Samezuka vs. Tokiwadai

The second quarter started, and Tokiwadai sent out,

Shun, Aone, Mibuchi, Yuki, Kaitani.

Tokiwadai had sent their main five starters, for the second quarter.

During the time-out between quarters, the team had decided to use Aone a lot in this quarter.

It was his last quarter of the game, so Shun was going to use Aone a lot in the offense.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

On Samezuka's bench, the coach and players were anxious to go out for the second quarter.

Samezuka's captain, the small forward, looked at their coach for guidance.

Samezuka's SF: "Coach, what should we do?"

The coach thought for a while and then replied.

Samezuka's Coach: "I have no idea how they are doing it, but to avoid it, make sure not to leave your mark to help others. You have to handle your mark on your own."

Coach knew that before Tokiwadai's skilled players, it would be difficult for his players to play defense, but the team didn't have any choice.

He sighed and instructed.

Samezuka's Coach: "Worrying will not get us anything, so go out and make sure to defend whole-heartedly, and please follow the pass-routines that we have trained with, don't be selfish and try to score on your own."

Samezuka's team nodded and said.

All: "Yes, sir."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

It was Samezuka's offense.

The point guard passed the ball to the shooting guard. He relayed the ball to the small forward, who was already around the mid-range area.

Samezuka's small forward shot a mid-range short. Kaitani, who was his mark, tried to contest the shot, but he failed to reach.

The ball bounced off the rim and missed.

Kaitani yelled when he saw the ball missed the basket.

Kaitani: "Rebound!"

Aone boxed out Samezuka's center, and Shun jumped up for the rebound.

Shun got the ball, and he had already decided how he was going to move the ball after he landed.

Shun got to the ground and got into pass motion. He did a pass-fake right beside Samezuka's center.

The center moved to the right trying to get a hand on the pass and fell for the fake.

Shun signaled Aone to run and move behind him.

Aone got the plan and quickly moved behind Shun.

Shun casually dropped the ball behind him and stepped one step forward and got into a screen position.

Shun had effectively passed the ball to Aone, he had checked with his vision that no one was behind him and Aone to block Aone, and then he moved to eliminate Aone's guard by screeing him out.

Samezuka's center cursed when he saw the screen.

Samezuka's C: "Dammit, a screen."

Aone jumped and once again scored with a finger-roll.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shun had the ball, and he moved to the three-point arc.

Shun stopped and took a moment to look at the position of the players on the court, and then said.

Shun: "Let's do it."

He looked at Kaitani and said.

Shun: "This is how you use speed."

Shun found the shortest path to the basket and exploded with the highest speed he could manage.

Fushimi's small forward watched wide-eyed at Shun as he moved at a neck-breaking speed.

Fushimi's SF: "What speed!"

Kaitani looked at Shun as he directed himself through the gaps between the defenders and then jammed the ball into the rim.

The people in the stands exclaimed at Shun's charge to the basket.

Person A: "Holy crap, he just went in between the gaps."

The spectators could see the court better than the players, as they watched from above.

Person B: "Did you see how quickly he moved. It was like he didn't care about colliding with others."

Of course, not all understood that Shun had already mapped out the route for his run, so they judged it as reckless.

Person C: "Man, that dunk was impactful, wasn't it."

And, some were mesmerized by the simple yet powerful charm of a dunk.

Shun proceeded to score two more times in that quarter to recharge his decoy batteries, which made him attract more attention than others.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Of course, not all plays were tricky.

The team had decided that Aone would score. So, Shun decided to use the strength that he bought to the table.

Shun made one single pass to Aone and let him move freely inside the post, and do what he did best.

Shun passed the ball to Aone, just outside the low post, and Aone would force his way to the basket and used hook shots, layups, up-and-under, and drop-steps.

Aone used every move he knew to increase the point gap before he retired from the game.

The score at the end of the second quarter was 40-26.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

It was another quarter and another team switch.

The team for this quarter was,

Shun, Hyakuzawa, Mibuchi, Yuki, Kaitani.

Mibuchi looked at Shun and said.

Mibuchi: "Kageyama-chan, pass the ball to me, more in this quarter, I will be retiring after this quarter."

He turned to Yuki and Kaitani and instructed him.

Mibuchi: "Yuki-chan and Kaitani-chan, prepare screens for me. Of-ball, On-ball, any type you can manage.

Get me away from my defender, and Kageyama-chan would pass the ball to me at the right time.

Let's increase the point gap a little more."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

And as planned, Kaitani and Yuki put up screens left and right for Mibuchi, and he was running to catch and shoot.

Shun attracted attention by doing flashy dribbles.

He would do fakes but didn't move one step from his position.

His defender was starting to get irritated and spoke.

Samezuka's PF: "Don't make fun of me!"

Shun looked at his defender and without any warning, he threw the ball.

The power forward froze still.

Samezuka's PF: "Huh?"

Mibuchi caught the ball, and smoothly released the ball in a three-pointer.

*Swish*

The ball went into the net, and Samezuka's defenders couldn't help but stand there and look without able to do anything.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The crowd was ooh-ing and aah-ing at Tokiwadai's plays.

Person A: "How many times are they going to shoot!"

Mibuchi was shooting the ball, with no care if he missed or not, Tokiwadai had completely switched over to outside shooting.

Person B: "Is that what you call a volume-shooter?!"

Mibuchi, Shun, and Kaitani were shooting from outside at an astonishing pace, and every time they missed, Hyakuzawa and Yuki would rebound the ball, and try to put it in the basket by themselves.

Person C: "Did you look at those fadeaways and four-point plays, they are racking in points like crazy."

Mibuchi and Shun made liberal use of their 'Earth' and 'Heaven' shots, they racked in points three-points at a time.

Tokiwadai upped their game and scored thirty-four points in the third quarter.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The fourth quarter once again brought forth the descent of chaos, and Samezuka's players crossed their paths.

Samezuka's Coach slapped his thigh and growled.

Samezuka's Coach: "This again!"

Shun was smiling the whole time as he dragged the Samezuka's players into traps.

Half-way into the quarter, Samezuka's players were not moving at all. They were passing the ball without moving.

Shun decided to turn on the steals.

Shun exploded to the ball mid-pass and stole the pass.

Samezuka's point guard yelled as he saw the steal.

Samezuka's PG: "Follow him!"

Alas, Shun was faster than everybody, and once again jammed the ball into the rim.

Next possession, Sora once again passed the ball to Shun, and he pulled up from the three-point arc and scored three points.

Kaitani stomped his foot in restlessness and yelled.

Kaitani: "Sora, pass the ball here to dammit."

Sora, who was having fun on the court, looked at Kaitani and smiled.

Sora: "Yes, senpai, I will pass to you next."

And as he promised, Sora passed the ball to Kaitani, next possession, Kaitani happy with the pass.

Kaitani: "Finally."

He approached the basket diagonally from the right. After three steps inside the arc, he pulled up for a floater above the center into the basket.

Samezuka's small forward was impressed by the sudden floater.

Samezuka's SF: 'That was an excellent floater.'

He sighed as he looked at the score, they were behind by forty-three points, and it didn't feel great.

He looked at his teammates.

Samezuka's SF: 'They all look so tired and beat.'

Samezuka's effort went down after that, and Tokiwadai won the game by a fifty point lead.

The score at the end was 100 - 50

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shun's STATS for {Round-3; Samezuka vs. Tokiwadai}

[Points Scored: 35 pts.]

[Assists: 17 assists]

[Rebounds: 9 rebounds]

[Steals: 6 steals]

[Blocks: 5 blocks]