Jason picked his head up as he began too look out at the court. Even though Jason had to sit on the bench because of his injury none of the guys on the floor looked like they were ready to give up.


    Without Jason on the floor Trell was the next best perimeter defender that they had. Guarding Rudy became Trell''s main task.


    Trell kept his hands up as he constantly shuffled his feet and turned his hips as he chased Rudy around on the court.


    As he ran around the court his breathing became harder and harder. Both his feet and his arms began to feel heavier as his movement became more sluggish.


    ''Shit! Is this how Jaya felt? He''s been guarding this dude the whole game while also carrying the team on offense. I can''t believe he''s had to do all of this alone.''


    Rudy put up a shot while being contested by Trell. The ball bounced off of the rim. Below was Udonis as he fought with High Bridge''s starting Center for the rebound.


    It was a battle of positioning, boxing out, swim moves, and counter moves as Udonis tried his best to out muscle the opposing Center.


    As the ball made its way down Udonis was able toe out on top as he grabbed the ball with both hands before holding it tight against his body.


    He tossed the ball up court to DJ who then began to run the fast break. Udonis went into an all out sprint as soon as he passed DJ the ball.


    Jason pulled the towel off of his head and threw it on the floor ''How could I have given up so soon!?


    No matter what the oue ends up being I can''t just give up on the game. Not while everyone is still trying their hardest.''


    Jason pped his hands while shouting at the top of his lungs "LET''S GO JEFFERSON! WE CAN DO THIS!"


    From the sidelines Jason was doing everything he could. Whenever Jefferson would make a good y on offense or defense Jason would be there shouting at the top of his lungs to hype up the team.


    And whenever they would make a mistake or just simply get beat Jason would shout out his encouragement.


    "That was good D Trell!" "Don''t mind it Matt!" "Come on DJ!" "That was a good pass!" "You''ll get them next time!"


    But despite all of their effort, despite all of their hours spent practicing, despite not wanting anything more than to win this game.


    They just couldn''t do it. Despite them ying with all of their energy and focus they just couldn''t ovee the clear difference between them in terms of ability and talent.


    As thest few seconds ticked down on the clock Jason grabbed his towel and covered his face.


    He pretended to be wiping the sweat off of his face when in all actuality he was wiping the tears from his eyes.


    Jason had faced disappointment and defeat in his past life. Not every year was a sessful one.


    There were some years where his team had vastly underachieved considering their level of talent and how far they had gone the year prior.


    While some years they had gotten ever so close to a championship just to lose in the final quarter of the game.


    But this was the first time that a loss had dealt such a heavy blow to Jason. This was the first time where the pain of losing just felt so awful.


    Maybe it''s because this was the first time that Jason had lost at such a bright stage with a team that he was so close to.


    This was also the first time that the loss meant more than just a loss to him personally. They were trying to represent Coach Swendel and the school this year.


    Although Jason had always had some bit of school pride and spirit this was the first time that he cared so much for the school and for a coach.


    Trell, Udonis, Matt, Nick, DJ, and Vince all made their way to the bench. Trell gripped his fists tightly as tears began to form in the corner of his eyes.


    "Damn it! We were so close! We tried so hard. So fuckin hard man! First Kyle got hurt, then Jason with his finger, and then he gets hurt again!?


    Everything was going against us! Shit ain''t fair!" Jason looked up and smiled at Trell "Don''t do that Trell.


    Don''t y the ''What if'' game. It''s just going to make it harder to get over this. I don''t want to see anyone crying.


    We shouldn''t show that side of us to all of these fans thate out here to cheer us on. Let''s go out there and shake hands with a smile on our face because we know that we yed with everything that we had."


    Udonis nodded his head as he walked over and patted Trell on the shoulder "Jaya''s right Trell. We shouldn''t show such ame side of us to our fans.


    We just need to put a smile on our face while we shake hands. And even thought tonight''s loss hits hard we shouldn''t let this sit on our minds too much.


    This is just the beginning for Jaya and all of the other 7th graders. You guys still have next year to do all of the things that we weren''t able to do this year.


    And even for me and Trell this isn''t the end. We might be done with middle school basketball after this.


    But we still got a whole lotta ball left to y. I''m making it my goal to win a national title in high school.


    And I''ll be damned if you turn out to be a no name bust in high school Trell. I better see your ass at the national tournament."


    Trell grabbed a towel and frantically wiped his face in a hurry. After all the tears were wiped away he punched Udonis on the arm.


    "Of course you gon see me. Hell you prolly gon see me while I''m raising the trophy at the end. If you n onpeting with me you might need to lose a couple pounds UD."


    Udonis came over to Jason''s left side and helped him as the team walked over to shake hands with High Bridge.


    There were so many things that Jason and the other guys on the team wanted to say but they just swallowed their words as they shook hands with the opposing team.


    High Bridge was the same way. There were things clearly on the mind of their yers but they stayed silent as they shook hands.


    Finally it was thest yer in line. Jason stuck his hand out and was slightly surprised when he found out that it was Rudy.


    Rudy paused for a moment. After some hesitation he managed to push the words out of his mouth.


    "That was some tough luck. If it weren''t for your injuries it would have been one hell of a game man."


    Jason shook his head "Injuries are a part of the game. I won''t let them be an excuse. A loss is loss and I can take mine like a man."


    Rudy chuckled before sticking his fist out to Jason "You''re one hell of a guy. I can see why everyone has their eyes on you. See youter man."


    Jason just nodded his head as he bumped his fist against Rudy''s. Jason had thought that Rudy was telling him that they would see each other again at next year''s state tournament.


    Little did he know that he would be bumping into Rudy a lot sooner than that. And in a different setting.