By the end of the week Keevan celebrated passing his first math quiz and Arturo got a passing grade on a short essay he wrote in English. Ox proved to be so helpful with tutoring the basketball team that other students were showing up for tutoring in the library after school. Ox recruited a couple of the other smart kids from his math class and had them help out. The Davis library had gone from a boring place to a hub for learning in a week's time.
Mr. Roderick changed the pass of practice to focus more on practicing and solidifying the team's defensive schemes and even inserted some basic offensive plays. Jack challenged the team to show up before school so that they could still get proper conditioning. Most of the team showed up for the conditioning with the exception of David whose father wouldn't let him come to school that early. By Friday Ox had joined the team in running, although he jogged at a very slow pace. Jack felt great about going into their next game. He knew they would need their best effort to beat the Blue Knights who were thus far undefeated in the league. The game was scheduled for Saturday morning at Davis.
As Jack woke up on Saturday he felt refreshed and ready. His mom had told him that Amanda and Greg were coming to the game since the Hawks weren't scheduled to play until later that evening. Jack hadn't seen Amanda since they kissed, and he was really looking forward to seeing her again. He hoped they'd have some time to hang out after the game and he wanted to be sure that a bad game wouldn't spoil their time together. With those thoughts he focused on the hard work his team put in during the week and got ready for the game.
The Davis gym was packed as Arturo faced off against the Blue Knights center for the opening tip. The referee flipped the ball into the air and Arturo got and excellent jump on the ball. He tipped it to David who grabbed it and passed the ball to Keevan. Keevan slowly dribbled the ball past half court and set the offense. Jocelyn set a screen for Jack, Keevan found Jack with a quick pass and the ball sailed through the net for an opening three point basket.
Mr. Roderick yelled for the defense to press the Blue Knights. Jack and Keevan pounced on the guard who received the inbounds pass. Jack somehow swatted the ball away and Keevan picked it up and took the ball in for an easy layup. Davis had jumped out to a five point lead and Mr. Roderick yelled for another press. This time David intercepted the inbound pass, took control of the ball and drove the ball in for another layup.
The Blue Knights looked confused and frustrated. Arturo saw the center for the other team race down the floor. Arturo followed him. The inbound pass was launched down the court, but it didn't travel far enough to reach the Blue Knight center. Arturo picked up the ball and passed it to Jocelyn who was the closest player. She dribbled the ball up the court and passed it to Keevan. Keevan took advantage of a seam in the Blue Knight defense and scored another layup. Davis was winning nine to nothing. The Blue Knight's coach called a timeout and Mr. Roderick had his team huddle together.
Jack looked around at his team as they huddled. Not one of them looked out of breath and the excitement of scoring a quick nine points didn't seem to phase any of them. They all had intensity on their faces. Mr. Roderick gathered them in close.
"This is what strong defense does...nice hustle out there...let's keep pressing them until they figure out how to beat our press. I'll signal you when it's time to take it off...Let's go!"
Davis continued to press the Blue Knights the entire first half. At half time the score was forty two to fifteen. Despite the lopsided point total, the Davis team maintained their intensity in play through the second half.
Mr. Roderick had them stop pressing the Blue Knights in the second half, but the Blue Knights still struggled against the tight Davis defense. Keevan and David were the primary scorers as Davis forced multiple turnovers during the game. Jack was an afterthought in the offense. Arturo matched up well against the other center and scored eight points. Jack focused on defense and had nine steals by the end of the game.
When the game ended Jack looked up at the scoreboard and was shocked to see that Davis had won by a score of seventy one to thirty eight. He felt a faint smile growing on his face, but then he looked at the rest of the team who looked like they were just taking care of business as usual.