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墨書 Inktalez
Teacher Qiu called for a timeout. As we walked off the court, Song Huajing had already hunched over and left early. I saw the medical team treating him, while Lu Lei was panting and drinking water nearby. These two really gave their all for Twenty-Fourth Middle School.
"We can't call for any more timeouts, so the last sixty seconds will depend on you to control the pace. Remember, don't rush. We only need one goal, and sixty seconds is enough. We scored 79 points in our last home game, but so far in this game, we've only scored 74 points. If the opponent wins by two points, we'll have the disadvantage of scoring less away from home. So we must ensure that the opponent wins by no more than one point for us to advance," Teacher Qiu analyzed our current situation.
"Coach!" Zhongqi Senior suddenly looked serious. "If I can't lead Yulin into the Olympic Sports Center, then I will quit Team..." Zhongqi Senior was calm, but his words stirred our emotions. "Zhongqi, don't say that. Even if we can't make it to the Olympic Sports Center this time, there will be opportunities next year. You are the soul of our Team. Our progress this year is evident. Next year, with the growth of first-year students like Xiang Jie, A Fei, and Ouyang, along with the gradual stability of second-year players, we will still be strong contenders for the top four!" Teacher Qiu patted Zhongqi Senior on the shoulder. "Yes, Zhongqi, we need you." Bing Ge also stood up. "That's right, Zhongqi Senior..." We all stood up together. Zhongqi Senior lowered his head. "In this last minute, the opponent will focus more on defense and will definitely implement a 'Thunderbolt' strategy, so you must be careful of Lu Lei's mid-range shots and Song Huajing's three-pointers..." Just then, the timeout ended, and we walked back onto the court. This time, we absolutely cannot lose!
After we inbounded the ball, Zhongqi Senior organized an attack while Song Huajing slowly came over to defend. Suddenly, Zhongqi Senior made a quick change of direction and passed the ball to me in a low position. After hesitating for a moment, I passed it inside to Bing Ge. Unexpectedly, Lu Lei anticipated my intention and swiftly intercepted the ball from my hands before quickly advancing toward our backcourt. Song Huajing also ran back to help out. Lu Lei made a long pass to Song Huajing, who was charging toward the basket. Zhongqi Senior rushed over to defend against him. Song Huajing quickly spun around and threw up a shot. "Ah!" he suddenly fell to the ground as the ball bounced off the rim twice before going out of bounds. The referee blew his whistle, and Zhongqi Senior quickly raised his hand to indicate that he hadn't touched Song Huajing, so it definitely wasn't a blocking foul. The referee approached and nodded; he saw that Song Huajing's fall was indeed unrelated to Zhongqi Senior.
On the ground, Song Huajing curled up in pain while the home team supporters suddenly fell silent, all nervously watching him on the court. The medical team rushed over with a stretcher to carry him off, forcing them to substitute in backup point guard Zhou Xudong.
The game continued with forty seconds left on the clock and our possession of the ball. Zhongqi Senior brought it past half-court to take on Zhou Xudong. It seemed that he was still a bit inexperienced; there were significant gaps in his defense. After faking left and right with the ball, Zhongqi Senior suddenly passed it to me as I stepped forward and caught it cleanly through Zhou Xudong's armpit. I took a step forward and tossed it high to Bing Ge. As he jumped for a layup, he was met with pressure from both Mu Yu and Li Wei; the ball bounced off the rim.
Afterwards, Zhang Ruizhi grabbed the rebound and passed it out to A Fei. Upon receiving the ball, A Fei took a three-pointer! It went in! 7776! We regained control of the game with twenty seconds remaining. Since we had already used all our timeouts, Twenty-Fourth Middle School quickly inbounded the ball. I rushed over to foul point guard Zhou Xudong, and the referee firmly blew his whistle; we had just reached five fouls for this quarter.
Zhou Xudong stepped up to take free throws; he missed his first attempt while I saw their coach close his eyes in disappointment. He made his second shot though, tying us again—were we headed for overtime once more?
After quickly inbounding again, Zhongqi Senior ran into frontcourt to waste some time before passing it to A Fei. As he jumped for a mid-range shot, he missed! Mu Yu secured that crucial rebound! He passed it to a sprinting Lu Lei, who dashed outside of three-point range before leaping high for another three-pointer! It went in! 8077! Only four seconds remained! "Long live Thunderbolt!" The crowd erupted into deafening cheers as Lu Lei roared in excitement. The coach of Twenty-Fourth Middle School had already opened his arms and knelt on the ground because their team had never reached finals in their history—this was a historic breakthrough.
After quickly inbounding again, Zhongqi Senior made a long pass to where Bing Ge was positioned at the free-throw line; after catching it, he quickly took a mid-range shot! He missed! We were eliminated by Twenty-Fourth Middle School! The final score froze at 7780; with an aggregate score of 157156, they advanced to finals while cheers filled every corner of their gymnasium. Their coach and bench players rushed onto the court embracing their teammates as I watched them celebrate with mixed feelings—it felt like nothing could be worse than this moment.
Sitting on the floor with a dazed expression was Zhongqi Senior. When I turned back to look at A Fei, I noticed two glistening tears sliding down his cheeks; turning back towards Zhongqi Senior, I found him quietly shedding tears as well. Meanwhile, on the bench, both Ji Fang, Zhang Ruizhi, and Zhang Yingjie were crying heart-wrenchingly together; seeing this scene caused my long-suppressed pain to surge forth as I sat on the court sobbing uncontrollably...
Once we got into the locker room afterward, none of us spoke—a heavy silence hung over us as we sat there with our heads down on our chairs. As we exited from facing defeat against Twenty-Fourth Middle School, both Lu Lei and Song Huajing approached us: "Xiang Jie, Cheng Fei, we'll compete again next season; we're waiting for you." Still without saying anything in response until we boarded the bus did Teacher Qiu finally break this silence: "Team members, don’t be too upset; winning or losing is part of sports; we lost this year but can come back next year."
"Coach," said a choked-up voice from Ji Fang, "will we still be able to fight alongside our teammates next year?" Hearing those words made my heart ache once more—yes indeed; both Ji Fang, along with both Zhang Ruizhi and Zhang Yingjie would be graduating soon—they would end their high school careers within a month—this was their last chance fighting alongside us in the City High League.
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