Our 8th grade basketball team was particularly hype that day. Was it something in the air? Was it our surroundings? Something was waiting to come, something big. Our basketball team has lost every game and by more than 30 points. We got off the bus and headed toward the main entrance of Slauson Middle School. We could hear the roars coming from the depths of the gym.
   

As we were walking to the school, I looked at my friend Clayton and said, “You ready?”
   

“For what?” He responded. “To set a new record and get humiliated, or warm the bench for the whole game?”
   

“You’re funny,” I said smiling and shaking my head. The gym was a much more different environment. Chills went down my spine and my heart was in my throat. Our coach gathered us into a huddle and tried to motivate our “winning” spirit. Coach then called out the starters.
   

“Kaba and Tim in the backcourt with Josef at the 3, Randy at the 4, and DeAndrew at the 5.” We made our way onto the court and before the game even started the ref blew the whistle and called a technical foul on one of the Slauson players for grabbing the rim. “Tim,” coach called. “Take the free throws.” Already nervous from anxiety of the potential outcome, I managed to calm my mind down.
  

  “2 shots,” the ref said, tossing me the ball. “Relax on the first.” I did my free throw routine and went up for the shot. Splash, it was a good sound, nothing but net. I went up for the second and got the same result, a crisp-to-the-ear swish. I readjusted my sleeve and my headband and made my way back to get possession of the ball. Randy Inbounded the ball to Kaba who brought the ball up the court confidently.

“32!” Kaba yelled for the play. Josef and Randy set a screen on both sides of Kaba which gave him options to move left or right. He cut strongly to the right which forced my defender to try and stop him. By doing that he left me open behind the 3-point line which was a big mistake. Kaba kicked the ball out to me on the right wing and I took care of the rest. Now something was definitely wrong, we had never been up by 5 points before ever.

“Timeout!” The Slauson’s coach shouted. We huddled up again and coach took the whole starting 5 out of the game. I was very confused of why he would do this if we were actually “winning.” Eric, Sam, Clayton, Saliou, and Thomas were put into the game.

“Looks like you won’t be sitting the bench after all,” I said to Clayton while I made myself comfortable on the bench, grabbing my drink. He gave me a weary smile and replied with a simple “Shut up.” Coach played that lineup for the rest of the quarter and things then started to look more like Scarlett basketball. The score at the end of the first was 23-5.

“What happened?!” coach was furious. “You took us out the game,” I thought to myself. “We need to pick up the intensity. Don’t let your man go around you, make him work for it!” Coach said. “Also, grab a rebound, box out the defender, and and go for the ball. You guys are playing too scared.”

The game went on and the start of the 3rd quarter was waiting to begin, I had 8 points and 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Coach called in the lineups for the rest of the game. “Kaba, Tim, Khjahili, Randy, and DeAndrew,” he called. “Lead us for the rest of the game.”

The 3rd quarter was where it got interesting. We were down by 6 points and Slauson was at the free throw line. “Khjahili!” coach yelled. “I want you to take the ball and score if they miss, you hear me?”

“Yes coach,” Khjahili responded. Slauson missed, Khjahili got the rebound, but he was running with the ball the wrong way!

“Khjahili!” Randy screamed. “What the flip are you doing!?” Khjahili went up for the layup and missed! He didn’t even know he was trying to score for the opponent! Everyone was screaming and laughing. He grabbed the rebound and looked back, confused. He turned back around went back up for the layup and missed again! Randy this time was running back and tried to block Khjahili, but by that time he had already made it.

We ended up losing the game and I didn’t know how to categorize this one. We got humiliated but we didn’t lose by 30, we lost by eight. I guess I can call this one a new type of record.