Semifinals

The 2nd day of the National Tournament continues with 2 matches left in the first round.

Our next opponent will be whoever wins on the Mountain State vs. Findlay Prep matchup. Findlay Prep is one of the favorites for the finals in this tournament. Just like us, they have an undefeated record this year, but they are a seasoned team with great players that made it to the NBA and are first-round NBA Draft picks.

They are Corey Joseph, who is from Canada and got drafted to the San Antonio Spurs for the 29th pick in 2011. He didn't become a star in his NBA and only became a role player but just because you didn't do well in the NBA doesn't mean you're a bad player.

So many great players in College and High School could not even make it in the Drafts while those who did are barely even given some minutes to play in a game.

So him making it to the NBA spoke volumes of his performance pre-NBA.

The other one is Avery Bradley, who also got drafted 19th in the first round by the Boston Celtics in 2010. Avery made a lot of bench contributions to that team but was eventually traded after many years just like a lot of the players in the NBA.

And the last one is Tristan Thompson, he got drafted 4th in the NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2011. Tristan is the most notable of them all not just because of his NBA career but also his personal life.

Tristan became even more famous when he dated a beauty icon, Khloe Kardashian. In the year he helped LeBron win the NBA Championship in 2016, he dated Khloe and they even had a child together.

But Tristan's faithfulness remains questionable as he had been discovered cheating on Khloe during her pregnancy.

But basketball-wise, Tristan is a tough opponent inside the paint. He can play center and power forward because of his ability to score and defend the basket.

We can already tell that Findlay will win this match so we are preparing strategies against them.

Soon the first match of the day is about to start between St. Frances and St. Benedict's. St. Frances is a forward-heavy team so their gonna be physical throughout the game. St. Benedict's on the other hand is a defensive and rebound-oriented team with a lot of outside shooters also.

The favorite to win should be St. Frances based on their record this year but I think St. Benedict's style of play is just a mismatch for St. Frances.

The game's started and as I predicted, St. Benedict's defense is a lot better than what I've seen from other teams. They can lock down anyone from St. Benedict's with their smart defense and the outside shooting is also clicking for them.

St. Benedict's has 2 strong and very young centers that they can switch with at any time to anchor the defense. One is the starting center and a junior, John Paul Kambola 6'10, and the other is a sophomore, Blaise Mbargorba 7'0.

And the last one they depend on is their senior forward, Lamar Patterson who averages 2.5 steals per game. If they make it to the finals, they're gonna be a tough team to go against.

I'm not afraid of them defending me because I still have a lot of tricks that are yet to be seen. But I'm a bit worried that my teammates perform their best when they're under a lot of pressure on the defensive end.

It's gonna be a great game to watch St. Benedict's vs Oak Hill Academy. I would favor a little to Oak Hill Academy because the offensive power of both teams is totally different. Oak Hill might have what it takes to break through to their defense more often than St. Benedict's.

The second game is about to start so this time we're gonna see our competition's capabilities.

Findlay got the first possession and they just powered through Mountain State's defensive formation and they got nothing that can stop it.

Mountain State made some counterattacks from time to time but Findlay just shuts them down. Findlay showed a lot of promise as to why they're a favorite in this tournament, they have both defense and offensive capabilities that make it almost impossible for Mountain State to make a comeback.

The final buzzer sounded and concludes the end of the game for today.

Findlay won it 76-55, it was just a blowout in the 4th quarter. Mountain State lost all confidence down the stretch and Findlay took advantage of that.

Avery made a great performance and lead both teams with 23 points and 7 assists. Tristan also played well at both ends with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

We're now heading to our rooms and preparing for tomorrow's game.

****

It's the third day of the tournament and it's the Semifinals, we'll be playing for the first game against Findlay so we're up earlier and do some warmups.

ESPN will be broadcasting our games so a lot more people are in attendance ranging from parents to sports fans, to sports journalists, and to college basketball scouts.

In terms of individual players, I've been the one to stand out among the others because of the one game in the first round. Because of that, it has allowed my basketball history to be collected and reviewed by many scouts and reporters.

Before, I was only known to a good portion of San Francisco high school-level basketball. But now, with a major TV Station covering this tournament, almost all across the country will be my crowd as long as they follow high school basketball.

Warmups are finished and we're now about to start the game.

Findlay's center is a little bit taller at 6'11 and we have already seen what he can do in the previous game so we expect a tough matchup for Jerrold.

Especially Ikenna because he's gonna be defending Tristan down the post so we have to help him as much as possible. Also in the offensive end, we're gonna be struggling a little more than usual.

My job now is to carry the weight that's gonna eventually fall on me, but I don't mind though, because I know I'm capable of leading this team to victory.

First possession and we're defending, this doesn't happen too often but we're not distracted. We maintained great focus cause we're gonna be expecting a lot from them.

Cory controlled the ball at the top of the post and he gave a high pass to Tristan who is posting Ikenna already.

Ikenna did a good job defending Tristan which made him pass the ball back to Cory who then passed it to Avery and made a mid-range jump shot.

0-2

They're good at finding easy shots and only commit fewer mistakes. So if they continue to pass the ball around like that, this is gonna be a close game.

Isaac is now dribbling the ball at the top and signaled us for the play. It was executed first by Jerrold giving Isaac a screen allowing him to drive the ball to the basket which is successful but another defender is coming at him.

Isaac stopped near the basket and passed the ball behind him which I was now free for a moment until Avery quickly adjusted their defense to switch against me.

I was positioned at the right wing with the ball in my hand one-on-one against Avery. He did a good job not giving me enough space to make a shot or drive to any side. He also didn't take my fake shots so I decided to fake a cross over to the right and stepped back beyond the 3-point line and made a fadeaway jump shot.

Avery was a little late in blocking my shot but fortunately for him, he did not commit a foul. The ball's trajectory went high up and finally got inside the basket.

3-2

Everybody already expected me to attempt a lot of shots and make quite a lot of them, but they did not expect me to shoot it at that degree of difficulty.

The style of basketball that is played today is more favored to the Forwards and Centers, so 3-pointers are, although not uncommon, more executed by a catch-and-shoot. Very rarely does a player create his own 3-point play, that is why a lot of people doubted me still despite my overwhelming performances.