They switched to a tight box and one defense. Tomkins was on me wherever I went. The box was cutting off my drives, and they were boxing out Roy for the bounds. I started to freak a little. I came across the middle, taking cats to one side and then spinning in the air to the other. We closed to within one point, but then Tomkins came down the lane, gave me a shoulder fake, and then went up and stuffed two-handed.

Ox answered that with a soft jumper from the corner that didn’t touch nothing but net. They brought the ball into Tomkins. I tapped the ball away from him, and he recovered it. I thought I had lost him, but he backed off, and I realized that he was looking for somebody to pass off to! He passed off and then glanced up at the clock. They were trying to hang on! Tomkins moved without the ball to the corner, and I went with him. A second later the whistle blew. I turned around, and Paul had stolen the ball and called time-out.

“We ain’t got time for two shots,” Cal said. “There’s twenty-eight seconds left, and they got three up on us. We go for the tie. Lonnie, their big man is tired. We got to hope he makes a mistake. You drive on him and try to get the foul.”

“No way, man,” I said.

“He’s tired,” Cal said. “A tired man is more likely to foul you. You can do it!”

“That ain’t what I mean,” I said. “I ain’t going for no tie. I’m going for the whole thing.”

“You don’t have time for two shots,” Cal said.

“I got the time,” I said. I looked up at the clock. “I got the time.”

We brought the ball in, and I went for the drive. I figured it might be easy because they would be thinking about not fouling me. I started my step, and then Tomkins jumped out on me. I was afraid of the charge, so I twisted away from him. The ball came up off the dribble, and I hooked it toward the hoop. It dropped.

They called time-out. I looked up and saw that there were eighteen seconds left.

“They’re going to sit on it,” Cal said. “We have to foul them as soon as they get the ball. They get the one, and we call time-out and then make a plan for the two. Lonnie, they’re going to give Tomkins the ball because he’s their best foul shot. As soon as he gets the ball, foul him! You got that?”

They brought the ball in and got it to Tomkins, just like Cal said they would.

“Foul him! Foul him!” I heard Cal screaming from the bench. Tomkins wasn’t looking for the shot. He was waiting for the foul. I made a move toward him, and he held up, just turning his back to me. I waited.

“Foul him! Foul him!” Cal was standing on the sideline, screaming.