(Continued from Part Ten: The First Three.)
By the mid-point of the season of my senior year, Coach had lost most of his hope in the upperclassmen and decided to invest the majority of his time in the younger players on our team. He believed that the seniors constantly fell short of meeting their complete potential; he was tired of telling us, constantly reminding us to hustle because "that is the one thing [he] should not have to tell us over and over and over again."
In actuality, Coach had continued to remind us for five consecutive games and basically lost his cool during an ugly effort at our second outing against Mark Keppel, the sixth game of the season. We had Keppel, the best team in our league, on their home court and coach Jay expected us to be more mentally prepared than we have ever been. He believed that if we kept our composure, we would have a chance against the reigning Almont League Champs for more than five years and counting. We could not have been worse. Long story short, we were not ready, we did not show up to play; the game was on Chinese New Year and we all wanted to be else where and our attitude reflected our game.
Right from the tip-off, Keppel jumped out with four consecutive lay-ins that were made easily by our sloppy passing and inability to break their full court press. Our coach called a quick time out which seemed not to do anything as an 8-0 run quickly doubled. We actually went scoreless for half of the entire quarter. By the looks of it, the game was going to be a long one and I had to endure it all from the sidelines.
After the first few games of the season, I had lost a significant amount of playing time. My offense was non-existent, as I posed as a player who simply occupied space. When I was on the floor, it was like my team was playing nine on ten, I had no awareness offensively and that cost the squad. Worst of all, my defensive, which bought me some playing time was in the decline. I was loosing reps during practice and because my time on the floor was slowly diminishing, my court awareness was taking a major hit. After a while, I did not care to run as hard as I used to and for that my conditioning wore and took a toll as well. I went from seeing at least eight to ten minutes on the floor to two or three before finding a seat again.
Finding me on the bench during the second to final quarter was common, what was not was seeing three starting seniors join me. After the horrible start, Coach did not hesitate to sit the guys that he felt were the sole cause of the team, the guys that were, by not giving any effort, digging a larger deficit in the game. The three would return in the second and third to play for awhile until being yanked out with about five to seven minutes still left in the final quarter. It was a blow out but the seniors were hurt by what Coach had done. The team was a team and if we lost, it was not only because of the seniors. Skills should not be perceived because of age or class level but what an individual could actually bring to the table. If you ask me, I would admit that some sophomores or juniors were significantly better than I was offensively (not defensively though, I still feel that I had quite a great defensive campaign during my time in the program).
After the game, Coach told the seniors to go shake the hands of the Keppel players and said that he wanted to speak with the underclassmen. We later learned that he told them he did not ever want to see what he saw that day, that they had to put up a greater fight then the effort that the seniors had gave out there. I had not played a single minute in that game but I could tell you that I was pretty upset that a Coach could separate a team and point fingers the way he did.
Team cohesion and chemistry were the the things that we needed most and we botched the opportunities we had to try to boost them. We would go into our next game against Schurr and throw that one away as well. Things were not looking good and seemed to be only getting worse. At that time, I do not think that anyone wanted to be a part of the team.
Our Senior Night, the final home game that we would ever play in a San Gabriel jersey, was coming up and we did not know what to expect. Our coach had lost his confidence in us during practice and simply ran us through our plays and all the regular motions without giving us a hint of what was going to happen when we faced Bell Gardens for what would be a very important game to the seniors who have stuck with the program despite the circumstances. Our parents were going to be there, some teachers and alumni were coming back, it was going to be a jam-backed house and we all had no clue what to expect.
Without anything to really prepare for in terms of an actually game plan, I decided to prepare mentally. It was going to be my very last night that I would be able to play at home for the school and I wanted to do well, even if I was only going to get two minutes in the game, even if I was just going to warm up in my shooting shirt.
On February 7th, I jumped out of the locker-room with my teammates, more pumped than I have ever been. Despite our horrible season record, I let it all go and only thought about playing basketball and capturing every moment of that game. My mom, aunt, and sister were up in the stands and I seemed to feel their support. Then the word got to me during the lay-up lines. With about 20 minutes to go before the tip off, there was a rumor being passed around that I was going to start the game at small forward or point guard. For me, it was too surreal to even grasp onto the notion that Coach would start any player that has not started for the entire regular season, let alone play regular minutes every night. I fit in that mold and I simply tried to brush it off, but to be honest, I began to feel my heart beat faster as the goosebumps rose from my arms.
With about a minute on the clock to go, Coach called me over and asked me for my jersey number. At that point, it had confirmed the fact that I was set to start. It was an incredible but terrifying feeling. I just wanted to play solid and not mess up in front of the band, the students and teachers that came out to support, and most importantly my mom, aunt, and sister who were here to watch me play for the first time in the Matador Arena.
The buzzer rings and before the game, we have our national anthem play. As I looked up at the flag in our gym, so many emotions went through me. I remembered all the times had the opportunity to stand there, alongside my teammates, my friends; especially the seniors, who have shared this moment with me for four years. Then the starting line was announced and my name was called for the first time, "first year varsity player, Marvin Luu!" I ran out to meet my mom who had greeted me with flowers, a lay made of candy, and a poster, which was a tradition that all seniors were greeted with.
After the long and emotional intro, it was game time. I told myself that this moment, this game would only mean so much more if we could pull out a victory; I told myself that I would have all the time in the world to reflect later, it was time to give my best effort now. The ball was tipped and the Lancers had possession first. We locked down the painted area and forced the guards to pass the ball around the outer perimeter. After ten seconds, one of their guards took a hasty shot and missed. We quickly boarded and pushed up court but rushed a shot and was back on defensive. For the first two minutes the game went at this steady pace until Bell Gardens finally broke their cold streak and scored the first two points of the game with a dump down and lay in by a post player. The onslaught continued form their and Bell Gardens jumped out on an 8-2 run.
I got pretty winded after playing only four to five minutes and was subbed out. A few minutes later, Coach decided that he had seen enough and called time-out. Our emotions and energy was running high but we were not using it right. We were playing too quick for our own good and we were starting to make measly mistakes that were costing us. In his anger, Coach broke his clipboard in half which seemed to fuel us in the second quarter. Our point guard, senior Anthony Ponce slowed the pace down and allowed our center, junior David Gonzalez, to do the work in the paint while our captain, senior Man Nong did his usual thing and drove hard into the paint. By the half, the lead was cut to about ten.
The third and fourth quarters were inspiring. We jumped out with the same energy that we had during the second and pushed the Lancers hard on defense. We fed the ball to Gonzalez and when that did not work we penetrated into the paint and dished the ball out to open players. I contributed the best I could by slowing down the Bell Gardens point guard, tiring him out and making him work for every real estate he so desperately wanted.
The crowd was going crazy! There were screams, cries, and defense chants coming from all over; it was all surreal, so surreal.
However, the Lancers were not ready to just hand over the night to us. They rallied back and kept the game close. The night would turn out to be a great game that went down to the wire. Senior Christian Majano went off during the fourth and was unconscious from three point land. He shot two critical jumpers that gave us some space to breath. Then, Nong jumped in and had some crazy athletic lay-ups drop in. With two minutes to go, the Lancers were down by five and had to start fouling. We sunk our free throws and captured a victory that we seriously cherished.
When the buzzer rang, the roars from all around the arena erupted and the clapping began. We thanked our family and friends for coming out and supporting us before heading into the locker room for a post game talk. Our coach tried to hide a smile but could not; he told us that we had really battled for the game and we earned it. It was nice to see everyone smile and laugh in the locker room, that was missing for a very long time. The victory was more than just a victory to all of us because it was a reminder of why we stuck with the program, why we continued to play the game.
Up to today, I still remember that game and the jam-packed arena. It served as a huge boost to the entire teams confidence, a moment that seemed to outshine all the rough times that we had; it made those tough times worth it because it allowed us to see how hard we had worked. My senior season was coming to an end but that moment was something that I knew I would cherish forever.
