31 Broken

At Rosewood Academy's bench

The coach said to his team

"Listen, from what I noticed; these are what we need to capitalize on for the 2nd half."

"First, we're switching to man-to-man defense. Prevent #23 from passing to any open area. From what I've seen he's an agile guard but we have yet to see any finishing ability for him."

As the coach said that, they turned to look at Akihiko from the other side of the court

"Another thing is, double-team their center once he's in the low post. Now, keep on fighting!"

"Yeah!!" Rosewood Academy's players said in unison

"Timeout's over!" The referee said as both teams once again got on the court

As they walked by Allen then said to his teammate #45,

"I have a plan."

Seconds later...

Murray got the inbound pass as he started to dribble towards their front court

"Why do I still feel like there's something wrong?" Their coach thought

"We'll get them back!" Murray said as he raised his finger while dribbling. Suddenly Murray drove to the paint, Nash was there to defend but when he was about to catch up he bumped into something.

"Screen?!"

Murray then passed the ball to Ralph, who easily sank the open three-pointer.

"Nice shot!" Murray said as he patted Ralph's shoulder while they got back to defense

...

Akihiko directly received the ball as he realized they switched from a zone defense to a man-to-man. As he reached front court, Akihiko spoke

"As much as I would like to have fun, this ends here."

Ralph who didn't even understand what Akihiko was saying instantly became shocked at what happened next.

Akihiko suddenly accelerated as he passed by Ralph quite easily. What Akihiko did in the previous quarters were simply child's play at what he had accomplished now.

Akihiko then drove to the rim for a lay-up as he was met with Allen jumping in order to block him.

'Gotcha!'

As Allen thought he was going to block Akihiko's lay-up, Akihiko suddenly ducked as he tossed the ball towards the rim.

The ball went in as everyone was shocked at what had happened

"A double-clutch!?" the coach thought as he was fooled by Akihiko.

"Woah! Amazing!" the crowd shouted

Akihiko got on defense calmly as he didn't even turn to look at his defenders.

"That was sick!" Mike said as he patted Akihiko's shoulders while they got back on defense.

Murray was once again in front of Nash, this time Nash suddenly spoke up

"You know, I've had enough of your screens."

As he said that, Nash immediately stole the ball right from Murray's hands.

"What?!" Murray muttered out, still surprised from having the ball stolen

Nash then drove to the rim as he made the easy lay-up.

Murray once again got in the ball, as he was already in front court. This time, he kept his distance from Nash as he turned to look at his teammates.

As he turned to looked at them, he realized there was no open space for him to pass the ball because they were being heavily pressured by the defense.

"Damn." Murray thought.

But he then saw #45 breaking away from his man.

The two nodded at each other as Murray began to move towards the left. Murray then saw the opportunity for another screen.

"I told you, I'm tired of this crap." As Nash said that, he just spun around to evade the incoming screen. At the same time, Murray didn't have any time to change gears as Nash once again stole the ball.

Mike got the ball as he began running to their front court, but the defense was fast as they were already in position as Mike got to the front court.

Mike then did the most logical thing to do which was to pass the ball to Akihiko.

Ralph got ready as he awaited for Akihiko's next move. This time, Ralph was confused because Akihiko was in a triple threat position as he held the ball.

Akihiko then proceeded to do a ball fake, Ralph reacted as he went towards the direction which Akihiko pointed. Seeing, that it was a fake Ralph immediately came back as he saw Akihiko going for a shooting motion.

"Oh no you don't!"

Ralph said as he jumped to block the ball. But he was surprised because Akihiko held the ball using only 1 hand to form a shooting motion.

'I was tricked!' Ralph thought as Akihiko drove to the top of the key.

Akihiko then pulled-up as he sank an open jumper

*Swoosh*

Allen who saw what had happened muttered

"He didn't even dribble the ball once, yet he made Ralph go in circles."

He was in awe even though that was just Akihiko's second bucket of the day.

..

Murray then got the ball as he passed the ball to Ralph

Ralph then jumped for a fast three pointer, but Akihiko was there to contest it.

"Rebound!" the coach screamed as the shot hit the corner of the rim.

Henry got the ball as he passed it towards Nash

"Nice rebound!!" Mike said as they got back on offense

Nash then passed the ball to Akihiko

"Get on him!" Rosewood Academy's coach screamed out

#54 and Ralph were on Akihiko as they planned to stop him

Akihiko then spoke up

"Logically, I would pass to the open man. But since you respect me this much; I'll give you a treat."

As Akihiko said that he began to move. Akihiko threw the ball between both defender's legs. At the same time, he spun around to get pass #54 as he caught the ball and began driving to the rim.

"What a monster!!" Both defenders thought as Akihiko passed right by them

"Allen stop him!" The coach screamed out in hopes to stop Akihiko's attack.

Allen and Akihiko once again jumped at the same time. This time, Allen was prepared to block another double-clutch lay-up. But when he looked at Akihiko's form, he realized he was not going for a block.

"Is that what I think it is?!" Allen muttered

He then realized he was the one falling first while Akihiko kept getting higher.

Akihiko then finished it as he slammed the ball right through the rim.