Chapter 2 : The Regional Championship
"Go now ! ISO ISO !" Coach called from the sideline. "Attack, yes , yes ! THATS How YOU PLAY BASKETBALL"
I was going at fellow teammate Rashad Jones. At practice we had battles all the time. I was now on defense. Rashad dribbled down the court. He sized me up. I could see what was coming next. He crossed over and I picked him clean. Easy.
I was steamrolling down the floor with him trailing me. He was getting closer and closer. I took off and slammed it through, cock back tomahawk.
"LETS GO" Riley shouted. I shook his hand as we got back on defense. Rashad came back. Pick & roll. He maneuvered his way through and kicked it to our dead eye shooter in the corner, Matt Davis. "SHOT" I yelled. Swish, nothing but net.
I took the ball out and threw it to Riley. He sped down the court and stopped at the top of the key. We ran our pick & roll. I set the pick and he slashed to the rim, drawing both defenders. He noticed and threw a oop off the glass to me. I went up and soared for the slam. Coach blew the whistle. Practice was over.
We gathered at half court. "Good practice, good practice. We gotta continue to get better on the defensive end, we got all the offense in the world. Alright hands in." Coach said.
"Spartans on three!" I yelled. "1 .. 2 ... 3"
"SPARTANS" we shouted, in unison. We all walked back into the locker room to get dressed. "Damn man, I can't wait for Saturday! Time for me to get buckets ya hear?" Riley stated.
I nodded in agreement to his statement. Supposedly for Regionals we were getting new uniforms. Our school colors are navy blue and varsity maize. We were sponsored by Nike so they would hook us up every now & again.
Everybody had left out of the locker room except me. I had been thinking long and hard about the McDonald's invitation. Many people around the nation don't believe I deserve the #1 spot. It was my responsibility to prove it. Just as I was getting deep into my thoughts my phone rang.
I looked at the caller ID. Oh shit, it was my mama. "Hello?" I answered, timidly. "BOY IF YOU DONT GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE !" She yelled. "Ok ok" I replied. I grabbed my bag and sprinted out the front of the school. Riley was walking to Huey when he saw me sprinting. "Ayee ! Don't fall" He laughed. I shook my head and kept running.
I made it to the car and got in. My mama looked at me sideways. "What time is it?" She asked. I looked down at my phone. "7:00"
"What time do you get out of practice?" She said between gritted teeth. "Umm 6:30"
"Don't .. let ... it .. happen.. again" She stared, coldly. I nodded my head , and she pulled out the lot. Whew, I didn't fear anyone, but my mama was something else.
In a few minutes we were at home. Finally. I marched straight up to my room and laid on the bed. I scrolled through my timeline until I saw something that caught my eye. It was an article on the Woodcrest Spartans. We were ranked #54 in the nation. But I wasn't satisfied. I wanted higher.
I plugged my phone into the charger and headed for the shower, it was very needed. Once out the shower I settled down and got ready for bed. Then, my phone lit up. It was Serenity, we would always have our late night convos until we fell asleep. Tonight was no different.
Beep Beep Beep !
I groggily lifted my eyelids. The clock just kept beeping. I scrambled to hit the snooze button. Thank you. Just a few more minutes of sl-
"RISE & SHINE" My mama yelled, pulling the curtains to reveal the sun shining brightly. Fuck. I sat up in my bed and held my forehead.
"Don't look like that, it ain't my fault you spend yo nights talking on the phone. Now get ready for I leave ya ass" She demanded. I walked straight to my closet and grabbed my navy blue Woodcrest High uniform shirt. I searched around for my khaki cargo pants, but eventually I found them.
I wrapped my black and silver Ferragamo belt through every loop and I was ready to go. I plugged my headphones in to make it an easy walk. I began playing one of my favorite tracks by Lil Herb.
"Look I wake up every morning with the same state of mind.
Bitch I'm running to this money
Let the lames wait in line.
I'm impatient.
Bitch I'm chasing.
This first place and we not racing. Now I'm cashing
Riding Astons
Went from sitting in the station
But I'm up now. All the neighborhood hoes wanna fuck now ..."
I bobbed my head to the beat. Listening to my music, I was down at the Freeman house quickly. Just as I was making there, Riley & Huey were standing in the driveway. I pulled one earbud out if my ear so I could hear properly.
"Nigga yo ass almost got left!" Riley said, smirking. "Shutup and climb in the back, lil nigga" I said, grabbing his shoulders. He shot me a glare and got into the car. I sat in the front, almost dozing off. Huey seemed to be tired, too.
"Y'all niggas ain't get no sleep, huh?" Riley asked. "Huey gay ass was on the phone with Jazmine. I don't know why, it ain't like she giving him some pussy!"
Huey smacked his lips. "Riley shut your dumbass up" Riley gave Huey the middle finger from the back seat.
We didn't have to pick Caeser up this morning because he rode with Hiro. Huey didn't seem to mind, though. We parked in the lot and it was three minutes before the bell. "Awh shit!" Riley shouted, running ahead. "For a real nigga, he's sure scared of being late" Huey implied.
We went through the first four periods of the day pretty quickly, and it was time for lunch. We all sat at a table in the middle of the auditorium sized cafeteria. By us I mean Riley, Huey, Jazmine, Cindy, Hiro, Caeser, Serenity, & of course, myself.
"What's good y'all" Cindy said, approaching the table. "We chillin" Hiro replied. I sat next to Serenity. I couldn't help but stare. This mixed Latina was stunning. Her long, curly brown hair flowing down her back. Her hazel eyes and sexy accent. Not to mention she wore glasses periodically, which for some reason turned me on even more.
Riley began tapping my shoulder. "Nigga you ight?" He whispered. "I know what you looking at, I just didn't think it could be true. Nigga you in love." He said, snickering. I just waved him off. But, he was right. I've never felt this way. This HAD to be love.
Before we knew it, it was the end of the day. And time for another grueling practice. We were all dressed and headed into the gym. I peered around the gym for the ball rack, it was nowhere to be found. Uh oh...
"I take it y'all see it's no balls in here! You know what that mean.." He stated. The whole team put their head down.
"I know y'all wondering why. Because someone wanna act up in class and throw paper. I ain't gotta say names, y'all should already know" he declared.
The whole team stared at Riley, who shrugged his shoulders. This nigga gon get us killed. It was thirty suicides when someone got in trouble. No water break.
We ran the whole practice without water. All because if Riley we felt as if we got sucker punched multiple times in the stomach. Ouch.
The Regional Championship
The school week went by pretty fast and before you knew it, it was Saturday. Regionals every year were held in Silver Spring at Mount Lisle high school. We arrived and boy was the gym packed! The bleachers were filled to the ceiling. Word had gotten around that scouts from Davidson, Syracuse, Creighton, & Michigan were in attendance.
I haven't committed yet, so I was looking to impress. I went through warm-ups feeling pretty good. We gotten our new jerseys along with new warm up shirts. They were bright yellow, long sleeve, and read: STATE BOUND SPARTANS!, in navy blue. I knew that was a pretty bold statement, but I knew we could back it up.
We blew by the morning game, winning 79-61 over Mount Lisle. But our evening game would be no push-over.
Our opponent, Baltimore Prep. They were a pretty big team, their point guard standing at 6'3. This would not be an easy task. Warm-ups were over and the pre-game ritual of introducing the starting line-ups had begun. Starting with them.
"Standing at 6'3, a senior point guard, Steve Wilburn! At the two guard, a 6'4 junior, Adam Carey! At small forward, a 6'6 senior, Joseph Banks! At the four, the lean, mean, scoring machine, 6'7 AARON BANKS! & at the five, a 6'10 sophomore, Corey McGee" Their starters were done.
The crowd erupted into a loud chant. "WE ARE SPARTANS, WE ARE SPARTANS, WE ARE SPARTANS!" Our student section cheered. Everyone in the student section was wearing bright yellow, so we stood out.
"At the point, a 5'11 sophomore, Riley Freeeemaaaann! At the two, a 6'1 senior, Tre Macintosh! At the four, a 6'6 senior, Brandon Johnson! At the five, a 6'9 junior, Darrell Falls! And at the three, TYREEK HARRIS!" The crowd just exploded.
It was time for tip-off. The crowd did our chant before the tip. The whistle was blown. We won the tip. Riley walked the ball past half court and passed it to me on the wing. Aaron was guarding me. I sized him up and took a long three. Swish, in spite of good defense. "YEAAA" Riley shouted.
They advanced down the court. I was guarding Aaron when I was hit by a hard screen. He back-doored and took flight to catch a oop and slam it. My arm was still stinging from that pick. Brandon took the ball out and tried to make a long pass. Aaron came and intercepted it. He dribbled down the court. It was three of us and only him. He stopped about three steps in front of the half court line.
SWISH!
Their student section went nuts. Timeout. Coach brought us into the huddle. This was going to be a long game.
Before you knew it, it was two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Game tied at 67. I was going at Aaron pretty much the whole game, and I was getting the best of it. My stat line, 23 points, 7 assists, and 11 rebounds. Compared to his 18 points, 6 assists, and 14 rebounds.
I brung the ball up. Aaron wasn't guarding me so it was a quick blow by. I attacked the lane and drove in for a layup. And ONE !
I made the free throw. Then, a quick steal & three pointer by Brandon sealed the game. We won 76-70.
I couldn't describe this feeling. After 3 years of exiting in sectionals, we had made it to Semi-State. We received our medals and took a picture. As we went to the locker room, the student section could be heard yelling " SQUAAAD , SQUAAAD" I gave Caeser a thumbs up from the floor. I gave Serenity a smirk and I saw her blush a little. Finally.
We got into the locker room and coach had some words for us.
"Good ass win. Y'all made me happy once again. Tyreek, I want you to show yo ass EVERY GAME WE GOT LEFT. Clown every team. I told y'all. We got one game before state. One. This our year man! Let's go get it. Spartan basketball on three!"