Chapter 10: Thriller
From the start of the second half, it was all Issac and Jerrold making an impact. Only 3 minutes in the second half and the score is already 42-53. The lead was widened to 11 points so I had to get into the game quickly to stop their run.
Ball possession was ours and we're now back to the original starting lineup. Aaron dribbled at the top of the key and stopped for a few seconds which is the signal for me to make the play. From my position on the right, I approached behind Aaron and he then gave me a scoop pass while he simultaneously screened my defender to provide me just enough space to make a 3-point jump shot and it worked.
45-53
After that shot, we quickly ran back to defense. Our eyes were focused on Isaac who has the ball and dribbled forward to where Aaron defended him much tighter than before. Aaron made a great job of messing with Isaac's chance to make a play.
Isaac stopped his dribble and was stuck there as he could not make a good pass because of our intense defense. He caught a glimpse of their SF having enough space to receive a pass and made a quick decision to do so.
What he didn't know is that I actually intended to lax my defense on their SF to bait Isaac on passing the ball to him which he did. So I swiftly intercepted the ball and made an explosive sprint to the other side of the court. The ball was deflected to Aaron who passed the ball ahead of me almost instantaneously when he caught a shadow of me running at full speed.
I quickly caught the ball as it bounced ahead of me and set myself to make a huge leap forward and threw a monster jam to the rim.
The crowd went nuts as they saw a highlight reel that they have only seen on television. The game was getting more exciting as we cut their lead to 6 points.
47-53
We didn't get ahead of ourselves as we got back on defense since we are still down by 6 points.
A series of back-and-forth scoring and stopping took place until there were only 1 minute and 4 seconds left in the game.
The score was 66-68.
We were still down by 2 points as we have possession of the ball.
Isaac was looking at me and Aaron seriously back and forth because he probably thinks that this next shot will be coming from me. I already made 31 points in this game so he knows I am capable of turning this game around.
Aaron actually made a bold play of crossing over Isaac and it looks to me that it worked. Isaac didn't expect a cross-over to be done by Aaron so he was a step too late in catching up to him.
Aaron got inside the paint and drew Jerrold's defense to him. But Aaron made the perfect decision to set a lob to Ikenna for an alley-opp dunk just barely enough to get past Jerrold's tall figure.
The score is tied at 68-68.
With only 43 seconds left in the clock, Isaac got the inbound. He did not panic and calmly advanced the ball to their court. He stalled for time until there were only 29 seconds left.
He then bolted to the right of Aaron which the latter quickly followed. But Isaac stopped his drive midway and crossed over to the left but he didn't go too far because Ikenna was closing in, so he made a quick jump shot from where he stopped.
Time seemed to tick slowly as we followed the ball going to the basket and my team just prayed it doesn't go in.
Our prayers were answered as it hit the rim and bounced away. We were overjoyed.
But not for long.
The ball was caught in midair by Jerrold and flushed into the basket.
"Yeeaaaahhhhhh!"
He screamed at the top of his lungs as we called for a time-out. His team rushed to him congratulating him on the great rebound and dunk. It was my fault actually for not boxing Jerrold out, knowing that Ikenna was not there to defend him.
"Alright guys, games still not over. We still have 17 seconds left. Plenty of time to make a play."
I encouraged my guys to focus on the game and what was ahead. 17 seconds is still a lot of time to create a play and win this game.
"What we need to decide now is if we want to gamble on killing time till the last second to make the last shot. Although we won't have enough time by then if we miss. So what do you guys think?"
I discussed with my teammates what play we should go with. There was not enough time in the time-out to discuss a lot so they just unanimously decided to make me do the game-winning shot. I totally agree.
It was decided together that I make the final shot because we were still down by 2 points and we could only win with a 3-pointer.
"Keep in mind guys. Our opponents will definitely see through our plan easily so we have to prepare for that."
It was a no-brainer to everybody that I'm gonna make the final shot. So they will probably double-team me.
The time-out ended and we're quickly back into the game.
Aaron will do the inbound pass and we will line up for the play.
As soon as the whistle sounded, we got into motion and I just run around trying to be open for the pass and I did.
I caught the ball just close enough to the half-court. I dribbled the ball in the same spot to stall for time. My opponents let me kill the time as it will be an advantage for them as long as I miss.
With only 6 seconds left in the clock, Aaron actually approached me and made a double-team.
I already expected this to happen so I crossed over opposite where he come from, which is to the left. My original defender stuck to me still and was just being annoying to disrupt me from making a shot.
But I didn't lose focus and made a quick turn around dribble to the right where Aaron was, made a huge step back to the right again, and shot the ball.
As the ball followed a steep trajectory to the basket, the whole place was quiet. Not long after, the buzzer sounded indicating that the clock turned to zero. And immediately, the beautiful swishing sound of the net was heard throughout the gym.
3 seconds later it was still so quiet. It was only at the 5th second that a huge uproar blew out from the crowd. Even the coaches couldn't believe what they have seen.
"Quincy!"
"Quincy!"
"Quincy!"
The students were shouting loudly as they cheered for me. And I had a huge grin on my face the whole time. My teammates celebrated the victory and we were laughing and enjoyed this moment.
Even though this was only an evaluation game, to us it was more than that. Well, to me, it definitely is not. It was a moment I waited for my entire life. I have always dreamed of making it big in the basketball scene and this victory is the sign of a great start to my much-awaited grand career.
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zQuinC I wish you enjoy the chapter, please do give comments and support this story. Thank you!
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