He’S Back Fully Recovered And Playing Again, Demetrius Scott Can Relive That Season-Ending, Leg-Breaking Game

Ask Demetrius Scott about the day he broke his leg playing basketball last year and he will offer every detail.

It’s easy for him to relive the moment now, a year later when he’s fully recovered and into a new season.

It was Shadle Park’s second game last season, at home against West Valley on Dec. 5, 1997. It was his sophomore year and first time on varsity. He was a starter after coming off the bench for the Highlanders junior varsity as a freshman.

Five minutes and 45 seconds left in the second quarter. Shadle trailed by two.

With 11 points, Scott already was on the way to another big game after scoring 25 the night before in Shadle’s opener with Cheney - his varsity debut.

He fired a 10-foot jump shot and, in the air, realized he didn’t have a spot to land.

“I threw the ball up there and came down to land and somebody was in my landing spot,” Scott recalled. “I either had to step on him or land differently. I probably should have stepped on him.”

The shot went in and tied the game. But play would be stalled for 45 minutes.

Scott, 16, came down on the inside of his right foot, the bottom part of his leg splayed to the right and his shin bone pushed through the skin.

“It was not a pretty sight,” said Highlanders coach Darcy Weisner. “It was kind of a freaky deal. It was the worst injury I’ve seen in 17 years and hope to never see one again.”

Weisner called on cheerleaders to block off the scene as he quickly placed a towel over the injury until paramedics arrived.

“He was in shock but didn’t shed a tear,” Weisner said.

At first, Scott thought he had broken his ankle.

“But it was much worse than that,” he said. “I thought I was done (for good). I thought I would be hanging it up before I even started.”

He regained hope after waking up in the middle of the night at the hospital in a full-leg cast that was Shadle green. He wore that cast for three months, then went to another cast set just below his knee.

Scott’s patience was pushed to the limit.

He missed basketball season and track, in which he runs the 100, 200, 400 and relays.

But basketball hurt most. Scott has loved the sport since he could hold a ball. At a young age he became a huge Michael Jordan fan and wanted to be just like the Chicago Bulls star.

Scott hated heading home after school instead of to practice, and watching games from the sidelines was just as bad.

“It was terrible,” he said. “The first month I was so depressed. …I attended some practices but couldn’t handle it emotionally.”

Especially tough were the games Scott believed he could have contributed to a Shadle victory but the Highlanders wound up on the short end.

But Scott said his teammates helped keep his spirits up, bringing him food, making him banners and calling him every day.

He began shooting again in April, once he was stable enough to stand without crutches. Scott’s casts came off June 1, just in time for Shadle’s summer league that kicked off the next week.

Scott said he felt thankful to make it through this season’s second game, as the Highlanders again met West Valley. Scott said he was worried more about breaking his left leg this time. But he made it out OK.

Again, the 6-foot guard had put together a big game in the Highlanders opener with Cheney, going off for 23 points.

He said he no longer feels pain and he’s playing with the same confidence as last season.

That’s easy to detect.

Scott said he’s capable of scoring 20 points a game and dishing out about seven assists. He is concentrating more on rebounding and defense this season.

“I used to drive a lot,” he said. “Now I can spot up from anywhere. I’ve developed my shot, which adds something more to my game.”

Weisner knows Scott is a threat.

“I think anytime Demetrius has the ball if you’re defending him you have to be concerned with what he’s going to do,” the coach said.

Looking back to last season, Scott has decided the injury was a positive thing.

“I’m a pretty religious person,” said Scott, a Long Beach, Calif., native, who moved to Spokane in seventh grade from Seattle. “I believe everything happens for a reason. I was a pretty independent person and did everything on my own. I was getting a little bit ahead of myself and I had to realize without (God) I’d be nothing.”