Jon Brockman remembers pretty clearly the first time he faced Jared Stohl on a basketball court.
Stohl, then a freshman at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, lit up Brockman’s Snohomish Panthers for 24 points, including five 3-point field goals.
“His freshman year, he was a little shooter who lit us up for 20-something at our place,” said Brockman, who was a junior on that Snohomish team.
On Saturday, when the University of Portland travels north to face the Washington Huskies, Stohl would love for history to repeat itself as he and the Pilots (3-6) take on the Brockman-led Huskies (4-4).
And while he has grown a few inches since that January 2004 meeting — and his game has matured — Stohl is still at his best when he’s shooting the basketball.
Through nine games, Stohl is averaging eight points, and leads the Pilots in 3-point attempts with 38. He’s tied for the team lead in 3-point field goals made with 15.
“He’s been great,” Portland coach Eric Reveno said. “The main thing you know he’s going to do is make open shots. He’s also going to make some not-so-open shots.”
The 6-foot-2 Stohl is the Pilots’ first guard off the bench, and he filled in as a starter for four games while the team’s regular starting point guard, Taishi Ito, was away from the team following the death of his father.
“Jared was tremendous stepping up,” Reveno said. “He played some of the point and the off guard for us. His versatility has really helped us early in the year. He’s now our first guard off the bench, but I’m comfortable starting him in any game. I’d be comfortable starting him Saturday if it was necessary. He’s been reliable. There are a lot of areas for him to improve upon, but for a freshman to come in and do what he’s doing is great for us.”
Stohl is used to contributing right away. He was a member of Marysville-Pilchuck’s varsity team as a freshman and led the Tomahawks in scoring in his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. He concedes that college basketball is different, but said he feels like he’s starting to get the hang of things.
“There’s a big difference in athleticism,” he said. “Guys are a lot stronger and bigger, and the game’s a lot faster. I’m becoming more and more comfortable each game though. It’s part of the learning process, the more experience you get, the more comfortable you feel out there. But I’m feeling pretty comfortable now. The game’s starting to slow up for me more than it was at the start.”
Stohl has seen first hand just how much bigger and more athletic players are in college. In Portland’s loss to Brigham Young earlier this month, he experienced a “welcome to college” moment thanks to 6-11 center Trent Plaisted.
“The first three that I took in that game, a guy was at the free-throw line and I shot a three and he just blocked it out of bounds,” he said. “I thought, ‘Wow, I thought I was open and he blocked it out of bounds.’”
While Stohl won’t be able to do much about 6-11 defenders, he does hope to add some weight to his 155-pound frame so he can play more physically with other guards. Perhaps a trip back to his home state will help. Among the many things he said he misses being away from home, his mother’s cooking topped the list.
“I miss home,” he said. “I miss my family and I miss my friends, but it’s not too bad being this far. My parents can come down and watch games.”
Stohl will see more than his parents at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Saturday. He’s expecting about 25 friends and family members to be in attendance. With Stohl and Bellevue High School grad Luke Sikma, also a freshman, on the Portland roster, at least a small part of the crowd will be cheering for the Pilots.
For players like Stohl and Sikma, who were passed over by the big school in their back yard, a game against the Huskies comes with some extra motivation.
And Stohl would love for nothing more than a repeat performance of his first meeting with a Brockman-led team to show the Huskies what they missed by not recruiting him.
“I definitely want to prove to those guys that they missed out on a good player in their own state,” he said.
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington athletics, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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