In September of last year, I was playing middle school basketball against Cocoa Beach High school. It was near the last game of the season and we need to win that game for a number of different reasons. There were 30 seconds left on the clock, we had the ball, and we were down by four. Prior to that, my coach called a timeout to calm us down and to tell us the plan. The plan was to shoot a 3 and then just foul to stop the clock. After the time out I passed the ball and ran down the court. However, what happened next was one of the most memorable moments of my life.

So I, the shooting guard, pass the ball into the point guard and we ran down the court prepared to preform mission impossible. Once we were passed half court, we knew what we had to do. The point guard passed me the ball by then there were only 24 seconds on the clock. I caught the ball looked at the basket and was about to shoot. When out of the corner of my eye I saw a defender running at as if he was the last man on earth with nothing to eat and I was an all you can eat buffet. So I faked like was going to shoot and the defender flew right by me trying to block the ball that never left my hands. I knew that the only thing to do then was drive to the basket and so I did. I drove to the basket did a spin move at before I knew I was less than 5 feet from the basket. The only thing left to do was put the ball in the hoop. I jumped and before I could flick my wrist to get the shot off…SMACK! Another defender came out of nowhere and basically tackled me in the air, trying to block my shot. CHIRP! The whistle blew and the referee held up two arms forming an x.

“Flagrant foul, four shots on the line!” said the referee. Just like that we had a chance to win the game.

I had the chance to either win or tie the game for my team, the outcome of the game rested on my shoulders. But, I knew I had to keep calm or else I would miss my first shot and all of my previous confidence would be gone for the other three shots. I took my three dribbles paused for a moment then shot the ball…SWOOSH! I made the shot and the score 45-48.

“We’re still in this” I said to myself.

Then, the referee passed me the ball, I took three dribbles, and shot. All I heard was the ball hit the bottom of the net. I made the second shot.
“Two more to go” I said to myself.

I was on a roll as I made my third free throw. I could win the whole game with one shot, I knew this was it. As the sweat rolled down my face the referee passed me the ball. The crowd was loud but I was so focused the crowd just sounded like a feint white noise on a broken television. Three dribbles later I shot the ball and I knew I released it wrong. The ball hit the front of the rim bounced about 4 feet up in the air, then came straight down, and finally went. I had just made 4 free throws in a row.

By the end of the season, we went on to have the best middle school basketball record in west shore history. However we didn't make it to the playoffs because another team in our division had a better record than us. Even though we didn't win it was one of the best seasons ever.