15 years ago, Kobe Bryant was a senior in high school looking to lead Lower Merion to an PIAA AAAA state championship.

On March 23, 1996 in Hershey, Pa., Cathedral Prep almost ruined it for Bryant and the Aces.

The Ramblers were up early, up late, but lost, 48-43, to Lower Merion in a truly entertaining game.

With Prep located in Erie, I wanted to take a trip back to memory lane. So we talked with key players from that Prep team in Keith Nies, Brian Szewczykowski and Julian  Blanks and its then-assistant, Jim Marnella.

I also went to Cleveland and interviewed Bryant about it before the Los Angeles Lakers played the Cavaliers last month. Erie is about two hours from Cleveland.

With that, we put together a video to recapture the game. Our video guy, Matt  Mead, is still trying to get it to fit perfectly, but you’ll get a chance to see how Bryant’s last high school game went before he bolted to the NBA.