The fourth quarter belonged to Lincoln Heights.
It started with Darius bringing the ball up, the gym noise somehow different now. Riverside Valley's home crowd was still loud, but there was an edge of nervousness to it. They'd watched their team's fifteen-point lead evaporate over eight minutes of real team basketball, and now they were clinging to a four-point advantage that felt more fragile than the score suggested.
Darius crossed half court and immediately called for motion. The ball swung from him to Connor to Ty to Jerome, each pass crisp and purposeful. Riverside Valley's defense scrambled, trying to keep up with the movement. On the fourth pass, Marcus got an open look from the top of the key.
He didn't hesitate. The shot was good.
Riverside Valley 62, Lincoln Heights 61.
One-point game. Seven minutes left.
The Riverside Valley freshman point guard tried to answer, but his hips gave away the drive again. Darius cut him off, forced a bad pass, and Ty picked it off. Lincoln Heights pushed in transition.
Darius found Connor streaking down the left side. Connor caught it in stride, took two dribbles, and finished with a reverse layup.
Lincoln Heights 63, Riverside Valley 62.
First lead of the game.
The Lincoln Heights bench exploded. Players were on their feet, jumping, shouting, feeling that momentum shift like electricity running through the entire team. Even the guys who hadn't played yet were completely locked in, living every possession.
Riverside Valley called timeout, their coach trying to stem the tide. But it was too late. The culture had shifted. Lincoln Heights wasn't playing as five individuals anymore. They were playing as one unit, and that unit was better than anything Riverside Valley could throw at them.
The rest of the quarter was a masterclass in team basketball. Jerome set a screen that freed Ty for a three-pointer. Marcus made a backdoor cut that Darius found for an easy layup. Connor grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it back out to reset, leading to a wide-open three from the top of the key.
With three minutes left, Lincoln Heights was up by eight. With one minute left, they were up by twelve. The final score was Lincoln Heights 78, Riverside Valley 68.
A ten-point victory after being down fifteen in the second quarter.
Darius's final stat line was modest but impactful: 8 points, 9 assists, 3 steals, 0 turnovers. But the numbers didn't capture what had actually happened. He'd changed the way his team played mid-game. Convinced them to trust each other. Led them to a comeback victory not through individual brilliance but through collective effort.
As the final buzzer sounded, Darius's teammates mobbed each other at center court. Connor grabbed Darius in a headlock, laughing. "Yo, we actually did it! We played like a real team!"
Ty was grinning from ear to ear, something Darius hadn't seen all season. "Man, that felt way better than trying to do everything myself."
Jerome walked over and dapped up Darius. "Good call on that team basketball stuff, freshman. I thought you were crazy, but that actually worked."
Coach Martinez watched from the sideline, his arms crossed but a small smile on his face. When Darius jogged past him toward the locker room, Coach grabbed his shoulder.
"Good game. Real good game. You showed leadership out there that most players don't have until they're juniors or seniors. Keep that up."
"Thanks, Coach."
The locker room was different than it had been before the game. Instead of everyone sitting in their own isolated bubbles, players were talking to each other, reliving plays, laughing about mistakes that didn't cost them because someone else had their back.
"Yo, remember when Jerome set that screen and damn near took out two defenders?" Marcus was saying, his voice animated in a way Darius hadn't heard before.
"Bruh, I thought the ref was gonna call a foul!" Jerome responded, and everyone laughed.
The bus ride home was even better. The usual segregation that happened on team transportation, where everyone sat alone with their headphones in, had dissolved completely. Guys were sitting together, joking, talking about the game, talking about practice, talking about everything except their individual stats or their chances of making first string.
Darius sat with Connor again, both of them exhausted but energized in that way that only came after a hard-fought victory.
"You know what the crazy part is?" Connor said, looking out the window at the passing city lights. "We've been practicing together for weeks, but tonight was the first time it actually felt like we were a team."
"Yeah," Darius agreed. "Felt different."
"You think they'll keep playing like this? Or is this just a one-game thing?"
Darius thought about it. "I don't know. But I hope so. Because that was way more fun than what we were doing before."
Behind them, Ty and Marcus were arguing about whose three-pointer was cleaner. Devon was showing someone a video he'd taken of Jerome's dunk in the third quarter. The entire bus was alive with energy and camaraderie that hadn't existed a few hours ago.
As they pulled into the Lincoln Heights parking lot, Coach Martinez stood up at the front of the bus.
"Good win tonight, guys. That's what Elite Eight basketball is supposed to look like. We'll review film on Monday, but for now, enjoy this. You earned it."
Everyone filed off the bus, still talking, still laughing, some of them making plans to grab food together. Darius walked toward his mom's car where she was waiting to pick him up.
"How was the game?" she asked as he threw his bag in the back seat.
"We won."
"That's good! How'd you play?"
Darius thought about all the passes he'd made, all the plays he'd set up for his teammates, the way he'd convinced them to play together instead of apart.
"I played like a point guard," he said, and smiled.
Because for the first time since joining Lincoln Heights, that's exactly what he'd done.