Sun | Sports

Nathan Joyce, Sun Staff - Feb 28th, 2004

PUYALLUP -- With 1 minute, 42 seconds remaining, the best basketball player ever to hail from a West Sound gym took a seat on the bench.

He pulled his No. 24 jersey over his face to hide his emotions, then switched to a towel. Teammates and coaches patted the 6-foot-9 star on the head to offer condolences.

His season, and career as a high school basketball player, was over.

Bremerton's Marvin Williams scored 24 points but the Knights fell 71-40 to the Prairie Falcons Friday night in a loser-out game in the West Central District boys basketball tournament at Rogers High School.

It wasn't just a loss, it was the end of an era.

Many have tabbed Williams the best -- as in, best all-time -- to come out of Washington state.

West Sound basketball fans will have to turn on their televisions to see Williams play again. Next season, they can watch him run the court with the University of North Carolina, if he doesn't make the jump to the NBA.

It was also the final game for sixth-year coach Casey Lindberg, a former honorable mention all-state player from Bremerton. Lindberg, 33, is retiring to pursue a career in school administration and start a family. Lindberg finished with a 80-57 record in six seasons.

The Knights (11-13) remained in the locker room long after the game. When they emerged, silent and with red-rimmed eyes, they headed straight for their bus.

"It didn't really hit me until I got in the locker room," Williams said. "I just wanted to finish the game.

"Once I got into the locker room, that's when everything got kind of crazy. Everybody started crying. I saw Phil (Houston) crying, and I told him to stop crying, and I started crying."

Lindberg wasn't as emotional after the game.

"I wouldn't say there was a whole lot of emotion, really," Lindberg said. "I was just disappointed for the kids, because we just didn't play that well."

The Falcons (17-8) frustrated the Knights with their triangle-and-two defense, something Bremerton hadn't run up against this year, Williams said. And as usual, Williams was triple-teamed any time he wandered into the key.

"We were so confused on offense," said Williams, who also had nine rebounds.

The Falcons weren't.

Behind 6-6 Devin Uskoski, who finished with a game-high 32 points, the Falcons closed out the first quarter on an 11-0 run, building their lead to 21-8.

In the first half, only two players -- Houston and Josh Johnson -- hit shots for the Knights. And Williams' usually laser-accurate 3-point shooting was off: he hit only two of 11 attempts.

Any hope of a rally died in the third quarter, as Bremerton scored just seven points, four from Williams.

"There's really no other way to say it: they just outplayed us," Lindberg said.

Williams, who has been trying to recover from a case of viral meningitis, will take a few days off, his dad said, before beginning to prepare for the two All-American games in which he'll play -- the EA Sports Roundball Classic in Chicago March 22 and the McDonald's All-American Game in Oklahoma City on March 31.

His performances at those two games will be closely monitored by NBA scouts.

"How well he plays down at the McDonald's All-American Game is really going to determine what his value is going to be," Marvin Williams Sr. said. "Once we get down there, we'll have a full grasp of where he's really going to fall (if he enters the NBA Draft)."

Williams and his family have maintained all along that he is still planning to go to North Carolina, but ...

"If the money's right, and it's a guarantee," Williams Sr. said, "you never know."

PRAIRIE 71, BREMERTON 40

Prairie -- Brandon Krout 8, Orlandor Westbrooks, Jordan Ard 7, Devin Uskoski 32, Luke McHugh 9, David Winters 5, Adrian Gomez 3, Brian Virgin 2, Brock Uskoski 2, Andrew Lashua 2, Ryan Stephens 1.

Bremerton -- Marvin Williams 24, Phil Houston 6, Robert Ramsey, Josh Johnson 2, Jeff Frankeberger, Armand Boddie 2, Deshaun Caples, Ian Mateikat, Jawan Pedesclaux 4, Michael Morgan 1, Lee Durdahl, Christain Collette 1.

•••

WILLIAMS: END OF AN ERA

• Sophomore season (6-foot-7)

Points: 416

Average: 18.1

Honors: First-team All-Narrows Bridge Division

• Junior season (6-foot-8)

Points: 479

Average: 24.1

Rebounding average: 12.0

Honors: Narrows League Bridge Division MVP; first-team Associated Press All-State

• Senior season (6-foot-9)

Points: 632

Average: 28.7

Rebounding average: 15.5

Honors: McDonald's All-American; EA Sports All-American; Narrows League Bridge Division MVP

• TOTALS

Points: 1,527

Average: 23.5

Career high: 45

Career low: 6