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墨書 Inktalez
We continued to push our physical limits back and forth, completely forgetting the time, running tirelessly, defending, breaking through... In short, we gave it our all. By the end of the first half, we had taken the lead with a score of 65 to 59, regaining the advantage in our hands. "Go, City No. 2 Middle School! Go, City No. 2 Middle School!" The fans in the stands began to chant again, their overwhelming cheers giving me a feeling reminiscent of Beijing; this was the true atmosphere of playing basketball! After we walked into the locker room, Tu Lei hit his chest hard with his fist. "Hey, Tu Chuanfeng, take it easy; don’t break your chest." I joked with him. After sitting down, I covered my face with a towel and faced down. Suddenly, Ouyang nudged me with his elbow and said with a smile, "Classmate Xiang Jie, rest in peace, amen." I quickly removed the towel from my face and replied, "Go away, Ouyang; don’t curse me! If I rest in peace, who will control the position?" We laughed casually for a moment when A Fei sat next to us and said, "Jie, Ouyang, the third quarter is crucial. If we hold our ground, we will win."
After halftime ended, we walked back into the gym as the third quarter began. When we took the court again, the opponent substituted Hu Yue back in. We had possession of the ball; after it was thrown in, I held the ball and went one-on-one against Chu Yuetao. Our pace remained fast-paced; however, I was caught off guard and lost the ball to Chu Yuetao. He drove straight to the basket and scored against Tu Lei and Zhang Jun with ease. That shot by Chu Yuetao was decisive. After we regained possession, I charged towards their basket again and used a crossover step to shake off Pei Xinliang before making a step-back shot that went in—64 to 61; we were still leading. After their inbound pass, Chu Yuetao made a long pass to Jia Yu. After catching it, Jia Yu took two steps forward and bounced a pass to Pei Xinliang, who then executed a powerful dunk—64 to 63; City No. 2 Middle School kept closely trailing behind.
Zhang Jun frowned as he walked to the baseline for an out-of-bounds throw-in. After receiving the ball from him, I passed it to Ouyang. Ouyang ran to the corner and made a three-pointer from zero degrees—67 to 66! As I ran back on defense, I slapped his shoulder hard; sharpshooter Ouyang Shangqiang had officially arrived! After City No. 2 Middle School inbounded the ball again, Chu Yuetao quickly ran over and stood outside the three-point line while Jia Yu came out to screen for me. Taking advantage of that moment, Chu Yuetao shot another three-pointer—this one also went in! The score difference was back down to one point again. In the following plays, we fought hard with fast breaks; they made two beautiful mid-range shots while we responded with two thunderous dunks that kept them tightly on our heels.
By the end of the third quarter, we led them by just one point at 77 to 76. As we left the court, I clenched my fists together in frustration; despite our efforts, we still couldn't widen the score gap. Once off the court, I sat down and drank water vigorously as a way to punish myself for my shortcomings. After finishing one bottle, I bent down to grab another when suddenly someone grabbed my wrist. Looking up, I saw it was Teacher Qiu. "Coach, what’s wrong? Let me drink another bottle," I said to Teacher Qiu. He slowly released his grip and said to me, "Jie, you’re not drinking water; you’re sulking! I know why you’re upset but don’t forget we're leading them right at City No. 2 Middle School's doorstep!" Teacher Qiu then turned around and picked up a tactical board to explain our strategy for the fourth quarter.
I was momentarily stunned by what Teacher Qiu had just said. The break between the third and fourth quarters was very brief—only three minutes—so there wasn’t much time for us to discuss strategies before the fourth quarter began. There were slight personnel changes as Teacher Qiu substituted Li Kanglin for Zhang Jun to pair him with Tu Lei inside. As I stepped onto the court again, Teacher Qiu suddenly patted my shoulder from behind. Turning around, I saw him looking at me with an encouraging gaze as if he were saying: "Jie, I believe in you; you can lead us at Yulin High School into advancement!" Looking into Teacher Qiu's eyes made me nod my heavy yet confident head.
Once on court again after Li Kanglin passed me the ball, I walked slowly toward their half-court while Tu Lei circled around for support. Just as I intended to pass him the ball, he suddenly changed direction to set a screen for Chu Yuetao instead. Quickly adjusting my position while holding onto the ball and stepping right to avoid Chu Yuetao’s defense allowed me to shoot from beyond the three-point line—but it bounced off! Ah! That shot was too rushed; I should have passed it to our sharpshooter Ouyang! What a waste of an opportunity! Li Kanglin fought for a rebound against Hu Yue and managed to grab it before jumping high for another dunk over Land Route—79 to 76; we were still ahead.
After their inbound pass following that play where Chu Yuetao crossed midcourt and threw a high lob toward under the basket—a brilliant assist! As I sprinted toward where the ball would land and jumped up for it, I suddenly felt something hit my head—a sharp pain surged through me—but I managed to hold onto that falling ball as I landed on my feet. Just then, the referee blew his whistle unexpectedly; feeling puzzled since I hadn’t indicated any head injury yet he called for a timeout—it must be an +1 call? While wondering about this situation as I turned around—I realized Hu Yue was crouched on the floor holding his chin with both hands! It dawned on me: what I'd bumped into earlier was Hu Yue's chin! Rubbing my sore head top while medical staff came over helped Hu Yue off court—their young coach looked worriedly at Hu Yue’s condition before sending Wei Bingxin in as his replacement.
Surprisingly enough they awarded possession back to City No. 2 Middle School! That made no sense; I was legitimately fighting for that rebound without any foul committed! Plus during that timeout—the ball was still in my hands so logically we should continue with possession! It truly baffled me but thinking about how painful Hu Yue looked earlier made me reluctant to argue about possession with the referee.
After their inbound pass following that play showed their inside dominance clearly faltering—I successfully assisted Li Kanglin and Tu Lei several times leading them both scoring consecutively despite their coach calling multiple timeouts without any significant effect on gameplay flow. As time drew near its end—we led City No. 2 Middle School by nine points at 97-88—the largest margin of lead throughout this match! With only one minute remaining—we could start celebrating our advancement early!
After Wei Bingxin’s inbound pass found Chu Yuetao who quickly distributed it rightward towards Jia Yu—who then penetrated before swiftly returning it back towards Chu Yuetao—who positioned himself at a forty-five-degree angle before executing a jump shot! My defense fell short as that ball arced beautifully through mid-air before swishing through netting—97-91—with only forty seconds left on clock—we remained unbreakable in our advantage!
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