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| Interview with Coach Spriggs | Rout of Shawnee | |
| Time to Move On | Best Friends | Us Again |
| Amelias Poem | I Wish | Coast Guard |
| Letting Him Go | Interview: Bryan Thompson | Interview: Jordan Armstrong |
| The Disease | Interview: Ryan Black | |
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Kenton
Ridge Boys Basketball Preview
At
the end of last years basketball season, the Cougars had a bad taste in
their mouth.
Their |
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Jeremy Runyan a student at Kenton Ridge
interviews Kris Spriggs, the head coach of the Boys Basketball team about
the upcoming 2007-2008 season.
Jeremy:
What’s the biggest improvement your team needs to win the CBC title? |
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Armstrong
finds his stroke in
Jordan Armstrong had
the game of his career Friday, helping the Cougars to a 55-36 win by his
dominance in the post. Armstrong
had 21 points and Adam Burns added 10 points as Kenton Ridge’s big men
cashed in. Sophomore Kyle
Morris also had a big game with 10 points and did a great job running the
point. The Cougar Crazies were definitely on hand Friday as the
annual white out took place. Jordan
Armstrong and Ethan Sharpen both agreed that the noise was definitely a
factor in the game. Both
coaches agreed in a Springfield News and Sun interview that Kenton Ridge
just wanted it more. I even
noticed a lot more effort the past two games by the Cougars compared to
the opening game embarrassment Ben Logan handed us.
That is something Kenton Ridge takes pride in - always working
extremely hard. No matter what Kenton Ridge’s record that year or what the
score is, I have always noticed that the Kenton Ridge basketball team
works up to or beyond the level of its opponent. |
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I
think its time to move on I
never wanted you and me to end. I
thought our love was something pure You
will always have a place in my heart |
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Best friends
Life
is hard, but you are always here. |
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Our
time has come to gather our memories, |
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Spring
is a time for a new beginning In each and everyway |
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I
wish you knew how much I dream about us, |
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The
movie The Guardian is an outstanding movie about the United States Coast
Guard Deciding that there is to big a gap between training and what really goes on in the water, he immediately increases the 18 week curriculum that routinely fails half of the people that attend. Jake Fisher (Ashton Kutcher) is one of his stand out recruits and Ben takes him under his wing. He was a top swimmer in high school, had won every speed record there was. Not fully understanding Jake his instructor Ben takes matters into his own hands. Jake has some secret that seems to hold him back as a team player. Ben digging into Jakes past links are found that make him a psychic twin to the older man. This movie mixes romance, training, real rescues, and of course drama, taking anyone who watches it into the world of people who live by the motto “So Others May Live.” |
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Letting Him Go
I
know it’s time to let him go, |
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JR: Who would you say is a
leader on this team? |
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JR: Who would you say is a leader on this
team? |
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Tony Boyd
slipped his hand into his pocket and felt the cold chill of the gun on his
hand like ice. It was already
cold outside in the January night and the gun gave him shivers, but you
had to do what you had to do. He
looked up from underneath his hood and stopped on the sidewalk. There was the store. Tony
knew what the deal was, he was down but not out yet. He was down to his last chance, though, and he needed the
money. There was no turning
back now. He gave one last
feel into his pocket and headed for the door.
Simeon High School’s gym was the finest in
the city of Chicago. It
wasn’t the biggest but it was the best.
Simeon was in a rough community.
In these cases, if you could help, and the school board could, you
gave money to improve things in the community.
Thus, the school board built the nice gym with the thinking that it
would encourage people to come to the games.
But nobody came to them. You
certainly couldn’t blame it on a bad team, though. The Wildcats had won four state championships in a row and
had claimed seven in the last decade.
They had also sent prized recruits to local college powerhouse,
Illinois. Marshall Jones was
the first overall pick in the NBA draft straight out of Simeon a few years
back. All these boys had
tremendous success on the court but there were so many more that ran into
problems off of it. They had
caught the disease. These
boys had ended up on the streets, shot, or some even ended up in prison.
When you had the disease you did drugs and committed petty crimes.
That was your life. Then
one day, you would get a hold of a gun and then you knew the disease had
killed you. Once you had the
disease all roads led to nowhere.
Vincent Boyd’s brother, Anthony was already
in prison. Vince and Tony
were on the Simeon JV team as freshman and sophomores. Then going into their junior year, they were given varsity
backup spots. One night after
a game in late January the disease killed Tony.
Tony first got the disease in seventh grade when older boys
introduced him to drugs. He
had put up a good fight, resorting to basketball as his hope.
But this was a unique disease.
There’s a cure for most diseases, but this disease is not in that
category. Instead of trying
to cure themselves, the sick seem to be sucked in and get worse with each
passing day. Each passing day
until there is no escape. No
questions asked.
Living on the south side of Chicago was a
task all in itself. Doing it
with one source of small income is another.
Put the two together and that’s when the disease come calling at
your door. The Boyd family
lived on the south side and the mother was the only source of income for
them. You do the math and you
can see the problem. Tony
needed and his drugs, and without money he was in a predicament.
He did the only thing the disease would allow.
Tony had to have his drugs so he held up a KFC a short ways from
his apartment. When the
manager refused to give into his demands, the disease refuses to give into
the manager. It calls one
last shot for Tony and he shoots the manager. Later
on that fateful January night, the Boyd’s were awoken by a stern
pounding at the door of their fifth floor apartment.
Ms. Boyd needed to be held by Vince at the sight of the police.
They stormed in and took Tony.
He left wearing only a faded Cubs hat and a torn pair of jeans as
well as his newly acquired handcuffs.
There was no good bye. Several
things were racing through Vince’s mind but the one that stuck out was
the resemblance between Tony and the tall policeman that had taken him
away. In
late March, Simeon finished up an undefeated season at 27-0, claiming the
school’s fifth straight state title.
On the same day, Tony was sentenced to a term of life in prison on
charges of murder in the first degree.
Vince attended neither event, as he walked the streets aimlessly
with his best friend, Javon Young. Both
had quit the Wildcat’s team about a month earlier. The
rest of spring and summer passed without much event for the Boyd family.
They made the occasional trip to see Tony but that was about all.
Ms. Boyd had often questioned Vince about quitting the basketball
team but she was rarely given a response other than a half-hearted shrug
of the shoulders. Heading
into the new school year, she threw out the question again and Vince took
an angry tone with her and told her that she had better be glad that it
was simply basketball and not school.
She told him that she could accept that and that he would
eventually learn from his mistakes. He
took offense and stormed away out the door, cussing at her under his
breath. She took in a deep
breath and tried to push it out of her mind.
It was hard on her thinking that her only son that still had a shot
to succeed would blow it away. She
couldn’t stomach the thought of him failing in life so that’s why she
contacted coach Miles Avery with one small request:
“Talk some sense into that boy.” On
the first day of school, Avery tracked down Vince at lunch.
He pulled the boy aside and started to talk to him.
Vince tried his best to ignore Avery’s rant about “putting
forth an effort and giving a care and not wanting to end up like Tony.”
Vince’s attempts were broken however when Avery mentioned
something about the prospect of starting at point guard for Simeon this
winter. Vince looked over at
Avery and nodded his head. He
stuck out his hand and the pair shook on it.
On
his way back to lunch Vince was stopped by the sight of Cameron Roe, the
new kid, making a speech at lunch. He
was so happy to be here at Simeon and it would be his pleasure to be the
point guard for the powerful Wildcat basketball team.
Vince got a funny look on his face and then slowly approached Roe.
He went up to Roe and stood there for a second.
Vince threw a hard right and landed his fist right in Roe’s face,
breaking his nose. Roe
flew backward and landed flat on his back.
He sat up with a bloody nose and looked at Vince.
Vince spit down on him and gave him a piece of his mind, “Ain’t
no Cameron Roe my boat gently down the stream gonna take my spot.”
At that Vince left and headed for the office, he knew he was in
trouble. Vince
ended up getting suspended three days.
Ms. Boyd was very upset at him but she was calmed a bit when Vince
gave and explanation for why he would just hit a kid.
However, it would not be the last confrontation between the two. The
first of November was the first day of tryouts.
Simeon was a Division 1 school in a big city so there were a lot of
kids that dreamed of being on the team and there were plenty to pick from.
There were two teams at Simeon, Varsity and JV.
Ten kids would be on both teams.
The first game would be on December 1st, so there was
much work to be done. As
for Vince, there would be four total point guards on the team.
Two for each team. But
you could throw out the JV crap, Vince was varsity material.
He could see himself as the starting point guard.
He started one game last year for an injured player so he knew what
it felt like to be out there. He
saw himself at the United Center at the end of the season hoisting up the
state championship trophy. He
stood at center court as the crowd roared with applause.
Then he would follow in Marshall Jones’ footsteps and head to the
NBA. Or better yet he could
go to North Carolina and play for the legendary coach Dean Smith.
He had always dreamed of going to college but never thought that it
could become reality. He was
so close now he could taste it. But
maybe he was just tasting the saltiness of his own sweat.
Maybe he shouldn’t daydream during the last day of tryouts.
Especially going up against Roe.
Vince was brought back to reality with Roe’s flex of his arms and
a pump of his fists. Vince
realized that he had just been beat down the lane and dunked on. “Dang it,” Vince shook his head. The
whistle blew and that was it, tryouts were over.
Avery told the boys to head to the locker room and clean up.
When they came back the results would be posted.
When everyone headed out, Vince slumped in the corner and tried to
go unnoticed. “Get outta
here, son, you ain’t seein nothing before anybody else.”
Vince turned and walked away.
Avery could see the gleam in Vince’s eye. He was going to be something special if he could keep his
head on. When
Vince got to the locker room, Roe was strutting his stuff.
Standing up on the bench and gloating.
Vince had the urge to go and break Roe’s jaw so he couldn’t
talk but he thought the better of it and took a seat outside the locker
room. Vince
won the starting job. Better
yet, Roe was on the JV team behind Vince and yet another player, Aaron
Williams. Vince figured that
it wouldn’t last long because Williams had a tough time getting a 50
percent, let alone a passing grade. Vince’s best friend, Javon Young also made the team as a
backup center. When Roe
spotted the paper that hung from the same wall as fifteen state
championships, he stormed away cussing out the coaches and players.
The entire team busted out in laughter and cracked jokes with Vince
leading the whole way. On the
walk home, Vince smiled the entire time and saw himself holding up the
trophy. The
next day was a Saturday and Vince had planned on relaxing and playing a
pickup game with Javon at the park, but ended up having a much more
eventful day. He watched the
Price is Right and it ended at noon. Not a minute later, the phone rang. Vince who was still joyful about basketball danced over to
the phone. He picked it up
and it was a man with a deep voice that sounded serious when he asked for
Ms. Boyd. Vince went and got
his mother and she got on the phone with the man.
Ms. Boyd was also in a good mood about the team, turned somber
after talking for about ten seconds.
Then after about thirty she was reduced to tears.
Shortly thereafter she broke down weeping.
After taking a seat she managed to spit out a cycle of answers for
the man, “Yes”, “No”, and “I understand”.
She hung up after that and sat slumped with her face in her lap. The
whole time Vince looked on in terror, fearing for his mother.
“What’s wrong?” he tried to console her.
She sat, still with tears in her eyes, and started to talk.
Vince looked on in fear as she told him about Tony.
At breakfast this morning at the Illinois state prison, Tony
managed to steal a gun from a guard.
He had shot three guards on his way to escaping the prison.
They were sending two officers over to the house for further
information and questioning. That
was all she could manage as she slumped over and started to cry again.
Vince felt bad for her and for the moment his thoughts were with
her, miles away from Simeon basketball and lifting the state championship
trophy over his head. About
a half an hour later, two city policemen and two state troopers arrived.
Mrs. Boyd, with puffy eyes answered the door.
They went and sat down at the dinner table where more questions and
information was shot at her. Vince
tried listening from down the hall but couldn’t make out what was being
said. Then he heard his
mother call for him. He
slowly walked out to the group and stood.
Vince recognized one of the policemen.
It was the tall one that looked like Tony.
He looked over at Vince and asked him, “did you know of your
brother’s plans, or did you assist him in anyway?’
Vince shot them a sarcastic answer, he was angered by the question.
“What, you think I’m stupid or something?
You think I’m trying to get in there wit him or what?”
The police looked at him and thanked him, there were no further
questions for him. He left,
with a feeling of anger in him. But
there was a worry as well. Vince
didn’t do anything the rest of the day, he was worried about Tony’s
fate. He couldn’t help but
think that when they caught him that there was only one sentence worse
that life in prison. But
surely they wouldn’t kill a man for simply breaking out of jail would
they? But little did Vince
know that murder would be on Tony’s plate again as one of the wounded
guards had died. The
next day he played a pickup game with Javon in the park.
The game went well and it was a welcomed distraction from
constantly worrying but the only thing that stuck in Vince’s mind was
the way home. He spotted a
heavily bearded man seated on a bench, looking at him.
Vince must have caught him off guard because when their eyes met,
the man fumbled with the newspaper that he was holding and quickly buried
his face in it. The
next day was a Monday, but there was no school for the Simeon district.
Coach Avery had called a practice though.
He wasn’t too worried about the skill, but he thought that two
days away from basketball was enough for his boys.
He knew that two days was more than enough to catch the disease. The
first practice went relatively smooth.
Avery mostly just talked about his expectations.
He simply asked that they try to stay out of trouble and follow the
school rules. He also wanted
them to work hard on and off the court.
He told them that success in basketball would lead to success later
in life. After that, the team scrimmaged for a little bit.
Vince felt that he played well matched up with Roe, outscoring him
8-3. Vince usually wouldn’t
go up against a JV player, but the unexpected absence of second string
guard, Aaron Williams made it so that night.
Nobody had heard from him including Vince and Roe.
Vince never watched the local news at ten.
And nothing changed on that night.
He watched the Illinois basketball team take on the Indiana
Hoosiers on ESPN. But if ever
there was a time in his life where the news program was directed at him it
was that night. The top story
in Chicago was about Aaron Williams, a senior at Simeon High School had
been found shot and killed in an alley by his home.
In other news, police had no news on the whereabouts of convicted
murderer and prison escapee Tony Boyd. Vince
left his house early the next morning to go shoot around before school.
On his way there, he passed through the park and saw the bearded
man on the same bench he was on last Sunday.
The man looked over at Vince and pointed at him.
He waved two fingers to signal Vince to go over to him.
Vince didn’t have a second thought as to go to the man.
“You know who I am?” the rough voice came scratched through the
beard. Vince
actually knew exactly who it was. Even
the dark beard could not hide Tony’s gleaming smile.
His once jubilant eyes looked as cold as stone.
“Yeah, I gotta good guess,” Vince said, “How’d you get
out.” “That
don’t matter, man. What’s mattering is that I got dem cops on me.
I gotta get the heck outta here, bro.
I’m talking like out the country, Mexico, somein like that.” The
two brothers flagged down a cab. On
the way there, there was no talk about basketball.
Instead, Tony led the way in giving some advice to Vince.
He said that you always need to do what’s right.
You need to think before you do things.
It was cliché but it held true to life.
“If you think before you do things, you can’t go wrong,” Tony
advised. “Look at me, I
messed up and now I’m about to leave everything behind.
You don’t want that.” Vince
escorted Tony into Midway airport after they bummed enough money for a
ticket to Mexico City. Tony double-checked with Vince to make sure he didn’t want
to go too. He didn’t.
After that Tony disappeared past security, being careful to remain
as hidden as he could. There was no way he wanted to get caught this close to
escaping. “Hello,
what is your emergency?’ The
calm voice said in Vince’s ear. “
Yeah, I’m down here at Midway and Tony Boyd about to leave for
Mexico.” “Let
me transfer you..” That was all, Vince hung up the phone and walked
away. Tony’s advice was to
stay out of trouble. And you
always took the advice of a brother, always. Vince
used the leftover ticket money and took a cab to school.
When the teacher questioned him about getting there during third
period, he had overslept. There
was practice after school at three. The
team had been shooting around for about ten minutes when Avery called the
team to a huddle. He remained calm as he delivered the message about Aaron
William, most of the team had already heard the news, but Vince who had
missed half the school day stood and looked on in disbelief.
Avery went on to tell the team that it was difficult dealing with
the loss of a friend and a brother but in order to have a successful year,
they would need to move on. Therefore,
Cameron Roe would be promoted to Williams’ old spot. When
Vince got home that night his mother told him that Tony had been caught at
the airport. Somebody had
apparently recognized him and called in just in time.
He was arrested on board the plane, minutes before takeoff.
She said that he was headed to Mexico.
Vince was glad that he hadn’t been mentioned in the story.
Tony kept him safe from the police.
Perhaps, thought Vince, Tony also didn’t know how he’d been
tracked down. The disease,
after all, does take away one’s ability to think.
Tony couldn’t put two and two together. Friday
came upon Vince in a hurry, it was time for the first game of the year.
Simeon would host Proviso East, a state finalist from last year
that was returning it’s starting five that included Dominic James who
was headed for Illinois next fall. Also,
it was Simeon that defeated them in the state semifinals last year so that
game added fuel to the fire for the opener.
It was going to be a good game. The
Simeon starters dominated the first quarter, heading out to a 21-13 lead.
Vince held James to six points.
However in the second, Avery gave the starters breaks as needed and
Proviso jumped ahead at the half, 38-37.
James had put down fifteen points against the overmatched Roe.
But Vince took the floor by storm in the third quarter with ten
points, giving the Wildcats a 57-52 lead heading into the final quarter of
play. In the fourth, Vince
and Roe took the court together in an attempt to create problems for the
Proviso defense. Simeon led
66-62 midway through the quarter when Roe threw a blindside pass to Vince.
Vince turned just in time to catch the ball right between the eyes.
Vince needed helped off the court and could only watch in a daze as
James led Proviso East to a 73-70 win over Simeon.
It was the first loss for the Wildcats since Vince had been in
middle school. Vince,
however, stood out for Simeon with 21 points and 7 assists.
He had caught the eye of several scouts that had been in
attendance. Avery
told the team that it was a tough fought game against one of the best
teams in the country and that they needed to put the game behind them and
forget the loss. But Vince
knew he would have a hard time forgetting the pass that could have been
nothing except on purpose. Simeon
finished up December with six consecutive wins to head into the New Year,
2001, with a 6-1 record. Throughout
the first six games, Vince averaged 18 points and 8 assists, which was why
the University of Southern Illinois paid him a visit.
The Salukis were a small school powerhouse in college basketball
and having them talk with him was exciting for Vince.
He liked the offered scholarship to attend to school and play
basketball but if he could get their attention, he thought he could get
the attention of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
That made him undecided on the Salukis and he never gave them a
commitment one way or the other. Vince
went to Tony’s sentence on January 3rd.
He was already serving a life sentence so realistically the only
punishment left for Tony was death. Tony’s
jury found him guilty of murder in the first degree for a second time.
He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
Death, they said, would not do any good to Tony or anybody involved
in the case, because sentencing a mentally ill person to death would be
doing an injustice to everyone. After
the sentence both Mrs. Boyd and Vince spoke with him in private.
She told him that she loved him and was sorry that there was
nothing she could do to help. After
she left, Vince spoke with Tony. He
was dumbfounded that somebody actually recognized him.
And in his words “right before he was about to make his get
away.” Vince felt bad for
his brother, it wasn’t his fault that he ended up like this, a force far
behind his control had gotten the better of him.
Vince wanted to be honest with his brother, but he knew that the
truth hurt. That’s why he
kept his mouth shut. There
was no reason to poor salt on Tony’s open wounds.
Instead, Vince told Tony that he had taken his advice.
He had stayed away from trouble.
Tony seemed proud and cracked just the slightest of grins.
“That’s good,” he said, but he continued with another
warning. “Sometimes the
trouble will come to you.” The disease was contagious and there was no cure. Simeon
finished January and February by going undefeated.
They finished the regular season going 19-1.
But going undefeated was not nearly as simple as it sounds.
Any team will have its growing pains over the course of the season,
and it was no different for Simeon. Vince’s
good friend, Javon Young had quit the team in early February with only six
games to play. He got back
into a gang and then drugs got a hold of him.
He quit the team the same day that he moved out of his father’s
house. Vince
was mildly upset about his friend’s choices, but didn’t stay down long
as he signed a letter of intent to play basketball for the University of
Southern Illinois. He got a full scholarship became the first member of
his family to attend college. Simeon
won the sectional tournament with ease, beating cross-town rival Hayes in
the sectional final, 92-67. Vince
put up thirty points on the board and also threw in six assists. The
team next won their district and was headed to the regional tournament
with a record of 22-1. They
dispatched of Garfield and then Maplewood by scores of 77-64 and 71-50 en
route to a regional championship. Vince
totaled 33 points and 20 assists in the two games and was named the MVP of
the regional. There
were two games played at the University of Illinois on March 15.
Simeon met and defeated Bishop by a score of 80-68.
Vince gave the team 24 points and 7 assists.
In the game following the Wildcat victory, Proviso East shut down
Evansville Catholic by a score of 65-43.
Dominic James drained 40 points in the rout.
Saturday, March 22nd would be the state championship
game at the Bull’s United Center in downtown Chicago.
Simeon would go up against the only team that had handed them a
loss in the last five years. The
game would be for all the marbles. Vince
could see himself lifting up the state championship trophy in front of a
packed house. They might as well inscribe his name on it now. Vince
went to school Monday through Friday but his mind was far from it.
Whether it was math or history, he didn’t care.
His mind was on one thing and one thing only.
Basketball. But maybe
he should have kept his mind on the disease, because as Tony said the
disease would come for you. And
it did come. The
game was at seven. Vince had to be at the school by five thirty to catch the
bus. The goal was to be at
the game by six. Vince went
to shoot around at the park before the game at four.
He left to go home and get dressed at five.
Or least he tried to. On
the way he took a shortcut into an alley where the man that had been
following him, unseen, had caught him. Vince
felt the goose bumps spring up on the back of his neck.
The barrel of the gun felt cold as it was tightly pressed against
his slightly damp temple. “Guess
who,” an arrogant voice demanded of Vince.
Vince knew that voice. The
arrogance, he recognized it. “I’ll
give ya a clue,” the voice whispered into Vince’s ear.
Vince didn’t need a clue but he kept his mouth shut about it.
“I used to be number three, but now…now I’m number two,”
said the arrogant voice with pride and pleasure.
“I’m about to be number one, what chu think about that?”
Vince didn’t say anything, but that simply confirmed what he
already knew. “You got any
idea who’s speakin to you, boy?”
Vince rolled his eyes and with anger and sarcasm he replied,
“Well, if it ain’t Mr. Cameron Roe my boat gently down the stream.” Roe
gave Vince a hard shake and yelled, “Hey boy, don’t you start that
bull. This is my moment, you
ain’t gonna ruin this for me. You
had your time on the court all….” Roe
was in mid sentence when Vince heard him let out a loud yelp.
He felt the chill of the gun leave his skin.
He slowly turned around to the sight of two familiar faces. One was the tall policeman that looked like Tony.
But the other was Javon. Vince
later found out that Javon had seen Roe follow Vince into the alley and
then he notified the officer that had been stationed nearby. The
officer put Roe in hand cuffs and led him down the street to the parked
police car where he took a seat in the back. The
officer said that he would have to take Roe in but after several minutes
of trying to change his mind, Vince finally convinced the officer to take
him to the game first. The
officer knew he shouldn’t but he had always had a soft spot in his heart
for the boy. Before he left,
Vince thanked Javon. Vince
knew that if Javon hadn’t dropped off of the team, he would have been on
the bus heading for the game. Thank
God for small miracles. Vince
waved good-bye to Javon as the police car started down the road with its
sirens on. There was a game
to get to. When
they got to the United Center, they could hear the roar of the crowd
inside. He stepped out of the
car and could taste the victory in the air.
All of a sudden the roar died down as the PA announcer came on and
said it was time for the national anthem.
Vince got a feeling of excitement as he knew that the game was set
to start. Vince turned and
thanked the policeman and then rushed away for the arena.
The policeman watched Vince go as a tear rolled down his cheek.
He wished that he could watch his son play today.
Instead he drove away, headed for jail with Roe. The
man at the ticket booth said that Vince would have to pay if he wanted to
watch the game. Vince tried
to reason with the man that he played for Simeon but the old man would
have nothing of it. Vince was
stuck outside as his team attempted to win the state championship without
it’s key player. Finally
a Simeon fan that was arriving late recognized Vince.
He paid for Vince’s ticket.
Thank God for small miracles.
Simeon had fallen into a deep hole, they trailed Proviso East by a
score of 25-8. The Wildcats had been reduced to eight players, none of who
had any experience at the point guard position. Vince
ran down to the guardrails behind Simeon’s bench and yelled at Avery.
Avery went over and let Vince down onto the floor.
He gave an extra jersey to Vince and he finaly got into the game
midway through the second quarter. He
made an immediate impact on the both sides of the ball, slowing down the
attack of Dominic James and also turning Proviso’s defensive scheme on
its head. Simeon chipped away
at Proviso’s lead, heading into the half down 41-29. Coach
Avery didn’t make his usual halftime speech that night.
Instead, Vince had the floor.
The Simeon team heard the story of Vince’s day.
Roe had been the person that had killed Aaron Williams earlier in
the season and then earlier he had tried to kill Vince right before the
game. But Roe was headed to
jail thanks to the help of an old friend, Javon. That
was all the inspiration the team needed headed into the second half.
Every player on the Simeon team went into the second half with a
fire lit beneath them. The
trophy was theirs. Dominic
James had dumped thirty points on Simeon in the first half, outscoring
Simeon by himself. Vince held
him to five in the third quarter as Simeon moved to within seven points of
the lead, trailing 58-51 heading into the final quarter of play. Dominic
James was clearly the most talented player on the floor that night, but
Vince was by far the more determined player out there.
And he played with more heart than someone could ask for in a
player. There was no
substitute for the heart that he possessed.
Proviso
started the fourth quarter with the ball.
James took possession and drove down the lane to an empty bucket.
He was going for the easy deuce but Vince gave a desperate leap at
him and blocked the shot. The
ball flew up into the air and landed in Vince’s hands.
He took control and flew down the court.
He stopped right outside the arc and drained the three-point
jumper. 58-54.
It set the tone for the rest of the game. With
thirty seconds remaining on the game clock, Proviso held a slim 71-70
advantage. Simeon called a
timeout and Avery drew up the play. Vince
took the inbound and passed off to Simeon two guard James Butler.
Vince then weaved through several Simeon screens before receiving
the ball again with a wide-open lane to the bucket.
He hit hole hard and drove to the bucket.
An easy lay up to put Simeon up by a score of 72-71. With only four seconds remaining and with no timeouts left,
it became desperation time for Proviso. Dominic
James took the inbound and flew down the court.
He was able to get within striking distance, just past mid-court,
before throwing up the prayer. With
a gasp from the sold out crowd the ball went in and then rimmed out.
The final buzzer sounded as Simeon emerged the victor.
The large Simeon crowd erupted.
Vince dropped down to his knees right at the center of the court
and raised his arms as he gave out a triumphant scream. The
state championship was even sweeter than it was in his dreams.
Vince’s triumph was more than a state championship, however.
There was a large crowd there for Simeon. That could only mean one thing.
Their disease had gone away. They
had been pulled out of the darkest depths by basketball.
Vince had found the cure. Vince
was walking home from school on the last day of school.
As he walked past the park he noticed a boy of about seven or eight
shooting around by himself. Vince
walked over and sat down next to the court.
The boy continued to shoot and then turned around and spotted
Vince. “Hey, you wanna
play?” “Yeah, that sounds cool.” Vince sat down his bags and went over to the court. The boy bounced the ball over to Vince and Vince dribbled around. The pair played a game of “Horse”. Vince lost, of course. Before he left, Vince took off his state championship ring and placed it on the boy’s thumb. It was a perfect fit. Vince was just making sure that the disease didn’t spread. |
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|
JR: Who would you say is a leader on this
team? |
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