With the lead now in there hands team West's locker room was full of joy.
"Hell yeah man! What a shot that was!" Kel'el Ware exclaimed as he started shaking Gradey Dick.
"Nah but for real, Jake lowkey turning into Demar Derozan! The way you put up those middys and the way you baptized Dereck Lively was fucking insane!" Jordan Walsh said, hyping up Jake.
"Jordan speaking facts, like man when I faced you, you were only hitting middys and layups, now you dunking like a prime Derozan!" Amari Bell spoke up as well, adding to the praise.
"Alright boys! There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance! I know ya'll are confident right now but don't be arrogant now!" The coach, Michael Thomas Jr. barked at the players which immediately pulled them back to the earth.
As the halftime break finished, the announcers also returned to their seats.
"Alright we're back from the halftime break. Looking at the first half, me and Ted were quite taken back by Jake Mendoza's performance. 8 points, 4 steals and 2 vicious dunks were the highlight." Cory exclaimed.
"Despite this performance, we still can't ignore his 0/3 from three, and the fact that two were wide open is disappointing for a player of his caliber." Ted disagreed, still holding still with his criticism of Jake.
This discussion went for a while until the referee blew the whistle, signaling the start of the second half. Jake didn't enter in the second half until the eight minute where team West were winning 89-82.
Entering the game for Gradey Dick. Almost immediately he made an impact, asking for an iso against Brandon Miller.
He first tried a hesi crossover combo, though this didn't work on Brandon Miller, this made him relax his legs for a second which Jake took advantage of as he burst to the mid range area. Despite Miller contesting the shot, Jake was already in the zone, with the ball making no contact except the net.
This went on for four possessions in a row, even being double teamed he still found a way to contribute, an assist to Amari Bailey and a lob to Kel'el Ware.
As the game went on Jake was eventually substituted off, putting 18 points, 5 rebounds, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 blocks in 17 minutes of play. As the game ended, team West beat destiny winning 103-92.
Without question, Jake was awarded the Mcdonald's all American game MVP. Getting one final interview, he dedicated his MVP to God and his family.
"Obviously I want to thank the lord god Jesus Christ for this, secondly I dedicate this MVP to my family, without my mom paying for all those basketball clinics I wouldn't have had been this good."
As he finished changing, Amari went up to him.
"Hey man! Great game, I'm really relieved that I could play with someone as good as you!" Amari exclaimed.
"Thanks man, oh I forgot to ask, can I have your snap? Would really wanna hang out with you sometime, plus you seem like a really fun guy."
"Sure man! Here!" Amari said, showing Jake his snapchat and other social media info. "Also, I was wondering if you wanna join a private workout next week. There'll be NBA players there, like Tim Hardaway Jr. and some future NBA players like Jeremy Sochan and Jalen Duren."
This immediately caught Jake's attention, the idea of being able to play with and against NBA caliber players made him really pumped.
"For real! Hell yeah I wanna play! Sure, when and where's it happening?" Jake asked intrigued.
"Next week Thursday, 6 PM at BoomBase in California. I figured you'd wanna join since it was in Cali and it was near our college."
"Hell yeah man, can't wait to see you there!"
"Same here man! I'll DM you on insta to remind you." Amari said smiling enthusiastically
"Aight bet!"