It was the final minutes of the first quarter of the game between the Royals and the Vikings in the third game of the STOP-DWI Holiday. The tension was in the air while the players ran frantically after the ball under the noise of the crowd and the sound of the floor under their shoes.
At a given moment Aaron had the ball in his possession running quickly down the sideline without even paying attention to the fact that time was running out while his eyes were fixed on the basketball hoop. With firm steps he quickly approached the opposing hoop while a Vikings player planted himself in front of him, causing Aaron to stop dead.
"Give me the ball," the player said to extend his hand quickly in an attempt to steal the ball from Aaron's hands. But Aaron quickly pulled it back toward him while he stood there quickly scanning the court in search of a passing line or a space through which to cut.
Upon seeing none, Aaron then decided to continue advancing slowly, keeping at bay the defender who was trying with great difficulty to try to steal the ball from his hands without any success. "Uff," he let out with frustration seeing how he couldn't take the ball from his hands while they continued advancing to the basket.
"I'll tell you what will happen now," he suddenly heard Aaron's voice, who lowered his head slightly seeing the player in front of him in the eyes. "Turn to the right, jump for a fade-away, and I score," he said with certainty to then move his weight toward the right side, turning while his defender headed toward the same direction as him.
Once the turn was completed, Aaron jumped to, seconds later, see the player in front of him jump a fraction of a second later; while they rose, Aaron leaned his weight slightly backward creating space and released the ball at an elevated angle. "Swish," the simple clean sound of the ball going through the basket was enough confirmation to know that the ball had entered the basket.
24-16 current score, Royals in the lead by 8.
Once the shot was scored, Aaron quickly turned and headed straight toward his side of the court while the player who was defending him stayed standing there with a blank stare, still processing what had happened moments before. "Friend, are you okay?" Brooks asked, putting a hand on his teammate's shoulder seeing that he had stayed standing there.
"He did it," was the only thing Brooks heard, who put a look of confusion on his face at not being able to comprehend what his friend was saying. "What do you mean?" he continued asking, wanting to understand what it was he was referring to.
"The move to score, he performed it just as he said," he said this time, finally turning his face toward Brooks's with a look of complete incredulity as if he still didn't quite process what had happened. After hearing what his teammate had said, a look of incredulity settled on Brooks's face while he gave a much deeper look at number 15, who was heading toward his half of the court.
"Just concentrate on the game," was the last thing Brooks said to likewise get into position ready to receive Jeff's pass and be able to restart the game with the hope of scoring some extra points before the first quarter ends.
Once with the ball received and seeing that few seconds remained, Brooks moved up with the ball followed by his team's deployment seeking to score. Once he crossed mid-court, he passed the ball immediately toward Jeff while heading straight toward the paint to dispute the rebounds against Dominykas.
Seeing that few seconds remained and his team was down by 8, Jeff didn't waste time and quickly began to run toward the perimeter while firmly controlling the ball with his right hand. The first to plant himself in front of him was Maurice, who extended his arms toward both sides in an attempt to prevent him from continuing to advance while blocking his path, but Jeff quickly gave a pass toward Sidney who moved up with the ball to then return it toward Jeff once he freed himself from his marking.
Once past Maurice, Jeff brought the ball over his head ready to launch the shot, but while he brought the ball there, a hand quickly slammed against the ball causing the ball to leave his hands. Quickly the ball was pursued by all the players under the paint, but Brooks was faster than the rest and secured the ball between his hands and quickly turned and launched the ball without wasting any more seconds.
"And he scores! Ivory Brooks scores a crucial mid-range shot seconds before the 1st quarter ends," Jerry shouted into the microphone while the crowd continued exclaiming.
"Aaron Reed managed to block the shot by Jeff Albert, but it was a shame his team didn't get the rebound, causing their lead to go from 8 to 6," Logan followed.
"He is quite a surprise in this tournament," Jerry interrupted. "He can go up and attack the post and then return as if nothing to defend; it's incredible to think he is only a 14-15 year old teenager because of the way he plays," he finished saying.
"You took the words out of my mouth, Jerry; it seems we are seeing the young revelation of the tournament," Logan finished, praising like his partner the talent Aaron had shown so far.
"Pii," the sound of the backboard indicating the end of the 1st quarter was the signal for all the players inside the court to stop and head to their respective benches to rest.
"Good job, guys," was the first thing Coach Arbitello said while the 5 players sat down quickly while they were passed bottles of Gatorade in order to hydrate as soon as possible to return to the court.
"I want you to keep it up and maintain the protection over Albert," he continued saying the instructions while putting the board in the middle of all the players so they could see what he was thinking.
"Edwards, in the 2nd quarter, as soon as positions change, I want you and Reed to exchange places so he can take charge of blocking Albert," was the coach's first instruction, giving a look between both players. At that, Corey simply nodded in a sign of confirmation, slightly relieved not to have to focus so much on Jeff's defense while Aaron did the same in a sign of clear concentration.
"Reed, simply keep him out of the perimeter, watching his mid-range shot," focusing this time on Aaron, the coach began to make the arrangements for him to defend Jeff. "Understood," was what Aaron said once he finished hearing the coach's indications while he and his teammates stood up ready for the 2nd quarter to begin.
Immediately Aaron picked up the ball from the referee who extended it toward him, preparing for the sideline inbound. Bringing the ball over his head, Aaron quickly got ready to inbound the ball while the Vikings players marked each one; seeing that, Aaron made a signal with his head toward Omar, who understood to suddenly start running toward the opposing hoop quickly.
Without wasting time and calculating the approximate point where Omar would arrive, Aaron launched the ball with all his strength under the gaze of all the spectators in the stadium. Running, Omar lifted his head to see the trajectory of the ball and how Sidney ran after him with the same objective of catching the ball.
Accelerating his pace, Omar quickly grabbed the ball before it even managed to touch the ground to then take two large strides and jump with all his strength against the hoop. "Pum," was the sound that came from the hoop as soon as Omar slammed the ball against it and scored.
Still hanging from the hoop, a large smile spread across Omar's face while he heard the shouts and applause of the multitude of spectators present. "Yeahh!" shouted a man who was in the first row to see that incredible dunk. "That's how you do it, boy!" he didn't forget to add, taking his hands toward his mouth to amplify his words.
"Incredible," shouted a girl among the crowd who had gone to see the game along with her friends. "He's cute," she couldn't help but notice, seeing Omar better hanging from the hoop.
"I like the tall one more," said her friend pointing toward where Dominykas was standing, who like the crowd applauded toward Omar's dunk.
"I prefer number 15," added another, pointing toward Aaron. "He's cute and tall, 2 for 1," she couldn't help but add toward her two friends to then begin whispering among themselves while the game resumed quickly.
26-18 current score.
After that the Vikings team quickly resumed the game to pass the ball toward Jeff so he could set up the play. But he frowned as soon as he saw who was marking him; it wasn't Corey, but the boy with the number 15 on his back.
"What will you do against this," he said to then begin to dribble as fast as he could between his legs in an attempt to knock Aaron off balance, who was in front of him, and cut toward the other side. But Aaron stayed calm without showing any hesitation in his posture while he had both arms extended and knees bent.
"Tscht," clicking his tongue, Jeff quickly attempted a side-step with the objective of tricking him into going toward one direction and quickly cutting toward the other. Seeing that, Aaron didn't fully fall for it, remembering that he had already faced a player who had performed that move before and noticing by the posture that he was going to feint toward the other side.
Following him throughout that trajectory, Aaron managed to lead Jeff toward the corner of the court, suffocating him. "Think, think," Jeff scolded himself mentally in search of any way to get rid of the player who was in front of him.
Without seeing any way out and with the shot clock running out, Jeff quickly saw Brooks approaching rapidly in his direction extending his hands to clearly begin asking for the ball. Quickly Jeff lifted the ball ready for the pass, but Aaron's hands were faster and slammed the ball causing the ball to go out and temporarily pausing the game.
"Ugh," Jeff grunted angrily, quickly picking up the ball to pass it to Brooks and return to the game.
"The boy is doing excellent," Artie said while he saw the whole scene of how Aaron blocked Jeff without any problem.
"Not only that, he is practically restricting him," Coach Arbitello added with his gaze fixed on Aaron. "Give him 2 minutes more," he said this time addressing Artie, understanding what he was referring to. "Don't you think it's too little time?" Artie couldn't help but ask toward his friend.
"Don't forget we have a game tomorrow," was Joe's response toward his friend. "Besides, we have an 8-point lead and I plan for him to rest a few minutes and return for the 3rd quarter," he finished explaining his plan. "Apart from him, also have Calhoun come down," he continued giving instructions and managing the playing time of his players.
"Understood," responded Artie while he turned and gave signals to some players on the bench as they stood up and began to warm up.
On the other side, Coach Wojciechowski rubbed his head in a clear sign of stress while watching the game. "There are going to be changes in the other team," his assistant said toward him while seeing 2 of the Royals' substitutes begin to warm up.
"You also get ready to take out Antonio," he said to his assistant while seeing how from the beginning of the 2nd quarter he was unfocused, especially after how the player number 15 scored in front of him.
While the assistant began to make the arrangement, Wojciechowski couldn't help but give a significant look toward Aaron. "Good defense and consistent shooting," he couldn't help but think upon seeing the way his team was playing. "This got more complicated," he said to himself mentally seeing how now Jeff was followed quickly by Aaron as soon as his hands held the ball.
After that, as soon as the ball went out of the court, the substitution signal indicated that Aaron and Omar were leaving and another 2 were entering; while leaving, both high-fived the new players wishing them luck.
Seeing Aaron leaving, a look of relief appeared on his face while he made a signal to his players to attack with more pressure, taking advantage of the fact that 2 of their starters were out.
The second quarter was just beginning, but the game was still far from deciding a winner.
Authors thought's
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