basketball diaries (part 1, game against WCF)

18 May, 6th game, having secured a semifinal slot a game before, we were up against one of 3 teams who are already eliminated.

our team is playing loose while our opponent is playing seriously, a recipe for an upset. leading all the way up until the 4th quarter, our opponent goes on a run that cuts our lead from 9 down to 1 with only less than 2 minutes left in the game.

our opponent's zone defense is a bit open since one of their guards up-front has decided to take our leading scorer one-on-one. the ball goes to our power forward on the left wing, our center tries to cut inside but did not receive the pass. however, that left an opening behind him that i immediately got to. i received the pass from our power forward and drained a foul-line jumper. lead up to 3.

next possession, our opponent misses a shot and we rebounded. again, one of their guards up-front has left the zone defense to take on our leading scorer. the other guard up-front checks our point guard as he crosses the mid-court line. a few dribbles inside our half-court, he throws a pass to me on the left-wing outside the 3-point area. i saw an opening since both opponent guards are out of the zone defense and made 2 quick dribbles before launching another foul-line jumper with our opponents center trying to catch up with his over-extended arm. the ball travels through the air and swishes through the net. our fans erupted with cheers and we were up by 5.

our opponent calls a time-out but right after misses another shot. the rest of the game then was an exercise of fouling (them) and making foul-shots (us). we won!

afterwards, a couple of teammates acknowledged that i essentially won the game for the team. i just smiled and told them our journey is still not over.