Boxcar Children 68 - Basketball Mystery by Charles Tang, Gertrude Chandler Warner

two teams went basket for basket during overtime.
    Then Henry got the rebound. With just another few seconds left on the clock, Henry made a basket.
    “It’s in!” the Aldens screamed from their seats. “The Blazers are ahead by two points!”
    Tipper chewed on her thumbnail. “All the Blazers have to do is keep the Hot Shots from scoring. This is where all those guarding drills Buzz did with the Blazers will pay off.”
    The gym was wild with noise and cheering. The Blazers and Hot Shots had never played a better game. The Hot Shots player with the ball looked for chances to pass or throw. But everywhere he looked, a Blazer guarded a Hot Shots player. Finally the Hot Shots player tried to shoot.
    “Foul!” Frank Fowler called out, pointing to a Blazer guard.
    The Blazers fans groaned. No one had seen the guard touch the player.
    “He didn’t touch him, did he, Tipper?” Violet asked.
    Tipper shook her head. “I know he didn’t. Everybody else knows he didn’t, too. But that’s what Frank called. Now the Hot Shots guy gets two foul shots.”
    The gym was completely silent now. The Hot Shots player stood at the foul line. He made his first throw. The ball bounced off the rim.
    “Whew,” Jessie said. “The Blazers are still ahead.” She crossed her fingers.
    The player took another foul shot. This one circled the rim for the longest time. Was it going to go in?
    “He missed!” Tipper cried when the ball dropped off the rim onto the court.
    When the final buzzer went off, the crowd seemed to explode.
    “The Blazers won! The Blazers won!” the Aldens and other Blazers fans yelled and screamed.
    The Aldens scrambled down the bleachers to the court. They hugged Henry. They hugged Buzz.
    “You’re the champions!” Tipper said, hugging Buzz over and over. “You guys did it.”
    Friends and family and sports photographers took pictures and talked to the team. Then the mayor came out and presented the boys’ league trophy to Buzz. He passed it down the line to his players. Finally, when all the picture-taking was over, the Blazers left the gym.
    Tipper and the Aldens waited outside the locker room. Henry and Buzz came out in their street clothes a few minutes later.
    Buzz gave Henry a friendly punch in the shoulder. “Great game, Henry. You guys did everything I taught you.”
    “I did everything but guard people without having fouls called against me,” Henry said. “I can’t believe how many fouls Mr. Fowler called. I don’t think the Blazers committed half of them, either.”
    Buzz slowed down. “Listen, that happens to the best of teams. You can’t predict what a ref is going to do. Sometimes the calls go your way. Sometimes they go the other way. I have to say, though, that I’ve never seen so many fouls called that I disagreed with.”
    Everyone passed the lockers where the referees and coaches kept their things.
    “Speaking of disagreeable, look at Mr. Fowler,” Henry whispered.
    Frank Fowler stood in front of a locker. He was dumping his things into his bag. In went his whistle. In went his referee shoes. In went his striped hat. He finally picked up his bag and muttered to himself all the way out the door.
    “Anybody looking at Frank Fowler would think he lost the game instead of refereed it. That’s pretty strange,” said Buzz.
    “Well, Buzz,” Henry said, “the Blazers won the game fair and square thanks to your coaching. There’s nothing strange about that!”

CHAPTER 8
Sneaky Sneakers
    W hen Jessie and Violet walked into the sports center the next day, Tom Hooper was up on his ladder painting the ceiling.
    “Hi, Tom,” Tipper called out. “Looks as if you’re almost done. How are you?”
    Tom didn’t answer, so Tipper and the Aldens kept walking down the hall.
    “Hey, wait!” Tom called after them. “I just remembered something. Frank gave me a note for you, Tipper.”
    Everyone turned around. Tom came down from his ladder. He searched the pocket of his painter’s