It was the one hand jam that made Drake jump out of his seat and scream. Toronto Raptors rookie Terrence Ross threw the ball in-between his legs and lunged over a ball boy for the one-hand jam in order to secure the NBA Slam Dunk contest championship this week.
At the same moment, 1,600 miles or so to the northwest, Idaho junior forward Stephen Madison was taking on the WAC’s top team in La. Tech. Madison put up 13 points and 8 rebounds in Idaho falling just short of upsetting the Bulldogs.
Three years ago the two, along with Terrence Jones of the Houston Rockets, shared a high school basketball locker room en route to leading Jefferson High School (Portland) to a third consecutive class 5A state championship in Oregon.
(Idaho coach Don Verlin and Madison talk about what it was like to be around a Jefferson program with so much attention on it.)
Madison said he found out after the game Saturday night about his former teammate’s accolades at All-Star weekend in Houston.
“Always happy for a teammate, a good friend of mine to win a big thing like that, winning the NBA dunk contest is a big deal,” Madison said.
The two became teammates Madison’s senior year of high school when he transferred to Jefferson from nearby Prairie High School in Vancouver, Wash., although the two didn’t get to play together since had to Ross sit the year out after transferring back to the Jefferson from a private school in Maryland. Though Ross, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, was still a part of the program.
The star of the 2010 state championship team was Jones, the No. 18 overall pick of the 2012 NBA Draft, averaging 30 points and 14 rebounds per game in his senior campaign at Jefferson.
Idaho coach Don Verlin was able to get Madison’s commitment early in April 2010 and signed without much fanfare in the spring signing period. Meanwhile, Jones and Ross signed to much fanfare on an April 26, 2010 announcement at the school. Both committed to Washington on the day, but Jones later ended up sending his letter of intent to Kentucky.
Madison is averaging 14 points and 4 rebounds a game with four regular season games remaining in his junior season before the conference tournament. Madison has aspirations of joining his Jefferson teammates in the Association when his career at Idaho is over.
“They (Ross and Jones) tell me to want it. You have to want it more than other people out there, because there’s so many trying to get NBA contracts,” Madison said. “You have to want it more than the other person and just keep working hard everyday.”