Andy woke that morning and he could not have felt better.  It was the morning of the biggest game of his life.  Andy was starting point guard on the varsity team at South High.  Tonight he played the conference rivals, North High.  North High had won the match for ten years.  As Andy brushed his teeth that morning, he thought back to when he was a little kid.  His remembered watching the last game South High had won against North High.  It was fourth quarter, the game was tied.  South High goes on a 10-0 run to start the quarter.  North came roaring back with eight unanswered points.  The two teams would trade basket for basket for the next few minutes.  30 seconds left and the ball game is tied.  All of the headlines read, “South High Defeats Rival with Buzzer Beater.” 
Andy was now off to school.  He felt a little nervous going to school that day.  Everyone would be looking to him that night.  The pressure was on.  That kind of atmosphere made Andy remember all of the little things.  Like while he was driving he remembered when he first got his driver’s license as a sophomore.  When he got to school he remembered walking through those doors as a freshmen.  And then at his locker he saw her.  Stephanie Curry. Andy had had a crush on this girl for as long as he could remember.  He could never find the courage to ask her on a date.  As she began to walk his way, Andy nearly crawled into his locker.  He always got shy around her.  
As he went off to his first class, Andy could hardly contain his excitement.  He sat down in first period English and couldn’t pay attention.  He drew more basketball plays in his notebook than he took notes.  He watched the clock just waiting for the bell.  The bell sounds, and after a short chat with friends, Andy is off to second period.  Having no room in his head for math problems, Andy draws in his notebook to pass the time.  After second period, it’s lunch.  Being too nervous to have much of an appetite, Andy packed his own lunch.  It wasn’t much, just and apple and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  As he sat there quietly enjoying his small meal, Andy started noticing similar T-shirts around him.  Everyone in the school had one on.  It was a simple message.  It just said, “Beat North High.”  It wasn’t a very big message, but it gave Andy a slight boost in confidence.  As he finished his lunch, many people came up to him and wished him luck that night.  Knowing that he had the support of the whole school, Andy felt much more confident about the game. 
Third period went by very quickly, being one of Andy’s favorite classes, gym.  Fourth period science also flew past because Andy had that class with his best friend, Joe Buss.  The final bell for the day sounds and Andy heads to his locker to put his bag away.  As he walks, he day dreams of making threes and crossing over the defense of North High.  He is in such a day dream, that he isn’t really paying attention to where he is going.  In his head he just drains a three in the face of a defender, but in reality he walks right into someone, knocking all of her books out of her hand.  He snaps out of his day dream and realizes he has just knocked all of the books out of Stephanie Curry’s hands.  “I am so sorry, let me get those for you.” Andy says while turning a bright shade of red. 
“Thank you,” says Stephanie with a laugh.  “Good luck tonight Andy.”
“Th-thank you,” Andy stammered.  As she walked away Andy stood there dazed.  He could only think one thing, “She knows my name!”
Andy goes to the locker room and changes into his warm ups.  He heads out into the gym to shoot around for a bit.  This always seemed to calm his nerves and clear his head.  Andy shoots alone for a while and then takes a seat in the bleachers and watches the JV game with Joe and some other team mates.  At half time of that game they head in to locker room for pregame prep. 
Game time.  At last.  Andy had been waiting all day for this.  As the two teams come out and start their warm ups, they stare each other down.  Sizing each other up for the game.  The buzzer sounds, the national anthem is played and it’s time to play.  North High wins the tip and brings it down the floor, the point guard makes a sloppy pass that is intercepted by Joe who takes it coast to coast for a back board shaking two-handed jam.  North High brings it back down the court and makes a three pointer.  Andy takes the inbounds pass and dribbles up the floor.  He gets a screen from the center Russ Hollard and knocks down a mid-ranged jumper.  The game goes back and forth like this for the rest of the half.  The teams head in for half time.  The half time score is 40-41, North High.  As Andy walks in, he takes a moment to notice the crowd.  It looks as though everyone from both towns has come out to see this game.  During half time South High’s coach goes over the things they need to do in the second half in order to win.  It’s the same things Andy has heard a million times before, “You need to hustle back on defense,” or “We need to box out on rebounds.”  It seems like every coach says these things every day. 
The second half starts with North High getting the ball first.  They not only score first this half, but go on a 12-0 run to start the third quarter.  South High finally snaps the streak at about the half-way mark of the third quarter.  They go on their own run scoring five unanswered points.  Andy is beginning to feel very tired, he has not had a break yet this quarter.  Thankfully, the buzzer sounds the end of the third quarter.  The score is 51-58 North High.

Fourth quarter, the most crucial part of every game.  This is what you practice for.  This is what the extra sprint in practice is for.  It’s do or die time.  Andy takes the inbounds pass and walks the ball up the court.  He drives the lane and makes a phenomenal around the back pass to Joe who drains a baseline three.  North High answers with an alley-oop dunk from their point guard to their power forward.  South High and North High trade off baskets almost possession for possession.  Timeout.  30 seconds left.  The game is tied 74-74.  North High has the ball.  They take the inbounds pass and slowly dribble down the court.  They are trying to burn the clock to get a final shot for the game.  Andy’s man has the ball and he dribbling around to waste time.  7seconds… 6 seconds… Andy knows he has to act quickly if he ever wants to win.  4 seconds… Andy goes for the steal.  3 seconds…  He cleanly makes the steal on the unsuspecting guard.  Andy takes one dribble to half court.  1 second…  Andy puts up the half court dream.  Final buzzer.  The ball seems to be in the air for eternity.  Almost as if it is just hanging there.  And then to everyone’s disbelief.  The ball hits nothing but net.  77-74 South High.  The crowd storms the court, everyone is hugging each other and Andy is still standing at half court, still in shock from what he had just done.  A voice snaps him out of his trance.  “Andy, that was amazing.”
It’s the voice of none other Stephanie Curry.  “We won,” that’s all Andy said back.  “I can’t believe we won.”
“That was the greatest thing I have ever seen.  Hey Andy?”  Stephanie sounded nervous.
“Yeah Stephanie?”  Asked Andy still in a daze.
“Do you want to catch a movie sometime?”  Said Stephanie blushing.
This snapped Andy out of the trance.  “Yeah sure, how about Saturday?”
“Perfect.”  Replied Stephanie.
Stephanie hugged the dazed form of Andy.  Andy slowly gathered himself and went home.  As he lay there in bed that night, he went over today’s events in his head.  “I have just beaten a team we haven’t beat in 10 years.  And I have a date with my long time crush on Saturday.  This is the best day ever.”  Andy went to sleep the happiest man alive that night.
That night, Andy dreamt of basketball.  All of the games that he would play, all of the moves he would make.  It was then decided that Andy would never play another game, but it wasn’t a decision Andy made.  That night, at about 2:00 A.M, Andy died.  He died of an undiagnosed, over-sized heart.  All of the excitement, stress, and amount exhaustion Andy experienced in a short period of time caused his heart rate to speed up to a dangerous amount.  His heart ruptured from trying to beat at a rate at which it couldn’t beat.  
It’s amazing how quickly life can be taken away.  Even from the best of people.  Andy didn’t know his time was coming.  But he still enjoyed every last second he had.  No one knows the future, every shot could be your last.  Every game might be the last game you ever play.  Leave it all on the court, because it might be your last time.