After months of chemotherapy, SoCal teen makes winning shot for his high school basketball team

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KABC) -- After being told he would never play basketball again, a Southern California athlete was determined to beat the odds, and cancer, so he could once again play the sport he loves.

Nick Herrmann of San Diego has played basketball since he was a boy. At 16, while playing for Torrey Pines High School, doctors found a cancerous tumor in his left leg.

He went through nine months of chemotherapy, and some doctors feared he would even lose his leg. But Herrmann fought on with determination and slowly regained his strength, eventually ringing the cancer bell.

Just a couple months after his last round of chemo, with a large scar on his left leg, he returned to basketball.

Undefeated, his team made it all the way to the San Diego Open Division Championship. With only a half-second of the game left and the score tied at 60, the ball was passed to Herrmann.

He took the shot, a 3-pointer, winning the game for his team.

Video from the game shows his teammates running up to him and lifting him, Herrmann overcome with emotions.

Since then, Herrmann says he's been playing basketball every day this summer as he tries to decide which college to attend this fall, with multiple scholarships offered to him.

"To all those people going through similar things, I want you to know that you can do anything. Never stop pushing and never stop working towards your dreams," he said.