Uskoski Happy To Be Home

Sunday we ran a story about Devin Uskoski, a Prairie grad who is playing with the Vancouver Volcanoes. That called to mind the highlight of Uskoski’s high school career.

In 2004, Prairie defeated Bremerton in a state regional game. Uskoski was 13 of 15 from the floor and scored 32 points in a 71-40 victory. That wouldn’t be big news except for the fact that Bremerton had Marvin Williams, who one year later was winning a national title at North Carolina and being drafted with the second pick in the NBA Draft.

When Williams was playing in the Final Four, I wrote a column about that game:

“I don’t think our guys last year thought of him being as big a player as he was,” Prairie coach Kyle Brooks said. “They weren’t familiar with him until right before we played him. Of course, seeing him in the North Carolina uniform puts it all in perspective.”

Not that Williams didn’t deliver some perspective on that night in February 2004.

“Our guys still talk about the dunk he had,” Brooks said. “In our highlight video from last season, you aren’t supposed to put highlights of the other team in there, but Nathan Mielke, who put the tape together, said he couldn’t resist.”

Last week, I asked Uskoski about that game — the night he was the best player on the floor against Marvin Williams.

“It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime things,” he said. “He probably doesn’t remember it, but I’ve thought about it a couple times.”