The Basket Counts Read Online Free Page A

anything!” snarled Caskie.
    “No, I guess not,” said the coach. “Pedro sailed into you for saying nothing.”
    They reached the bench. “Darryl … Mel, get in there. Report to the scorekeeper.”
    Mel kept a hawklike watch on the Comets’ star, Toots Kinney, keeping him down to six points. It was a tight game when it ended,
     the Titans squeezing out a 51–50 victory.
    On Thursday the Titans played the Lansing Red Jackets. The Red Jackets wore red satin uniforms with white stripes, but their
     uniforms were much flashier than their performance on the court. Skeet scored on two hook shots in the first quarter and another
     in the second, besides his three layups and two foul shots, netting him fourteen points for the half. Mel had four field goals
     and a foul shot for nine.
    The second half started with the Titans leading39–19. Andy and Darryl went in at the forward positions, Pedro and Rick at guard, and Kim Nemeth at center. The Red Jackets’
     center, an inch taller than Kim, tapped the ball to a teammate who passed it quickly to another teammate running toward the
     sideline. A pass to the corner … an attempted shot …
    Darryl jumped, blocked the shot, stole the ball, and started to dribble it upcourt. The ball struck his foot and skidded across
     the floor into an opponent’s hands. The Red Jacket passed to a player at the right sideline. The player feinted Andy out of
     position, dribbled toward the basket, and leaped with the ball. A perfect layup.
    Mel saw Darryl smacking his fist into a palm in disgust. It sure was tough luck.
    Pedro took out the ball and passed to Darryl. Darryl bounced it to Kim, who dribbled across the center line, passed to Pedro,
     then raced across the keyhole. Pedro returned the pass to him and Kim laid it up for another two points. “Okay, Mel,” said
     the coach. “Take Pedro’s place.”
    Mel had the ball for only a moment before thehorn blew for the end of the third quarter. He played half of the final quarter, scoring two more field goals and a foul shot
     for a total of fourteen points, his best scoring so far. The Titans walked off with a 68–41 score.
    Mel noticed one thing that had not happened in the last two games: in neither one had Stoney or Caskie yelled dirty remarks
     at him, Darryl, or Pedro. Was Coach Thorpe’s warning paying off after all?
    The game against the Putnam Crusaders was a different one altogether. The Crusaders, coming from the smallest school in the
     league, played as if they had been born and bred on the basketball court. Mel played the first quarter without scoring a point.
     He had two chances on fouls, but neither time did the ball cooperate for him.
    Darryl did a little better. Two points better. A hook shot after a pass from Mel. The Putnam Crusaders, with their best man,
     Eddie Frish, heading-the attack, led 29–20 at the end of the half.
    Coach Thorpe put Mel on Eddie to slow up the hustling little player. Mel couldn’t. The coach then put Caskie on him. Caskie
     slowed him up a little. Darryl tried it, too, but failed. Caskie seemed to bethe best player to hold the purple-uniformed player down. But the entire Titan defense wasn’t enough against the battling
     Crusaders, who won the game, 42–39.
    A cold took hold of Mel on Wednesday night and kept him in bed all day Thursday. The Titans were playing the Beetles that
     afternoon and Robby stayed to see the game.
    “We beat the Beetles,” he said when he came home from school.
    “What was the score?” asked Mel.
    “Forty-eight to forty-one,” answered Robby. “Caskie got nineteen points.”
    “I don’t care what he got,” grumbled Mel. “How many points did Skeet and Darryl get?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Mel didn’t go to school on Friday either. His cold was better, but not much.
    At ten-thirty, after the mail carrier had come, Mom brought in a letter to Mel. “Funny,” she said. “It’s got your name on
     it, but that’s all. It doesn’t even have a