Sitting on the visiting team's bench, Aaron couldn't help but shake his head with a tired sigh escaping his mouth as he saw the current score of the game in the final minutes of the 3rd quarter. 46-45 current score, Royal up by one. As soon as Aaron left the court in the final minutes of the 2nd quarter, the game became stagnant due to the lack of shooting precision from both teams, especially Roland; if Aaron had to give it a score, he would say Maurice barely made 30% of his shots. The other problem was, of course, that now Maurice practically went back to hogging the ball, causing many opportunities to be wasted because he didn't pass the ball proactively.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw how Coach Arbitello rubbed his hair in a sign of frustration while whispering with Artie about who knows what, but they were probably thinking of a way to recover and increase the lead in the last quarter of the game. While on the other hand, on the court, the situation took an unexpected turn as this time Maurice lost the ball against one of the players who had marked him throughout the whole game and quickly passing it to the point guard who lost no time to turn and head toward the other side of the court, passing without any problem a Cory who couldn't do anything.
Then, running quickly, his dash was suddenly interrupted by Dominykas who quickly stepped between him and the hoop. "Not so fast," said Dom, extending his hand as fast as possible to take the ball from his hands, but not fast enough to see with horror how he passed the ball to the shooting guard who cut past Dominykas's side. "Shit," said Dominykas, turning as fast as possible to block the possible layup the shooting guard could make, but at that moment the shooting guard passed the ball back to the point guard who was already in position to shoot and without any interference. This time, with his center of gravity more destabilized, Dom could do nothing else but watch with horror and regret as the basketball left the point guard's fingers and slowly headed toward the hoop, entering cleanly into the rim.
"SWISH" was the only sound of the ball going through the hoop, which was drowned out by the sound of the roaring crowd of the All Hallows. "Wooo!!" was the only sound that could be heard in the entire stands, with the blue jerseys celebrating that they were in the lead. 46-48 current score, Gaels in the lead. "Give me a G, give me an A..." the opposing team's cheerleaders began to cheer, causing the mood in the team's stands to rise while their voices did not go unnoticed by the players on the court.
"That's what I'm talking about," said one near the stands. "Finish them," said his girlfriend, who was also a fervent fan of the school team. "Where is your arrogance now, idiot?" one couldn't help but say in the direction of Maurice while being received by the laughter and mockery of the people surrounding him due to that comment. Upon hearing that, the shame Maurice felt quickly turned into anger as he approached in the direction from where that comment had come, being quickly intercepted by Dominykas, who was the closest player to him. "Let me go, idiot," said Maurice quickly, trying by all means to get out of the grip he received from Dominykas. "Calm down," said Dominykas with no intention of letting him go until he calmed down.
"You..." Maurice started to say until a voice cut him off completely. "Barrow!!" shouted Coach Arbitello in their direction, giving a meaningful look toward Maurice. "Tscht," clicking his tongue, Maurice pushed Dominykas's hands away and went in the direction of the coach, swallowing the words he was going to release, knowing he couldn't keep pushing the coach's buttons without receiving a reprimand. As soon as both gathered in the circle surrounding the coach, he lost no time and quickly began to trace his plans on the clipboard he always had at hand along with the marker.
"Very well guys, new plan," he started to say, followed by the sound of the marker on the board. "We will use fast transitions in the last half, avoiding having a single player keep the ball, and whoever has a chance, shoot, and then drop back to defend," the coach finished saying, knowing it was the last quarter. "Barrows, I'm taking you out of the game for good," he said, this time giving a meaningful look to Maurice, who put on a bitter face at what the coach said. "Coach, I..." Maurice tried to say as soon as possible, looking for any excuse. "Save it, I've already made my decision," Coach Arbitello interrupted him without giving him any chance to speak. "Milka and Edwards, you two are also out," the coach continued, looking at both players too. "Don't forget that tomorrow we have another game against Cardozo, so I can't have you waste all your energy," was the last thing the coach added toward the three of them, making them understand the reason why they wouldn't play the last quarter.
"Now then, Calhoun, Brown, you two spread out more toward the edges and try outside shots. Reed, I'm putting you in the center, do you think you can?" said the coach toward Aaron, who simply nodded energetically. "Don't worry coach, I rested enough," Aaron said, already taking off his jacket and ready to return to the court without any problem. "Good, you two also go in," he said, pointing to two of the substitutes who nodded quickly to also warm up. After that, with the changes established, they quickly entered the court. "Omar, be ready for when I pass you the ball," Aaron whispered toward his teammate, who simply gave him a thumb up in his direction as a sign that he understood and got ready.
After that, Aaron quickly entered the court along with the others while Jacob, the team's substitute point guard, took the ball passed to him by the referee and prepared for the inbound. "Jacob," Aaron shouted quickly, raising his hand toward him, who, quickly catching what he was looking for, passed the ball quickly to Aaron, starting the game rapidly. "Thump, thump," bouncing the ball, Aaron walked quickly toward the other side of the court while seeing how his other teammates were being quickly marked without giving Aaron a clear passing line. Meanwhile, the players of the opposing team were not calm either, seeing how the one who was their nightmare before was now calmly dribbling the ball while heading quietly toward the hoop.
Without wasting time, one of them decided to approach as fast as possible toward him, positioning himself in front of him in a defensive stance while Aaron continued without flinching, the ball being the only sound heard in the entire court. Baffled, the player decided to quickly strike with his hand in a clear attempt to steal the ball from his hands, but before he could even do it, he saw Aaron retracting his hand with the ball to then give a spin to the right and get the player off him. Before the player could even go after the ball, he saw how, with his gaze in the corner, he was going to pass the ball to the player in the left corner, followed by the gaze and movement of all the players toward that side, but while his gaze was directed to one side, his hands did the opposite.
While everyone leaned to the left, Aaron made a no-look pass to the right where Omar received the ball slightly stunned by that, but without wasting time, he took a mid-range shot that went in without any interference. 48-48 score tied. At that, the gym fell into complete silence, so much so that even the sound of a needle could be heard while all eyes were fixed on number 15, who, as if he had done nothing, retreated to his side of the court. Quickly, the All Hallows coach made a "T" sign with his hands, calling for a timeout while the players of his team quickly approached him.
"Very well, listen up fast," said the coach, knowing he had barely a minute to make adjustments. "Number 15 seems to have become the point guard, so now they don't have a physically dominant pivot, so I want you to make deep passes and punish the paint as much as you can," the coach explained, drawing on the board, being received by nods and looks of confirmation from his players to then return to the court and resume the game. This time in possession of the ball, the Gaels advanced quickly while the Royals retreated in a collective man-to-man defense while the team's point guard passed the ball quickly between his legs and back, taking his mark out of balance and quickly throwing a pass to the pivot who was under the post.
But before he could even turn to tap the ball into the hoop, he felt how someone behind him pushed him and prevented him from turning with ease. "Move," he said, seeing out of the corner of his eye how the annoying boy behind him blocked both his turning opportunities while using his hip to try to create enough space to score. With all his strength, Aaron managed to stall him long enough for Omar to arrive, and in a double-team, the pivot had no choice but to pass the ball toward the edge of the shooting zone where the opposing forward took a rushed shot due to the little time left on the timer, causing the ball to go out of bounds.
After that, before the game restarted, Aaron quickly approached Omar and whispered under his breath, "Head quickly to the other end of the court," being quickly received by a look of bewilderment from him. "But..." Omar wanted to start saying. "Just trust," Aaron interrupted him, going quickly to grab the ball to pick it up. With a look of bewilderment and confusion on his face, Omar decided to do exactly what Aaron had told him, heading quickly to the other side of the court. Taking the ball and spinning it around his hands, Aaron quickly raised the ball above his head and, under the confused gaze of all the people present on the court, threw it as if it were a football game, causing the ball to quickly cross the entire court, followed by the gaze of all the people.
And as if the ball had a built-in tracker, it fell without interruption where Omar was standing, who, at the moment he had the ball in his hands, stood still trying to understand what had happened just like the rest of the people on the court. "SHOOT!!" a voice broke the silence of the court, making all the players finally react. Without wasting time and before the All Hallows players could even get close enough, Omar shot the ball calmly from the three-point line, causing the ball to pass cleanly through the hoop. 51-48 current score.
After that, a look of incredulity and bewilderment ran across the faces of the players inside the court. And they weren't the only ones, as the coaches also shared the same looks, with Coach Arbitello's being the most surprised of all. "Did you know he could do that?" he asked, addressing Artie, who was also looking with eyes wide open at the young man who seconds before made a pass that crossed the entire court. "I'm as surprised as you are," were the only words Artie could articulate, still fully processing what had happened seconds before on the court. After that, both looked at each other with smiles forming on both their faces, sharing the same idea as the other.
"I think we've found possibly the best player who has ever played for the team," Artie finally said with a smile bigger than had ever been seen. "No," Coach Joe began to say, "I think we found a player who will revolutionize the game," was his response, without knowing that years later he would be right.
Authors thought's
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I realized there's a total lack of hockey stories on this site! How would you feel if I started a hockey fic? Let me know if you'd read it!
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