Jack ran up the floor after a loose ball. He scooped it up and drove it in for a layup. It was the first time all year that Jack had scored in the paint. Keevan gave him a little chest bump as they went off to set their defense. The layup had just put Davis up by eight points which was their largest lead of the day. The Yellow Jacket team had been tougher than Coach Roderick had thought, but at halftime he reminded his team that the Yellow Jackets were competing for one of the final playoff spots as well and that their coach had a knack for exposing their opponent's weaknesses. When Coach Roderick inserted Cisco into the lineup to start the second half Davis had outpaced the Yellow Jackets and was finally extending their lead.
As the defense set to watch the Yellow Jackets bring the ball up the floor Jack looked as the scoreboard. There was only four minutes left in the game and Jack realized that the Yellow Jackets hadn't scored in almost three minutes.
The Yellow Jackets ran a play they had been running most of the game and found an open player on the baseline that made a desperation three point basket. Jack shook his head in disbelief that the kid actually shot the ball, but was even more amazed that it went in. Cisco brought the ball up the court as he had the entire second half and passed the ball to Keevan. Keevan once again out dribbled his defender and found David in the post for an easy two pointer. Jack could sense that victory was getting closer.
Before the defense could reset Coach Roderick signaled in a full court press. Cisco immediately glued himself to the opposing point guard and David starting jumping in front of the Yellow Jacket trying to inbound the ball. Jack lingered by his man and just as he expected the inbound pass was a heave towards his player. David tipped the pass slightly and Jack got a jump on it and once again stole the ball and drove it in for another two pointer. Keevan was amped up after Jack scored in the paint again and Davis now had a nine point lead with three minutes to go.
Another defensive signal came into the game and this time it was for a trap play. Cisco and Keevan trapped the player who took the inbound pass and forced him to call a time out. Coach Roderick huddled his team together.
"Did you like how I forced them to call a timeout?"
Coach Roderick had a menacing grin on his face.
"That was their last timeout. We're going to go into our base defense and take this victory. Keep pushing the pace on offense. It's wearing them out and they can't afford to put their best defender on Keevan because they're afraid Cisco will beat them to the basket. Jack. Make sure you keep an eye on the clock and manage things out there....Let's go!"
The Yellow Jackets successfully inbounded the ball and put up another desperation three point attempt. This time the ball clanked off the rim and into David's arms. He pushed the ball to Cisco who raced off down the court and literally outran the entire Yellow Jacket team for an easy layup. Coach Roderick yelled for the base defense to get set.
Jack knew that the Yellow Jackets were beginning to panic and observed how the calm base defense of Davis was unexpectedly rattling them. The Yellow Jackets missed another three point basket, but got an offensive rebound. They reset their offense and on an errant pass Jocelyn stole the ball. She held it briefly before passing the ball to Keevan. Keevan passed the ball to Cisco who sped off down court. Jack saw that there was only a minute left on the clock. He called for the ball. Cisco stopped and passed the ball backwards to Jack. Jack swung the ball around to Keevan who then passed back to Cisco. Cisco didn't think to check the clock and put up a forced shot. The ball bounced off the glass and the Yellow Jackets rebounded.
Thundering down the court the Yellow Jackets scored a layup. As David turned to inbound the ball he saw five yellow jerseys swarming the court. He passed the ball to Jack who looked open, but the ball was stolen and another layup was scored. The Yellow Jackets were down by seven with forty seconds to go.
David was forced with the same situation on his next inbound attempt. He saw Cisco racing down court and heaved the ball toward him. The pass was intercepted and quickly passed up court to a Yellow Jacket player at the top of the key who sunk a three point basket. The Yellow Jackets had miraculously cut the lead to four and were swarming once again. Coach Roderick called a timeout.
"Alright guys listen up...They are gonna keep pressing you until you break it. Cisco had the right idea, but we need to get this ball inbounded. Remeber what we worked on at practice on our second snow day? We're gonna run a reverse full court press. They'll be looking for Cisco to be the guy we're inbounding to. Get the ball to Keevan! Let's go!"
Jack walked to the baseline to make the inbound pass. He had never really inbounded the ball before, but the idea was to make a crisp chest pass to Keevan which he was used to. Jack watched David and Jocelyn trap Keevan's defender and Jack hit him with a quick and clean pass. Keevan got the ball and was immediaely fouled. Keevan strolled to the other end of the court and calmly made both free throws. The Yellow Jackets were ready to inbound and Coach Roderick called for the base defense again. Jack strolled behind the cluster of players running down the floor and suddenly put pressure on the ball handler. Cisco unexpectedly rushed over to help him and a second later the ball was knocked loose. Jack picked up the ball and dribbled off to the far corner of the court. The clock ticked down to ten seconds. When the other players got close Jack put up a baseline three and hit only the threads of the net. The wind in the Yellow Jackets sail was suddenly exhausted. Davis went back into its base defense and forced an errant shot as time expired. Davis had won one game it needed for a chance to play in the post season tournament.