CHAPTER 1 A DRAMATIC ENDING Ben Mason dribbled to midcourt and glanced up at the scoreboard on the gymnasium's wall In bright red numerals the time left on the clock clicked down 0 47 0 46 0 45 It was the fourth quarter and Ben's team the East Grover Lake Grizzlies was down by 3 points The Grizzlies were playing a team from Naperville the gold and white clad Gladiators The Gladiators were a fast team They'd been running circles around
the Grizzlies the whole second half Ben was amazed that the Grizzlies were just a few points down as the seconds ticked away From the sideline Ben heard Coach Horton shout Bear Cub Bear Cub As point guard for the Grizzlies Ben's job was to run the plays He had to make sure all the players knew their positions where they had to be for each play and who they should pass the ball to at any given moment Basically Ben was in charge This was his team He liked that Go Grizzlies go shouted Ben's friends in the stands Annie Roger and Gabe Santiago dressed in their red and brown school colors cheered him on He could hear them over the clapping of the crowd and the chanting of the cheerleaders Ben's other close friend Logan
Parrish was on the bench Logan was one of the Grizzlies forwards Bear Cub Ben shouted to his teammates as he reached the top of the key The Gladiators defender played close but not too close A foul would send Ben to the free throw line and the Gladiators didn't want to give away any easy points Nick Cozzetti one of the Grizzlies forwards dashed up and set a pick Ben breezed past the defender and dribbled into the lane The player defending Tyler Murphy the Grizzlies center peeled off to defend the driving Ben That left Ty wide open Ben bounce passed to Ty who drained an easy layup Nice pass Ty shouted as he and Ben slapped a high five
The Grizzlies were now down by 1 point No time to celebrate Coach Horton waved an arm animatedly Foul Foul Coach Horton wanted them to intentionally foul to stop the clock Ben hazarded a look at the ticking clock 0 25 0 24 0 23 Aware of the Grizzlies intentions the Gladiators sent the inbound pass to their best shooter Carl Martinson He snatched the ball and held it tight as Ben swatted at his arm Tweet The referee pointed at Ben Foul Two shots Gladiators The teams lined up on both sides of the lane As Carl toed the free throw line waiting
