I wake up  knowing what day it is. It is the basketball national  championship. My team made the championship, and we would play later that  day  at  6:30 P.M.

But  when I  checked the time,  it was  it  was  still  just 5:00  in the morning. I  was  so ready to play I couldn't even sleep. Since I couldn't  even  think  about  sleeping,  I decided  to  watch some  basketball  highlights, which I usually  do before  every  game. A couple of  hours  later,  I ate breakfast  then  went  to my coach's house  with  the rest of my team until it was time for the game.

We  talked  about  our  game  plan  for  a  while,  then  we  left  for  the game. When we got  to  the  gym, there were a  lot  more  people  there  than I  expected would be. The  game before ours went  to  double overtime,  so I was  even  more  excited  to  play than I had ever been before. We started the first  quarter  with a fast pace. Both  teams trading  basket for basket.

We  ended the first  quarter  down  two  points, and we were hoping  the  second  group  could  bring  some  intensity in the second  quarter. We  were  still  in  a close  battle throughout  the  second  quarter,  but  we  managed to come out of it with 6 points more. During halftime,  we  changed  our  defensive  game  plan  to  be  more  aggressive  and  get  more  stops.

We  started  the  third  quarter  off  great,  scoring  six  straight  points! We  finally  started  getting  things  going,  then  the  referees  had  to  kick  a  couple  of  crazy  fans  out  for  yelling  very disrespectful things  to  the  referees.Things  just  started  going  downhill  from  there.We  started  the  fourth  quarter  down, but  we  had  enough  time  to  still  pull off  the  win. With  the  game  tied   56-56  and one minute  left, the other  team  inbounded  the  ball. They  threw  a  pass  to  half  court,  and  my  teammate  stole  the  ball and  threw  it   to  me; I  get  fouled. When  I  got  to  the free  throw  line,  the  crowd  was  roaring. I could barely hear my  coach  yelling, ”Take  your  time,  Jay!”

I  tried  my  best  to  block  out  all  the  noise. I  made  the  first  free throw  then  it  got  even  louder; all I  could  hear  was, “MISS IT!”  In spite of that, I still  made the second one.

We  were  only  up  two  points,  so  it was possible that the  other team could tie it up  with  a  two,  or  go  for  the  win  with  a  three. They rushed  the  ball  down court  and  set  a  screen  for their  best  shooter  in  the corner, the  point  guard passed  him  and  he shot  the  three  for  the  win. He  made  it, but  it  didn’t  count  because the  referee called  a  travel.

We  won the championship. It  wasn’t  the  prettiest  but  a win is a win,especially if it’s the national  championship.