The Regional Match

Alex stood in the corner of the gym, watching fans arrive and take their seats. That's when his friends walked in, he saw Chandler among them. Alex pulled a small package out of his warm-up jacket pocket and handed Chandler a small package. Chandler opened it to see a framed picture of Alex, William, Chandler, Odd, and Ulrich grouped up and smiling. That's when Chandler said "Alex, my parents can't afford to keep me here. I…I…I have to go back to the states.

Alex's jaw dropped and he called his parents immediately, because of their high income, they offered to cover Chandler's tuition just like he was Alex's brother (which Alex didn't have one). After a few more calls it was all said and done. And Chandler took his seat well Alex went off to lead the Kadic Wolves onto the court. Mr. Delmas was doing player introductions and commentary that afternoon as the Wolves took on the Kashiwa Academy Thunder Hawks.

The first quarter started out, Ulrich got the tip and sent it to Odd, Odd moved down court quickly, but when he was being guarded heavily he bounce passed it to Alex, who snagged it and shot the ball in from behind the 3-point line. The game kept on going. Alex shot in 3-pointers, Odd slam dunked, and Ulrich tried out variations of his signature lay-up, the shoulder bounce.

At half time the Wolves pulled off to their bench were Jim started talking about varying tactics. The Thunder Hawks were on to them and they needed to change things up. Yumi's brother Hiroki came around with water for the guys and then sat down next to Emmanuel, who was taking stats for the game.

Halftime ended and so did the Kadic Cheerleaders halftime show. Yumi and Aelita led the squad off the court while Alex led the guys back on. Ulrich started with the ball, he passed it to Odd, who tore off down court. Alex came up on his left side "Odd, pass it to me I'll sink the rock." Odd complied with Alex's request. He passed it to Alex, who jumped into the air and slammed it into the basket for two.

On the sidelines Milly and Tamiya were taking photos and writing down highlights of the game. By the time the 4th quarter rolled around the score was tied up at 53-53 with 20 seconds on the clock. Odd stole the ball from the Thunder Hawks center, Miles Anderson, and took off down court. Odd made a pass to Ulrich, who passed it to William, who shot it. Only to have it bounce off the rim and have Alex rebound and dunk the ball. The Kadic fans went nuts and the buzzer went off.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mr. Delmas said "Advancing to the national basketball finals in Paris next week to play the undefeated Paris Private Academy Fighting Spartans, your regional champions, the Kadic Wolves!" Alex just yelled "Wolf Howl!" and the entire team let out a wolf howl and headed for the locker rooms to shower.

That night at the awards ceremony, Odd received an award for his 500th career steal, Alex for his thousandth career point and regional's player of the game, and Ulrich for his 500th career assist. There was much celebrating up until three days before the national match.