The night of Jan. 8, 2008, will go down in local prep basketball history as a masterpiece by a player who was virtually unknown until this season.
Stuart Harvey, a 6-foot guard on the Shorewood High School boys team, scored an eye-popping 54 points against Jackson. His accomplishment is believed to be a school and Western Conference record, unmatched by the likes of former Wesco standouts Jon Brockman, who now plays for the University of Washington.
The Thunderbirds, however, lost the game in double overtime, 95-93, when David Sullivan scored on a put-back as time expired in the second overtime.
Harvey wasn’t aware of how many points he had until the game was over. He made 23 of 32 field-goal attempts and 8 of 11 free throws. He did not attempt a 3-pointer. His previous high was 20 in a 45-44 win over Hazen in the T-birds’ opener.
“Whenever I got the ball, I was making shots,” Harvey said. “Nobody could stop me.”
Micah Mitchell, the Thunderbirds’ point guard, said Harvey sometimes gets frustrated with his offensive game, but that night everything clicked. “We kept going to him more because he couldn’t be stopped,” Mitchell said.
Shorewood coach Shawn Hall said Harvey’s shot selection “was great.”
“He was just playing very aggressive,” Hall said. “He didn’t force things. … It was just the style we played that night, trying to get up and down the floor.”
Besides Harvey’s total, Shorewood’s 93 total points were the most allowed by a Jackson team since coach Steve Johnson took over six years ago.
“We let him get comfortable early and he obviously has some skills and some talent,” Johnson said. “Once he was able to be confident in the game, it kind of snowballed from there.”
Jackson changed defenses from a zone to a man-to-man and put different players on Harvey, but nothing slowed him down.
“You have to give him credit,” Johnson said of Harvey. “Certainly it was an extraordinary performance, no question.”
What’s even more extraordinary is that Harvey, who averages 13.4 points per game, hadn’t played high school basketball until this season. A year ago, he was working as a waiter at a Green Lake retirement home after dropping out of school. He played pick-up games on the courts at Green Lake and played in a men’s league in Mountlake Terrace. He once scored 40 points in a recreational game but never 50.
Although there are no official Wesco or Shorewood school records, Harvey’s effort appears to be the top mark for both the league and the school. Edmonds-Woodway coach Gail Pintler, who coached at Shorewood for 20 seasons, said he could not recall any scoring total close to Harvey’s. Former Shorewood star Rob Diederichs, who led the Wesco South in scoring for three years before graduating in 2005, said his best was 39 points in a game.
Brockman scored 51 points for Snohomish in February of 2005.
The all-time Washington state boys high school record for points in a game is 80, by Bob Wright of Class B Green Hill Reform School in Chehalis. Wright’s accomplishment came on Feb. 9, 1968, against Mary M. Knight High School, according to records guru David Maley of Rosalia.
Harvey, who moved to the area from Maine a couple years ago, played with Shorewood the summer before his junior year but then dropped out of school and didn’t turn out. Hall said he tried to get him come back, but to no avail.
Then last summer Harvey got back in touch.
“He called me out of the blue and said ‘I want to come back,’” Hall said.
Harvey, who is listed as a senior on the roster but credits-wise is a junior, had a couple of reasons for returning.
“I wanted to play basketball,” he said. “I wanted to get my high school diploma.”
Harvey, who turned 18 in December, said he plans to apply to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association for another year of eligibility while he finishes school.
“He’s trying his hardest to get things done right. As a coach, a kid like that you want to root for, you open doors for him,” Hall said. “He’s worked hard. He’s an honest kid.”
Harvey was in foul trouble against Edmonds-Woodway, the game before his outburst, and scored just two points. He came back to earth against Meadowdale on Jan. 10 in the game after the Jackson game, and tallied six.
“He got pretty frustrated in the Meadowdale game,” said Hall said, who told Harvey, “‘It’s kind of an honor they’re bumping you and pushing you around.
“You’re on the map.”
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