They are captains of their high school basketball teams in South Central Los Angeles. They are about to clash in a game leading to the city championships. They are South Central heros but they are about to graduate to jobless streets where drug deals and street gangs make life dangerous for even the most honored athletes.

This is the story of Ricky Brown and Maurice Robinson growing up without their fathers, struggling to excel and survive in a hostile world. "My mother was my father," says Ricky, admiringly of the lady who heads his family. "They could come in here and kill us," his mother says of the gangs that are a constant threat. Maurice's mother is also the head of the family. In her living room she points out the bullet holes in the wall and ceiling and refers to the dead body she found in her front yard.

The two team captains feel relatively safe as long as they are in high school and spending their off hours playing basketball. Maurice wants to escape the neighborhood when he graduates. A basketball scholarship to college would be a way out for either player. But first they have a championship game to play. (56 minutes)