We had just come off a close loss to the best team in the league the 45-48. We had given our all in that game. We were playing the next team in the tournament. You have to warm up before a game so we didn’t have much time to rest. We were playing the worst team in the league, and we had already killed them once before, so we weren’t worried.
The game had begun. I was starting. I hadn’t started the first two games, but I already started most of my games, so I wasn’t nervous. We were leading at half time by about 7 points. We thought we had won already. I still didn’t have any points.
They were still in the game at the fourth quarter. When the biggest guy on the team got a rebound and led the fast break, I thought, they can’t win because they were down by four, with 12 seconds in the game. He shot an awkward 3-pointer and got fouled as the ball was in the air, the ref blew his whistle and the three pointer was in. The crowd went crazy. So the shot counted. He went to the line and swished the free throw, and our four point lead was destroyed of seconds. The crowd went silent.
With the game all tied up, we didn’t want to go to over time because they had all the momentum. The fans from all the schools wanted them to beat us. Our fans were silent. We rolled the ball, so the clock didn’t start, but Chris picked it up right away with seven seconds to go. Chris drove under the basket and couldn’t get a shot because he was triple teamed. I was wide open. He passed to me. I shot from a few feet out from the block. The ball was in the air the buzzer sounded. I banked the shot of the glass, and it was in. We won, and I shot the game winner.
My teammates ran onto the court. They tried to pick me up but they couldn’t, so they pushed me and yelled. I was the hero for a day. It was the only points I had all game, the best shot I ever had. As I left I heard the coach of the other team say that his team had a good game, but it was a heart breaker at the end. I smiled when I heard that, because my shot won it for us.