Conceived Without Sin (38 page)

Bill, Sam, and the Man remained silent. Buzz lined up next to Dante Curry. He was assigned
to guard Dante, who was a full four inches taller, and a superior basketball player in every way except for one.

Dante didn't want to go to Fatima.

Donna nodded to the Man from the sidelines. Buzz covering Dante had been Donna's idea, but it had been the Man who made the final decision.

Take the bait, Dante.
Donna urged with her thoughts.
Cover Buzz. Please, cover Buzz.

She took a close look at
the legend, Dante Curry, a handsome man with dark eyes, wavy black hair, and a deep tan. He walked with an easy grace and the air of a champion. He was thirty-one years old. She had seen him play before; as a little girl, Donna had watched him take Our Lady of the Rosary High School all the way to the state finals–and win it. He was quiet and intense, and feared by those who knew how excellent basketball
is played.

They called him, simply, the Italian.

A buzzer went off. One of the referees blew his whistle and walked to the center of the court.

4

Donna had formulated a simple game plan, and for the first third of the game, it worked like a charm on the surprised Infernos.

Dante took the bait and covered Buzz Woodward. This led to a good but lesser defensive player to taking up the job of covering
Bill White, whose reputation as a shooter preceded him.

Using a triple-stack offense the Man had installed weeks earlier, Bill ran by pick after pick from Buzz, Sam, and finally, Mark, until he was open.

Bill lit up the Infernos by hitting a blistering ten of his first thirteen shots. Mark and Sam each crammed in an offensive rebound for points. Buzz and the Man popped short jumpers when their
men sloughed off to help out on the amazing Bill White.

Buzz fared a little better on the other end of the court covering Dante, who hit more than half his shots. One time, when Dante blew past the slower Buzz to drive the lane, Mark knocked him to the wood with a hard foul.

Sam reached down and helped Dante to his feet.

The opposing captain was expressionless, but Donna and the Man could both
see that the other Infernos, who had been expecting an easy game against a team of no-names, were rattled by the Scaps aggressive start.

When the Infernos called time-out, the score was 22 to 14 in favor of the Scaps. The Rocky River cheering section went nuts, and the crowd seemed to be leaning their way. A man from News Channel Five held a mini-cam over the Scaps huddle.

"Phase two!" Donna shouted.
Everyone nodded. "Slow it down."

The Infernos came out in a zone defense. It was an attempt to slow down Bill White. And it failed. Bill burned the zone to extend the lead to 31 to 21.

We're gonna win!
Buzz rejoiced wildly.

He didn't notice that Mark, the Man, and Bill were grabbing their shorts at their knees at every stop of play.

Dante had his own game plan: wear out the older, less well-conditioned
opponents. The tall scorer held up two fingers after plunking through his third two-pointer; the Infernos switched back to man-to-man defense.

Dante was now covering Bill White. Donna's heart sank. He played denial defense, and Bill suddenly had trouble getting the ball. Bill finally ran past a pick, got the ball from Buzz, and leaped up to fire a shot. His legs were growing weary and he wasn't
jumping as high as earlier in the game. Dante blocked the shot downcourt, and a teammate picked it up for an easy lay-up.

"Time out!" Donna called. The Man signaled for a time out. The Scaps trotted to the bench.

She said two words: "Power game."

Now Buzz was feeling his own fatigue. Chasing Dante was taking a steady toll on his stamina. None of the Scaps were accustomed to playing a regulation
length court for such a long game.

"How the legs holding up?" the Man asked Bill.

"I'll hold out. Don't worry about me. I'll concentrate on defense, and rest on offense 'til the last few baskets."

The Man looked at Mark and Sam, who nodded. It was up to the big men now.

The next few exchanges were like lightning and thunder. Dante took over on offense for the Infernos, taking Buzz for jumpers
several times. The Scaps countered by slowing down on offense, and pounding the ball in to Sam or Mark, whichever man was open. Sam and Mark hit half their inside shots. Sam was smoother than his cover man, and Mark was stronger. But neither could keep up with the fabulous Dante Curry, who more than matched them shot for shot.

Again and again, the Man drove the paint and dished off to the big
men. The Infernos, terrified of Bill White's jumper, failed to collapse for help.

Dante called a time out with the Scaps leading 39 to 37. Three more points, and the Scaps were champions.

The crowd was getting into the game as it tightened up. Ellie had hugged Donna feverishly after every Scaps basket since 35. Their voices were hoarse from cheering.

"What do we do now?" Donna heard Sam ask the
Man between breaths as he ran by the bench. The Man was in the best shape on the team and he was also wearing down.

"They're tired, too," the Man barked angrily, ignoring the stitch in his side. "Let's go to the well."

They all knew the well to which the Man was referring. Bill White was the well. But his face was coming more and more to resemble the color of his last name.

Bill's back pain had
been a dull thud; now it was a screaming stab.

"I'm ready," Bill said through a wince as he lined up in front of Buzz before the set offense started. Buzz clapped him on the back. Bill darted quickly to the perimeter, received the ball from the Man, and fired a jumper over Dante.

The ball clanged off the rim. A miss.

An Inferno grabbed the rebound. Dante ran by a nifty pick and received the ball
on the left top of the key, Buzz trailing behind him. Dante faked a jumper and Buzz leaped in the air; Dante took a long first step toward the hoop and flicked a running jumper. Mark Johnson tried desperately to block the shot, and landed on Dante's foot. The ball thumped through the hoop. Now the score was 39 to 38, Scaps leading.

Mark collapsed to the ground, grasping his bad knee. He mightily
resisted the urge to curse. There were kids in the arena.

The sight of the proud Mark Johnson writhing on the wooden floor caused Buzz to despair.
We don't have a sixth man!

What am I saying, Mark's hurt!

A ref blew his whistle. Injury time out.

"Hold on, Mark," Sam said, crouching down. "We'll get you a stretcher."

"Stretcher?! Forget the freakin' stretcher. Get Donna out here to tape me up."

Sam had a hand on Mark's forearm. Mark threw it off and struggled to his feet. He winked at Maggie in the stands, and gave the television camera a thumbs up. He hopped to the bench on his own power.

"Cut it for me!" Donna ordered Ellie, handing her a surgical scissors, while simultaneously wrapping athletic tape around Mark's knee, brace and all.

"Here!" Donna yelled.

Ellie cut the tape. Donna
wrapped another piece around the knee. Cut. Wrap, cut. She wrapped hard. Mark set his jaw, his eyes unfocused on the crowd.

"Mark, you're crazy!" Bill White whispered loudly to his old friend. "This isn't high school. You've got to go to work tomorrow. We'll play short-handed."

Mark gave Bill a cold look.

"I'm playing."

Bill snorted and walked back onto the court.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"
Ellie asked.

"It's only pain, darling," Mark replied calmly.

The ref looked at his watch, and blew the whistle. The time out was over. The Man briefly considered taking their last time out to give Donna more time to wrap Mark's knee, but she ran out of tape.

There goes the game,
the Man thought, watching Mark half-limp, half-hop to the top of the foul line on the Scap's side of the court.
He's
a tough sonufabitch.

When Dante Curry saw Mark's insanely taped knee, he trotted over and said, "Good luck, big guy."

Mark looked him in the eye. Neither man showed any emotion.

"Thank you."

All we need are three points,
Buzz thought hopelessly, as a ref raised his arm and blew the whistle again.

Mark was hurt. Dante was shutting down Bill. Every Scap was dragging. The momentum had shifted.

Three
points seemed like a hundred.

Even the crowd could feel the game slipping away to the Infernos.

Buzz looked over to Donna; she shook her head gravely.

Next to her, Ellie called out: "Forget about Mark! He's a tough guy. Win it for us, Buzz!"

Buzz took the ball from the referee, and inbounded it to the Man, who brought it up the court.

The Man spotted an opening and drove down the lane, drawing
the defensive man who was supposed to be covering Sam. The Man bounced a pass toward Sam, but Mark's defender stepped away from his wounded opponent and flicked the pass away into the hands of an Inferno.

Turnover. The Infernos started a fast break. Dante finished with a jam. Mark had barely limped to half court by the time the play was over.

Now the game was tied, 39 to 39. That basket seemed
to be the straw to break the camel's back. The crowd became quiet.

It was sad; it had been such a competitive game up to that point.

"Three points!" Buzz shouted. He saw fire in the Man's eyes. The Man drove the lane again, but kept the ball this time, and was fouled during his shot. The ball clanged off the rim. A miss. The Man would be given one foul shot.

He stepped up to the line, took a deep
breath, and sunk his shot.

40 to 39, Scaps in the lead.

"Buckle down, help out on Dante!" Bill White yelled, watching a now-familiar play evolve designed to get Dante open. Buzz, tired but determined, fought through the picks, knowing that Dante would take the next shot.

For a split second, as Dante came off the last pick, Buzz felt as if he could hear only one sound: sneakers squeaking.

When
Dante received the ball, Buzz was right on top of him. Dante took a hard step forward, feigning Buzz backwards. Then Dante pulled a new move; he dropped back two steps and fired from behind the three point line, fading away as Buzz tried hopelessly to recover and contest the shot.

The other four Scaps turned, hoping for a rebound, trying to box their men out.

Buzz didn't bother. For the first
time since the game began, he had seen Dante smile as he released his shot. Buzz felt completely helpless; he was being taken to school by a far superior player.

Dante saved that move all day just for this moment.

Swish.

Two points.

Infernos 41, Scaps 40.

Game point for the Infernos. One more and it was over. They could even concede a one-point basket to the Scaps to get the ball back for Dante.

The Man called his team's final time out.

Maybe Sam should cover Dante next time,
Buzz thought.

But that made little sense. Sam was shutting down another talented player, Robbie Dixon, a tall man who would simply take Buzz down low as easily as Dante was taking him up high.

"Give us a play," the Man told Donna in the huddle. "Let's go to Bill. Can you still set a good pick, Mark?"

Mark nodded,
sweat dripping from every pore of his body. His brown shirt was almost black with moisture. He supported his injured knee by leaning on Sam's shoulder.

"No! Let's go to Sam! Inside, like last game!" Buzz urged.

The Man glared at Buzz. He bit back a rebuke. He realized that his teammate was desperate. "Settle down, Buzz," he said soothingly. "I need you to stay alert. We go with Bill, okay?" It
wasn't really a question.

"Sure," Buzz said, distantly ashamed, looking down at his sneakers. He had written the letter
I
on the tip of his left shoe and an
M
on the tip of his right.
I.M. Immaculate Mary. I still think we should go to Sam.

"Good, then Buzz will hang back after he inbounds the ball," the Man continued, addressing the others. "Just in case something goes wrong. No easy baskets
on defense. Donna?"

She feverishly scratched the play on her clipboard. They were all familiar with it. Buzz would inbound. Bill would come off two picks and dart across the three point line at the top of the key. The Man would be the second option if Bill was covered, and Sam would be ready for a short jumper on the high post after setting the first pick. Mark would crash the boards and to hell
with the bad knee.

"It may be our only chance," the Man finished, letting his words hang in the air, like droplets of water waiting to leave a thundercloud.

Bill would shoot for two points to put the game away.

The whistle blew.

+  +  +

The crowd began to roar. This was basketball in its purest form. No clocks. No overtime. Just baskets. Every pick-up game, no matter how royal the surroundings,
came down to sudden death.

Down to making the Big Shot.

And just as everyone watching the game–including the people at home watching on television–knew that Dante Curry would take the final shot for the Infernos, everyone also knew that Bill White would fire the Big Shot for the Scaps.

On the bench, holding Ellie's hand, Donna prayed:
Hail Mary, full of grace…

The referee handed Buzz the ball
on the sideline and blew the whistle to signal the start of the play. Nine players on the court began a brutal ballet of bumping chests, poking elbows, and squeaking sneakers. As Buzz held the ball, waiting to inbound, watching the play develop, it seemed to set up perfectly for the Scaps.

Bill came around the low post, brushing his man off a grimacing Mark Johnson. Despite his fatigue, Bill continued
quickly and cut sharply as he brushed off Sam's pick at the foul line, Sam leaned out and bumped the chasing Dante's hip in a rare lapse from perfection…

Buzz released the ball, then stepped onto the court, slightly dazed.

Bill White caught the ball as he squared up for the shot, just beyond the top of the key. Buzz's heart skipped as he realized that it was Dante's turn to labor to recover from
Sam's pick.