Jack sat on the gym floor in a black warm up suit with teal trim, the colors of Davis. He stretched out his legs with the rest of the team and watched the crowd trickle into the gymnasium. They were congregating to one set of bleachers that were normally concealed on the south wall. Jack knew that his mom would be arriving soon and his stomach felt like it was doing slow summersaults over and over again. He looked at Ox who was also stretching, but his eyes were closed and he looked focused. There was no way Jack was about to close his eyes.
Across the gym was the team they were about to play. They were dressed in white warm up suits with burgundy and blue trim. Unlike Alan's team, this team was not solely comprised of white kids. It looked like a few kids on the team were black, but they were definitely not as dark as the kids on Jack's team. The team started warming up and Jack noticed they had the word "Bruins" on the back of their warm up suits. Mr. Roderick blew on his whistle and all the boys on the Davis team jumped to their feet and huddled around their coach.
"Alright boys...this team has got a couple of new players on it this year...it's not the same team you beat last season. I want Cisco to keep an eye of their warm up drills...he'll grab all rebounds for our layup and shooting drills...Jack...I don't want you shooting outside of the key during warm ups...do you understand?"
"Yes coach."
"Good...let's warm up and get focused on beating the Bruins..."
Mr. Roderick blew the whistle and the boys from Davis started their drills. Jack missed every single lay up in warm ups. Ox was jumping so high it looked like he could almost drop the ball in the hoop on his layups. Keevan and Josiah were surprisingly focused and running cleaner drills than they normally did in practice. The twins looked just as steady as always and Cisco was clearing all the rebounds and trying to watch the other team. The eighth member of the team had quit the team the day before because his family was moving away which contributed to Jack's anxiety about playing.
After the layup drills ended, Jack turned around to see what the Bruins were doing. they were running intricately choregraphed layup drills and every boy seemed to be making every layup, to top it off the Bruins had twelve players on their team. Mr. Roderick blew the whistle and the Davis boys started their shooting drills.
Cisco passed a ball to the spot where each boy squared up to the basket. Jack came to the free throw line at almost every turn. He missed his first shot, but made six consecutive shots after that. Jack kept going to the free throw line and found a rhythm in his shot. Pretty soon Mr. Roderick pulled him out of the drill.
"Jack...I don't want you to make every shot from the free throw line...get a little closer to the basket and don't worry about finding your stroke...you've got it today..."
Jack didn't say anything to Mr. Roderick. He went back into the drill and started taking shots closer to the basket. Most of the shots went in, but Jack lost some confidence as he started missing some shots that were really close to the hoop. Luckily the warm up drills ended and a loud buzzer sounded. The boys instinctively hustled over to Mr. Roderick who was standing in front of a short row of chairs on the north side of the gym. A scoring table was set up at mid court on the sidelines and the Bruins were clamoring to get organized on their bench. Mr. Roderick kneelt down and huddled his team around him.
"We're going to go with our five regular starters...Keevan will run the point, David and Derrick will play the two and three...and Josiah and Ox are down low...I want Ox to take the tip and don't forget to pass the ball three times before you shoot it in our sets...any questions?...good let's go take it to em'..."
All the boys took off their warm up suits including Jack and Cisco who were sitting on the bench. The game started shortly after Mr. Roderick's pep talk and Jack finally realized that the gym was nearly full. He didn't think to look for his mom, he wanted to focus on Ox who was standing at mid court waiting for the referee to toss the ball in the air for the opening tip.
With the opening tip came an eruption from the crowd. Ox easily won the tip and Davis had the ball first. Keevan drove the ball to the hoop and scored an easy layup. Mr. Roderick yelled at Keevan to pass the ball next time, but it didn't seem like anyone could hear him. After the Bruins inbounded the ball the twins swarmed the Bruins player who caught the ball. One of them stripped the ball loose and the other one picked it up and laid it in for another easy basket.
Jack was amazed by the intensity of his teammates. He hadn't seen them work so hard except when Mr. Roderick had them run. The first half continued in the same manner as the first minute of the game and by half time the Davis team was winning by twenty five points. Mr. Roderick led the team to the locker room after the half time buzzer and all five starters were smiley and sweaty.
There was a chalkboard in the locker room and a Gatorade cooler full of cold water. Mr. Roderick had the boys grab something to drink and sat them down in front of the chalk board.
"Great effort out there gentlemen...you have demonstrated that you can outrun this team...but we still have twenty minutes to play...do you think you're going to outrun all twelve of their players?...we need to slow things down on offense Keevan...pass the ball and run down the clock...it's not hard...how are you boys holding up?"
Mr. Roderick looked directly at Cisco and Jack. Both Cisco and Jack nodded yes as if to say that everything was fine. Then Mr. Roderick looked at Ox.
"You've been playing some great defense out there Ox...you haven't let them score once in the paint...do you know that?"
Ox shook his head and smiled.
"I think we'll start the second half with Ox, Josiah, David, Keevan, and Jack...you gentlemen good with that?"
Jack was too afraid to speak up as he realized he was about to put into the game. The other boys were nodding in agreement, but Jack wanted to scream in protest. He kept his feelings pent up as Mr. Roderick drew some designed plays to create more passing opportunities. After he finished the team left the locker room and headed back to the gym.
When they got to the gym the Bruins were already warming up. Jack looked at the clock on the scoreboard and it was under two minutes and running. There was time to back out of playing, but Jack caught sight of his mom sitting with Greg and Amanda in the crowd. He felt guilty about not wanting to play and took a deep breath and told himself he was going to do his best. Mr. Roderick called the team together.
"Okay gentlemen...they're going to get the ball to start the second half...let's get a stop out there and remind them that we're the same team they faced in the first half."
Before he knew it, Jack was on the court defending one of the Bruins. Jack knew he just needed to stay in front of his man and Ox would pick up the slack. The player was trying to get open for a pass and Jack felt like he was just chasing the other player from one spot on the court to another over and over again.
The Bruins successfully inbounded the ball and Jack's man took off in a full sprint running down the court. The other player was much faster than Jack and raced in front of all the other players. Another Bruin passed him the ball and he scored an easy layup. Jack looked at the ground, but Ox quickly patted Jack on the back and told him to "keep pushing". Ox inbounded the ball to Keevan and Jack hustled down to the other end of the court. Two Bruin players suddenly swarmed Keevan and stopped him in his tracks. Keevan yelled for help, but Jack stood froze. One of the Bruins stole the ball from Keevan and raced ahead for an easy layup. By the time Jack got back towards Keevan he could see the usually fire and anger in Keevan's eyes.
"When I calls for help boy...you best come down and give me help!"
Ox ran past the two boys.
"I's gonna give country boy da ball if you don't shut it!"
"Fine!...Stay out of my way boy!"
Ox waved for Jack to run down the court. Jack went ahead and ran down. David came back to help Keevan in case he got trapped again. Josiah stood at mid-court t
o insure that the Bruins didn't steal the ball back. Ox inbounded the ball to Keevan who was immediately swarmed by two Bruins. Keevan passed the ball to David who passed it up to Josiah at mid court. Josiah turned around and saw Jack standing wide open at the three point line. He passed Jack the ball. Jack caught the ball and took a quick shot. The ball bounced off the front of the rim and back onto the court. Jack hustled in to get the rebound, but another Bruin player beat him to the ball. Jack now felt responsible for three straight blown possessions. Mr. Roderick wasn't yelling, but he looked frustrated.
On the opposite end of the court Ox set the defense. Jack was a couple steps behind the player that rebounded his missed shot. When he got to the other end of the court he took his position in the zone defense that Ox called. The Bruins started passing the ball around the the top of the three point line. Ox and Josiah held the inside lanes in check and Keevan and David were being aggressive with the ball handlers. Jack stayed in his position defending the outside shot from the right side of the court. The ball eventually made its way to Jack's side of the court. When the Bruin player caught the ball he faked a dribble and Jack swiped at the ball. The ball came loose and Jack somehow grabbed the ball. Ox and Josiah quickly started streaking down the court. Keevan was calling for the ball, but was being guarded by two Bruin players. Jack passed the ball to David who was wide open. David relayed his pass up to Josiah who missed a layup, but Ox got the rebound and put the ball back in the hoop.
Jack could feel the cheer from the crowd and he suddenly felt like he was normal again. The Bruins kept pushing the pace of the game, they still had a long way to go if they were going to get back in the game. Jack braced himself on defense again. This time the Bruins stayed away from his side of the court. One of the taller players on the Bruins caught a pass in the paint and tried to get off a quick shot against Ox. Ox read the shot and blocked the shot right into Jack's hands. Jack passed the ball to Keevan who was wide open. Keevan got the ball past half court and slowed down his dribble. The other boys hustled to the other side of the court and the Bruins once again swarmed Keevan. Josiah pointed for Jack to go to the three point line. Josiah stood in front of one of the swarming players and Keevan broke loose. He passed the ball to Jack who suddenly saw a streaking Ox. Jack practically handed the ball off to Ox who took a giant leap and easily put the ball through the hoop.
The Bruins coach called a timeout and the crowd got loud. Mr. Roderick had his team huddle up by the bench.
"Great hustle out there gentlemen. Way to recover Jack!...I'm gonna put Cisco and Derrick in for David and Jack. Let's keep after it gentlemen and try to slow down the tempo Keevan."
"What if they keep trapping me Coach?"
"Break the trap and if the opportunity is there take the score...Let's keep after it!"
Jack felt like he had just got his game legs under him and was sitting on the bench again. He was excited to see Cisco get in the game, but he looked more lost than Jack. The Bruins still couldn't score though and Keevan kept breaking the trap defense and Ox and Josiah put up an absurd number of uncontested layups. Mr. Roderick rotated David back into the game for Cisco and the Davis team increased their lead to thirty six points. With less than four minutes to go in the game Mr. Roderick brought Ox and Keevan out and put Jack and Cisco in the game with Josiah and the twins.
Davis had possession of the ball and Josiah inbounded the ball to David. He dribbled the ball up slowly when he ran into the Bruins trap defense. Jack could definitely tell that there was no quit in the Bruins team. David launched a pass to Jack who had a defender on him pretty quickly. Jack pivoted away from the defender and could see that he was about three feet off the three point line. Jack took the shot and nailed the shot. The crowd went silent for a second and then erupted. The defender just looked at Jack like he was someone who just did something completely out of character.
The Davis team raced back to defense. The Bruins scored on a jump shot over Cisco and Josiah inbounded the ball to Derrick this time. Derrick quickly passed the ball to David who passed the ball to Cisco. Cisco raced up the floor with ball and stopped dribbling on the other side of half court. Jack now had a defender on him. Cisco was about to get double teamed, but got off a quick pass to Jack who was right at the three point line. Jack faked a shot that got his defender to leave his feet. He put up another shot and got clobbered on the shot by the defender. The shot bounced off the rim and through the net. The referee blew his whistle and put Jack on the free throw line. Jack easily made the free throw shot and the Davis team raced off to play defense again.
The Bruins had to work hard for an open shot, but they eventually got one over Jack this time. With less than two minutes to play Jack could sense that the game was truly over and that his team would win. All the pressure and anxiety that was left in Jack's system evaporated.
Josiah passed the ball into Jack who found a wide open Cisco. Cisco dribbled the ball up the court and set the Davis offense. The Bruins were still trying to swarm the ball, but the Davis team kept passing the ball around. After eight or nine consecutive passes Cisco found Jack wide open two feet behind the three point line. Jack could sense that the Bruins were tired and he fired his shot. The ball went straight through the net. The Bruins looked defeated, but quickly pushed the ball up the court for an uncontested score. Josiah inbounded the ball to Cisco who dribbled out the clock.
Ox and Keevan came off the bench and congratulated the squad who closed out the game. Mr. Roderick brought the team in for a cheer and they then shook the hands of the Bruins team. After the ritual handshake Mr. Roderick brought his team back together.
"Great team win out there today gentlemen! This is why we run and push ourselves ridiculously through the week...so we can feel good about winning...now go home and get some rest...we'll be back at practice tomorrow afternoon...one more thing. I appreciate the communication on the court...let's keep that going in practice."
Jack looked at Ox and let out a releasing smile. Ox made a fist and rubbed his knuckle on Jack's head. Jack pretended to pull away, but liked the affection. Amanda, Greg, and Jack's mom walked over to Jack and Ox.
"Nice win boys...Gina gave me permission to take us all out to dinner...how's that sound."
"Sounds great Greg...mind if we go change first?"
"Of course not...good shooting Jack."
"Thanks."
Amanda looked at Jack and beamed a slight blush and smile.
"Good game Jack."
"Thanks, but Ox was the real hero out there today."
"Nice game too Ox..."
"Thanks Manda...we's best go get changed country boy."
"Alright...we'll see you guys soon."
Jack and Ox walked out of the gym and Ox bumped up against Jack.