So it was the basketball tournament finals today and I was the star player number 30 and the school was counting on not just me but the whole team to win this game. So back to class. 

“Yes Jerant?” the teacher asked as I put my hand up.

“Can I leave early to get some practice in before tonight's game?”

“No you can stay for the last twenty minutes of class just like everyone else,”

So I did. The bell rang and I sprinted toward my locker to get out of there before the halls started to flood with students. I got my basketball bag from my gym locker and ran toward the bus along with the rest of my team.  I texted my mom before we left the school yard on the bus. Then our coach started to talk to us about tonight's game.

“So guys today we are playing a team that has some new players and they are really good. Take a look at this video that i will put up on the screen,”  My coach said.

He put the video up on the screen and it showed the new players dunking and shooting down threes like Stephen curry. We were all looking at the video in disbelief. Then some players on my team looked like they were  getting kinda worried. Then my coach started to talk to the team and to reassure us that they don't have nearly as good teamwork as us. Then one of my teammates interrupted the coach and started to talk.

“Yeah but coach there better than us nowlike just look at them we can't beat them were not nearly as good as them,”

Then as captain I stood up and started to talk to reassure my team and gave them inspiring words of encouragement and to keep their attitudes up and good.

“Yes they may look better and if they are better we have better teamwork and teamwork is important  we also have a better playstyle and we have you Evan you tower over everyone your 6’5 and everyone is normally 5’5 to 6,0 and your great in the defensive area, we also have the best coach in the league Mr Steven!”

Then everyone started to look at this game differently and they started to believe in themselves more. We then started to work on a game plan well multiple game plans just in case. Then we started to sing songs but we were so out of sink it was kinda funny but it was still fun to sing with my team.

                        Five  hours later

“Now remember guys this is a long bus ride of six hours and we are only five and a half hours in so we need to be ready and we need to have our bag of basketballs ready and we all need to go to the bathroom.

As we arrive the school is massive compared to our high school and the players are taller than most of our players so they probably stand at around 6 feet and if not 6'1 but no one is taller than Evan by the looks of it. So I step off the bus with my bag that holds my arm sleeve and my shoes which are Nike LeBron Witness VIII and it holds my head band water bottle and my towel to clean my sweat.

“Ok let's warm up guys,” Coach Steven told us.

We start to warm up then the other team starts to warm up and then they start dunking on the rim immediately. Evan started to get mad so then he also started to dunk to show off his moves then we started to shoot and practice alley oops blocking and layups.  

“Ok come on guys we need to stretch now because we only have twenty minutes before the game starts.” Coach Steven immediately informed us.

So we started to stretch and run laps around our half of the court then the ref blew the whistle for the game to start. The ball is put up for the tip of and Evan won the tip off so we start with possession.

“Move up the court!” I yell to my team as I sprint up the court with the ball.

The shot clock is counting down and I pass the ball to Evan and I run up and screen the defender on Evan. 

“34 34!” Evan yells which means he is  gonna pump fake and he needs someone to pass to.

I run Behind him and he does the pump fake and I grab the ball as he hands it to me.

As he does pass it to me he goes to screen the defender on me so I have the open three. 

“Five four!” The crowd starts counting down with the shot clock.

I shot just before the shot clock ended….  SWISH! The sound the net makes as I make it in.

As I run down the court backwards to get on Defense as fast as I can and I tell Evan that that was a good play.

“Go Go GO boys!!” the opposing coach yells at his players. 

The player I'm guarding does a crossover and as he finishes doing the cross over another player runs past me to get a pass. I try to block the pass but I'm just not fast enough. The player recives the pass mid air and ducks it but Evan tries to block him but he still manages to score and he also gets fouled.

“And one!” The ref calls

So we all take out positions and the player goes to shoot…. Scores.  

It's now Three Three with 3 minutes left in the first quarter.

“Full court press Full court press!” I yell as i get ball

I pass to Medrick then he goes and breaks the defender's ankles and he passes the ball to me. I take the shot…. BLOCKED OUT Of nowhere. They grab the ball then they run up the court and hit down a three like nothing. 

“Time!” Our coach calls 

“We need to play better defense because  we are down three and they're dominating right now but if we keep this up we're gonna lose. We need to work together.  We also need to keep shooting threes and we need to get Evan to the net so he can dunk easily on them,”  Coach said

The whistle blew as our timeout was done. We had possession, we did what coach said and we got Evan to the rim and he dunked on their defender. We all ran back on defense and we did what the coach told us to do and we got Evan to the rim and Fred passed him the ball then…. 

BANG!! The sound the rim made as Evan slammed on the rim. 

“Yes!” Coach yelled as we were putting his game plan to use.

“We're only down by one we got this guys!” I said in excitement. 

After this basket it just went downhill for us and they just kept scoring. 

Nine to Five 

They just kept hitting threes we couldn't stop them.

Bang now it's eleven to five.

By the end of the first quarter it was sixty five to fifty six…

“Common guys were down by ten with three minutes left in the second quarter. We need to come back in order to be able to have a chance to win.” Coach said

The ref blew the whistle to signal the start of the second quarter.

We run up the court with the ball and we go to do a 54 which is numbers 4 or lower is run right and five or higher is left and the second number is the number of the player that needs to run left and we all have our own number assigned. Fred gets the ball he shoots and scores. 

Then after that the opposing team tries to get through our defense but they can, which results in me stealing the ball and going to dunk which makes them only have a five point lead.

“Keep it up!” Coach Stevens yells to keep our mood up. 

Then they steal the ball with just fourteen seconds left, then they go for the three pointer and they score with 3.4 seconds left which extends their lead to eight points.

“Time!!” our coach yells.

We go to our bench then our coach tells us that we need to pass the ball immediately up the court then shoot it at the three point line. We do what he tells us and the crowd starts counting down and then they pass me the ball i shoot it and it goes in which lowers their lead of eight points to five points once again. 

BRzZZZZZZZZZZzzzZZZZzZzzZzZzZZZZZzzZZzzZZZzzz

“Half Time!!”  Announced over the speakers.“ 

Come on guys, we need to catch up. We only have eight more minutes left to catch up and we're only down by five if we keep this up. I think we can throw them off guard and get the win,” Coach informed us as we sat on the bench. 

I went to the bathroom with the rest of my team and the point guard of the opposing team was also using the bathroom.

“Hey look, it's the point guard who can't hit his shots,” the opposing point guard said.

“What did you say?” I asked in a mad and also annoyed tone.

“You heard me,” he replied.

I was ready to punch him in the face but then my team intervened. 

“Hey man he isn't worth it just leave him be and show him on the court,” my team told me.

“Yea listen to them westbrick,” He said 

I ignored him after he called me westbrick which is a nickname given to russell westbrook because of his terrible outside shooting ability. 

We walk out of the bathroom and then we go back to our bench and our coach makes us stretch. After stretching he showed us another game plan.

“Three two one ESPN!” we chanted as we entered the court. 

The ref blew the whistle to signal the start of the third quarter. As we ran up the court with the ball we decided to let the shot clock go down to ten seconds then Evan passed me the ball I shoot the three and it goes in then as soon as i do score then we start going heads to head then we lower there lead to only 2 points just before the end of the third quarter.

The ref blew the whistle to signal the end of the third quarter.

“Common guys we just need to score a three and keep the lead if we score a three and we can win this game!” 

Our coach said with hope in his voice.

So as we got some new game plans made we stepped on the court for the last time unless its a tie so it goes into overtime. They started with possession, they drove up the court and they tried to score but Evan kept trying to block them but they shot over him but they couldn’t see over him so they couldn't score and we kept grabbing the rebound and we also kept trying to score but they were also playing excellent defense.  It was coming down to the last 30 seconds and they  were still only up by two points so as the clock was counting down i had the ball i asked Evan to screen for me then i shoot the crowd goes quite the buzzer that indicates the end of the match the ball goes in!

We run around the the court celebrating as we won the championship game and as we do we celebrate for Twenty minutes then after that we head to the bus then we start returning to the school and as we arrive the whole school is there and the parents of the players are there and we celebrate at the school for a entire hour and after that i head home and sleep instantly.

The End