just wanted to keep my head up, stay confident and not be discouraged until I could get them to start falling again. I’m in a good position from here, just learning from this start and correcting things to take it forward.”

To that end, he said, “Just seeing my teammates support me, as I try to support them, gave me confidence to keep shooting until the shots finally started to go in again,” Stansberry said. “It is all about getting that ‘W.’ We all pick each other up, which is why I feel like this is going to be a really good team down the road.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.