OK, back to my son’s basketball team for a minute. Last time we talked, his team had just won the Chicago Park District North Region tourney; the trophy raising, the pictures, it was really awesome. The tournament was over, but the conference games continued. Not to worry though, right? I mean, every single conference game up until this point had been a blowout. Even though this team we were playing on Saturday night was undefeated, surely we’d take them down just like all the rest, right?
If the last 2 tournament games were the best of the year, this one may have taken the cake. Our team was ripe for an upset. They played 4 games during the week plus a practice. They just gave it their all taking down the tourney. Two of the kids had played 3 basketball games before our game that evening; another kid had 2 soccer games earlier in the day. We traveled to this team’s home gym; they were ready for us. They jumped out ahead, which meant this was our first deficit of the season; yeah, you read that right. We were trailing early in the game for the first time all year… probably the first time in 2 years. Their main kid was maybe the best kid we’ve played against, period. We went inside with ease, scoring with both hands near the rim. We have big kids, but we were having problems guarding him. Yet, as the first half continued, we took the lead and gave ourselves a little cushion. At halftime, we all thought, we were about to put this team away for good, just like all the rest; we were wrong.
This team didn’t go away. This big kid continued his tear; I think he scored over 20 points. He was money at the free throw line too. Then, they had some other kids hit a couple treys; what was this about? Our lead was slowly disappearing; when was our run going to happen? It never did. We were hanging on for dear life. Down by 3, less than 10 seconds left, the other team brought the ball down the floor; their kid shot a 3 pointer… he missed, but… he was fouled. They had a chance to tie the game; surely this kid wouldn’t make all of them, right? Finally, we were right. He made the first, missed the second, and although he purposely tried to miss the last one, it went in. We inbounded the ball to my son, who dribbled down the court… game over. A narrow 1 point victory… whew!
It was the most exciting game of the year. My son had his best game of the year, scoring a season high 17 points (5 treys); his team needed every one of those points. He was beat… so was his team. We had one more game on Sunday, and three of the kids wouldn’t be there; could THIS be our upset? It was close the first few minutes, but we slowly started exerting our will; blowout time again! What a week… 6 games, 6 wins. After these last games of 2023, our boys are 14-0; what a run. All that is left is finishing up our conference games, playoffs, and winning the conference championship. It’s been a crazy two year run. Get some rest and come back to put that cherry on top..
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