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After the opponent served, Zhao Ziyang unexpectedly made a long-distance high throw from beyond the half-court line. What was Zhao Ziyang doing? We were all stunned as we saw Sun Yi jump up, catch the ball, and dunk it in. It turned out to be an alley-oop! We couldn't help but marvel at how well Zhao Ziyang and Sun Yi worked together; we never expected Zhao Ziyang to be so bold, which might also be a sign of his confidence. After we served, Zhongqi Senior controlled the ball and organized the offense past half-court, passing to Qiu Junze who was waiting in the paint. Qiu Junze faced Liang Yuhao and attempted a step-back jumper that missed. Zhang Ruizhi and Sun Yi fought for the rebound, and when Sun Yi grabbed it, his raised arms accidentally hit Zhang Ruizhi on the head, elbowing him hard in the forehead. Zhang Ruizhi immediately bled profusely. "Rui Zhi!" Bing Ge shouted as we all rushed over. Zhang Ruizhi slowly stood up, and we clearly saw a cut on his right forehead. The medical team quickly took him off to treat his wound. "The cut is about two centimeters deep; it looks like he needs stitches at the School Doctor's office," they said. When the School Doctor arrived, Zhang Ruizhi insisted, "Get me some cotton gauze and a band-aid; I can't leave the game now." "Rui Zhi, you should go to the infirmary for treatment," Teacher Qiu said. "Yeah, how can you just use gauze!" We all urged him. "This game is very important for our Yulin High School. Coach, I really can't leave; please let the School Doctor handle it simply for now," Zhang Ruizhi insisted. Teacher Qiu thought for a moment and then said, "Alright, Rui Zhi, just be careful on the court." Zhang Ruizhi then put on a band-aid over the medical gauze and returned to the game.
Back on the court, it was still the opponent's possession. Zhao Ziyang controlled the ball and suddenly changed direction to accelerate. Zhongqi Senior closely followed him. Zhao Ziyang quickly passed to Li Dongdong waiting in the paint. Li Dongdong shot immediately but was blocked by Zhang Ruizhi, sending the ball out of bounds with a loud "thud." The crowd erupted in applause and cheers as Zhao Ziyang received the sideline pass after that and passed to Liang Yuhao. Under pressure from Qiu Junze, Liang Yuhao passed to Li Dongdong who attempted a zero-degree angle shot but missed due to Ji Fang's interference. Sun Yi grabbed the rebound and scored with a putback.
After we served again, we tried to slow down the pace of the game. Zhongqi Senior passed to Junze who then passed to Zhang Ruizhi. Zhang Ruizhi attempted to penetrate against Lu Lei twice but couldn't find a good scoring opportunity. He then passed out to Ji Fang at a 45-degree angle beyond the three-point line. Li Dongdong couldn't get back in time; Ji Fang hesitated for about a second before jumping for a three-pointer—swish! After making the shot, Ji Fang instinctively looked at his right foot and smiled knowingly as if to say that his foot was fine.
The opponent continued with Zhao Ziyang organizing their offense again. After passing to Liang Yuhao, he quickly moved in front of Zhongqi Senior to set a screen. Liang Yuhao ran to the free-throw line and made his shot. After this basket went in, there was one minute and forty seconds left in the third quarter with a score of 66-68; we were only two points behind. We quickly served again; Zhongqi Senior used up most of the shot clock before passing to Ji Fang waiting at zero degrees. Ji Fang faked a shot successfully getting Li Dongdong off balance before jumping again for another three-pointer—swish! The crowd erupted once more as Ji Fang transformed into an unexpected hero with two crucial three-pointers at this critical moment: 69-68; with one minute and eighteen seconds left in the third quarter, we had taken a one-point lead.
Coach Fu Guoqiang called for a timeout. "Good job! We need to keep playing like this—continue battling Sangyue in half-court sets and don’t give Zhao Ziyang any chances for fast breaks. Zhongqi, you should take a break; defending against Zhao Ziyang, known for his speed as a Point Guard, is exhausting work—you must be tired after three quarters," he said. "Ouyang, replace Zhongqi." "Ji Fang, how's your foot?" Teacher Qiu asked. "Yeah, no problem; I can play all game long," Ji Fang replied confidently. "Rui Zhi, what about you?" Teacher Qiu turned back to ask him. "Yeah, Coach; I'm fine," he said while adjusting his band-aid over his wound.
"Alright Ouyang, it's tough defending against Zhao Ziyang; keep your steps tight," Teacher Qiu instructed us seriously as the referee blew his whistle signaling that timeout was over and players returned to the court. Xia Ying walked over not far from our bench calling out my name: "Xiang Jie." I looked at her as she placed her right index finger over her lips making a 'shh...' gesture; Xia Ying cleverly stepped back—it seemed she could be quite obedient sometimes.
Once Ouyang entered the game, he exerted all his effort trying to defend against Zhao Ziyang; however, Zhao Ziyang's agility was too strong—at one point he almost made Ouyang lose balance! Ouyang appeared somewhat inexperienced compared to Zhao Ziyang but had that fearless spirit of youth within him. With twenty seconds remaining in the game and our possession of the ball, Ouyang decisively took a shot from two steps inside the three-point line against Zhao Ziyang's defense—the ball flew between Zhao Ziyang's raised arms straight into the basket! As Ouyang ran back downcourt he high-fived Bing Ge with an especially loud clap!
As Zhao Ziyang received an inbound pass from his teammate and let time run down to just two seconds before shooting—a miss! The third quarter ended with a score of 77-77 after thirty-six minutes of play—we were back on even ground.
I felt like I had returned to those final moments against Twenty-Four Middle School and Hejiang High School; we were heading into an intense fourth quarter showdown! However, this match hadn't seen any major ups or downs yet—the strength of Fu Guoqiang's Sangyue team versus our Yulin led by Teacher Qiu would be determined in this final quarter! Teacher Qiu substituted Zhang Jun and Zhongqi Senior back into play after a brief two-minute break as the fourth quarter began with Sangyue having possession.
Zhao Ziyang was still on court but showed no signs of fatigue on his face as he dribbled past Zhongqi Senior with some quick moves before making an overhead pass to Li Dongdong who then completed an easy dunk after receiving it from Lu Lei who had sprinted downcourt behind him.
After we served again, Zhongqi Senior dribbled while raising his left index finger high when suddenly he tossed the ball into mid-air—Bing Ge jumped up to catch it but landed right into Sun Yi’s block! Sun Yi’s height advantage was too apparent; Bing Ge seemed overwhelmed as Liang Yuhao received an entry pass under the basket for an easy hook shot.
After serving again, Zhongqi Senior dribbled toward the top of the arc looking for opportunities when suddenly Zhao Ziyang snatched it away quickly charging toward our basket for an easy layup! The opponent had just hit us with a 6-0 run! It felt like we were standing on a cliff because we sensed this was Sangyue’s true strength—they were ready to explode in this fourth quarter!
We served again; after crossing half-court Zhongqi Senior passed to Ji Fang who rapidly drove toward the basket where Sun Yi came up for help defense but got knocked down by Ji Fang’s momentum! Sun Yi instinctively braced himself with his right hand but Ji Fang lost balance falling onto Sun Yi instead—"Ah!" Sun Yi cried out in pain as I saw him land awkwardly with his right arm twisted beneath him while lying on the floor tightly closing his eyes biting his lip.
Zhao Ziyang along with all teammates rushed over while our towering 'Iron Tower' at 1.98 meters was helped off by medical staff—this marked yet another big player injured during this match! Coach Fu Guoqiang appeared particularly anxious as he immediately substituted Zhou Mingliang alongside Lu Lei inside; unexpectedly just when Sangyue had found their rhythm their core inside player got injured!
The referee called Ji Fang for an offensive foul which meant it was still Sangyue’s possession; Zhao Ziyang passed to Li Dongdong before moving toward left wing where Li Dongdong seized an opportunity returning it back to Zhao Ziyang who took a three-pointer from 45 degrees on left side that missed! Bing Ge fought hard for that rebound passing it over to Zhang Ruizhi who scored easily under pressure from defenders—the entire crowd applauded this teamwork between two inside players!
With Sun Yi sidelined their interior defense weakened significantly afterward Teacher Qiu replaced Ji Fang with A Fei who despite being shorter than Li Dongdong had rested longer than him—Li Dongdong clearly struggled keeping up while Bing Ge and Zhang Ruizhi held down our interior defense allowing us to unleash a 9-0 run taking back our lead!
With only one minute remaining in this match we led by one point while Sangyue had possession—Zhao Ziyang passed off to Liang Yuhao who drove into paint only for A Fei intercepting midway sending long pass towards Zhang Jun who sprinted downcourt finishing with layup successfully!
After their quick inbound pass Zhao Ziyang appeared visibly anxious making another hurried pass toward basket resulting in turnover—the ball bounced out of bounds leaving us leading 90-84 with twenty-eight seconds left! Coach Fu Guoqiang called timeout while A Fei returned onto court where I high-fived him saying: “Ai II! You played well!” A Fei smiled silently while I noticed injured Sun Yi being escorted out by School Doctor—it seemed serious but thinking about it now perhaps it was fortunate he got hurt otherwise we might have been trailing instead!
Once timeout ended Coach Fu Guoqiang substituted Roger Tiger back into play—I realized Coach Fu Guoqiang had this habit: frequently substituting shooting guards while rarely changing other positions—was it perhaps due opponents lacking Point Guard?
As Sangyue prepared for their sideline inbound pass Zhao Ziyang caught it quickly running towards free-throw line faking shot before making an overhead pass directly towards newly entered Roger Tiger who nailed a three-pointer from top arc! With twenty seconds remaining we led by three points while they executed their play within eight seconds!
We inbounded again where Zhao Ziyang fouled Zhongqi Senior but since it wasn’t yet penalty time no free throws were awarded—we continued serving until Zhao Ziyang fouled again reaching five total fouls now putting Zhongqi Senior at free-throw line taking deep breath calmly sinking both shots successfully leaving twelve seconds left leading by five points!
The opponent didn’t call timeout instead opting for rapid inbound followed by fast attack where Zhao Ziyang attempted another three-pointer missing again! Lu Lei grabbed rebound passing back out towards Roger Tiger whose next attempt also failed hitting rim while Zhang Ruizhi secured final rebound sealing victory!!!
We ultimately defeated visiting Sangyue High School 98-97 defending our home court while gaining momentum heading into semifinals series!
“Win!” The entire student body erupted into cheers as Shuai Dong and Pang Hao rushed over embracing me along with A Fei: “Brothers! That win was spectacular—it really boosted Yulin High School’s morale!” Sha Xiaomei also laughed running towards us while A Fei broke free from their embrace walking towards her saying: “Shuai Dong，Pang Hao，do you know what prioritizing romance over friendship means?” I watched A Fei exchange glances with Sha Xiaomei while Shuai Dong nodded acknowledging me: “I didn’t know before but seems like I do now.”
“Xiang Jie!” Xia Ying came running over followed closely by her two friends Gu Mei Jiao and Zhang Yirong walking slowly behind her—once Xia Ying reached me she patted my shoulder saying: “Not bad!” “Oh come on—I only played ten minutes,” I replied modestly. “Ten minutes? So what? Performance isn’t measured by time,” Xia Ying retorted defiantly—I chuckled recalling something important rushing over beside Teacher Qiu asking: “Coach which teams are playing today?”
Teacher Qiu thought briefly: “Hejiang versus Puyu in quarterfinals at Hejiang’s home court—they finished second in their group with four wins two losses while Puyu edged through D Group also posting four wins two losses.”
“Anything else?” “Nope just curious,” I feigned interest wondering if Ice Man might be one of Hejiang or Puyu’s team members?
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