Kyōsen Private Middle School VS Tenri Middle School

「Nara Preliminaries, Day 2, Block A, Round 2: Quarter Finals.」

Today marks the day of Kyōsen's match against Tenri who won a match against Seisho with the score 54-49. Everyone is all in position around the centerline of the court, waiting for the tip off.

Just looking at the heights of Akagi and the center of Tenri, everyone could immediately see what the outcome of the tipoff would be. Akagi is a 190cm center, considered to be one of the best centers in Kansai Region, against a 178cm center. Just going by this information alone, you'd know that Kyōsen already have an advantage.

In fact, even if Kyōsen chose to make Wakamatsu do the tip off, a 186cm Power Forward, they'd still win the tip off, no doubt. Of course, coach Chu Lin wouldn't make the team do that just for fun. They need to maintain a basic level of respect towards their opponents. Or else, it might come back to bite them in the ass later down the line.

"The game between Kyōsen Junior High and Nada Junior High will now begin!"

"""Let's have a good game!"""

*prrrrrt*

With the sound of the whistle as the queue, everyone took their positions around the centerline while the centers stood at the middle. Accompanied by a whooshing sound, the ball flew up in the air as the referee threw the ball up. When the ball reached the highest point, Akagi and Tenri's center jumped up for the tip off.

As expected, Akagi won the tip off with ease. He even shouted loudly when he got the ball, something that became one of his trademarks.

"Hahhhh! Here's the ball, Izuki!"

With the team captains' shout as the signal, the whole Kyōsen roster started their attack. In this match, Kyōsen Junior High's starting five is; Akagi Takenori(C), Kogure Kiminobu(SG), Izuki Shun(PG), Wakamatsu Kōsuke(PF), and Arisugawa Seiji(SF).

Before the match began, Chu Lin told the team the game plan for this match.

※・※・※・※

"Alright team, let's talk about our game plan for this match. To be completely honest with you youngsters, we really didn't need any game plan for this match."

No one in the team showed any reaction as they all knew this after watching the match yesterday and after doing some review. They didn't need to fear this team as they're just not that strong. In fact, this team is even weaker than the teams they faced during their practice matches.

"However, as I've taught you guys before, we can't underestimate any of our opponents, no matter how weak they look. Aside from it being as sign of you maintaining a basic level of respect to your opponent, maintaining this kind of habit will also remove the possibility of you getting caught off guard in case something unforseen happens…"

Chu Lin paused for a moment before giving a serious look towards all of his players.

"I've already been there before. Take myself as an example and do not commit this kind of stupid mistake. Go out there and perform as you usually do in the practice matches! Don't show off too much though. Remember, this is just the preliminaries…"

"""YES COACH!"""

※・※・※・※

While running towards the hoop, Izuki saw that Wakamatsu is already way ahead of him while Seiji is already quite near the corner pocket. Seeing this as an opportunity, he immediately passed the ball to Wakamatsu.

"Hey! Pass!"

With just those few words being said, Wakamatsu immediately understood what he's trying to say. After getting his hands on the ball, it didn't stay in his hands for long as he immediately passed the ball to the already waiting Seiji.

*whoosh*

"Thanks, senpai!"

Then, with a swish, the ball went in the hoop while hitting nothing but net.

*clap* *clap*

"Great job team! Now, let's go on defense and let's do our best to stop them!"

"OSU, Vice Captain!"

The first half of the game then went with both teams scoring. However, it is clear that Kyōsen have the absolute advantage. Tenri only managed to score because of some great plays coming off a timeout and some lucky baskets. Other than that, Tenri had a hard time getting past Akagi and Wakamatsu.

They either get their ball blocked or stolen, swatted by Akagi and Wakamatsu, or stolen by Izuki or Seiji. In the offensive end, Izuki didn't let the ball sit in just one person's hand.

He kept the ball moving while occasionally scoring a few easy layups himself. Using his Eagle Eye, Izuki passed the ball at impeccable timings, making it easier for the others to score more baskets. As Izuki used his eyes, he didn't notice that someone is watching him intensely. This gaze would often also land at Wakamatsu and Akagi whenever both of them have the ball in their hands.

As Akagi, Wakamatsu, and even Seiji did a good job at getting rebounds, Kogure also started to sink some threes while missing a few of them. However, missing is not a problem as Akagi would just kick the ball back towards him for another attempt.

Meanwhile, Seiji and Wakamatsu would either put the ball back if it misses or run outside of the paint to take some easy mid range shots. Seiji didn't show his threes from way deep because he found it unnecessary. At this point, it would just be him showing off if he does that.

He didn't need to do that as the spotlight in this game is totally on Akagi. Him muscling in and dumping a two handed dunk right in front of the enemy center's face made the crowd go wild from excitement. Wakamatsu, on the other hand, focused on defense more, occasionally doing some put backs when he saw a good opportunity.

This resulted in a score of 42-19, in Kyōsen's favor, by the end of the first half.

※・※・※・※

During the halftime break, coach Chu Lin had a word with his players.

"You did great there youngsters. Now, in the third quarter, I want you guys to focus more on offense. Widen the lead even more so that they won't have any chance for a comeback."

"""Yes coach!"""

Seeing all of them reply in sync, coach Chu Lin nodded his head with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Good. It's good that everyone is on the same page. Now, since we will be focusing more on offense, Wakamatsu, you'll go to the bench for now. We'll also need you in top shape for the next match later if we win this game so this is just perfect."

"Osu, coach!"

After addressing Wakamatsu, Chu Lin directed his gaze at the silent Fukuda and then at Hyuuga.

"You will replace Wakamatsu this second half. You also, Hyuuga. You'll replace Kogure this second half."

"Yes…"

"Yes coach!"

Coach replaced Wakamatsu for Fukuda and Kogure for Hyuuga. The former players; Wakamatsu and Kogure, are better defensively than the latter two; Fukuda and Hyuuga. Fukuda and Hyuuga aren't that much of a defensive player so Chu Lin is relying on them to knock down shots and win the match by a large margin this second half.

Wakamatsu and Kogure can be used on offense too but it will not be as effective as having Hyuuga and Fukuda on the floor. Fukuda's scoring ability is nothing to scoff at while Hyuuga's shooting percentage is higher than Kogure.

※・※・※・※

Immediately, at the start of the third quarter, Kyōsen went on all out offense. While Tenri tried to lower the pace of the game, Kyōsen tightened their defense even more and gave them an extremely hard time even crossing the three point arc.

Around three minutes into the game, Tenri Junior High is only able to score 5 points. Kyōsen, on the other hand, scored about 22 points already, making it a 22-5 run. Their coach had no choice but to call for a timeout once again.

After the timeout, Tenri tried to make a play, passing the ball to their teammates, trying to make some kind of opening appear in Kyōsen's defense. Unfortunately, their passes aren't really doing much to open up an opportunity to score for them.

Instead, these numerous passes got intercepted by Seiji who already got tired of the constant passes they're doing. Grabbing the ball, Seiji dribbled all the way through the half court line, passing through the shooting guard and point guard, before coming across the opposition's power forward who's waiting for him.

It looks like the power forward ran at full speed towards the other side of the court when he saw Seiji cut the pass. Coming to a full stop, Seiji calmly dribbles the ball. When he got closer to the power forward, that's when he hit the accelerator on his feet.

His fast acceleration definitely surprised the power forward as he didn't even have the time to think before his body moved to subconsciously block Seiji's path, which is the right side. Unfortunately for him, Seiji didn't go towards the right. Instead, he once again came to a full stop before doing a between the leg dribbles.

The power forward's center of gravity is already bad but he still tried to reach out for the ball in Seiji's hand when he saw a slight opening. However, that was actually a bait that Seiji laid for him.

Before he noticed, the ball in Seiji's hands is already on the left side. Yes, Seiji did a wraparound dribble.

Because of his earlier attempt to try and steal the ball, the power forward fell right on his butt. All that he could do is watch Seiji drive by him before going for a layup.

"Woooooo! Damn, the ankles!"

"Mad ball handlin' skills right there young 'un!"

The crowd went wild after seeing this display of ball handling skill. They swooned even further when they saw how Seiji broke the opposition's ankles like it was something so simple.

The game went on with Tenri still trying their best to catch up but the scoring ability of Fukuda, Hyuuga, Seiji, and even Akagi was too much for them. It was even worse since Izuki made full use of them.

With Akagi putting the final nail in the coffin using his soon to be patented Gorilla Dunk, Tenri Junior High lost to a despair inducing score of 102-45. Most of their scores during the fourth quarter came from their power forward who easily scored over Fukuda. The guy had little to no defense so it was quite easy for the power forward to score over him.

*prrrt*

"Line up!"

With the referee's call, every player on the court once again lined up facing the centerline.

"Kyōsen Junior High wins with a score of 102-45! Bow!"

"Thank you for the game!"

※・※・※・※

To be continued…

「Arisugawa Seiji's Stats」

(28 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks, 7 assists, and 4 steals)

[A/N¹: Alright, that's Seiji's first official game wrapped up. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it. I had to pause writing this at various points of this novel so I had to reread it all over again so that I could get my brain pumping some more scenarios. It really sucks when you try to write one chapter right after work.]

[A/N²: Seiji popped off slightly this match but Akagi had the spotlight with his scoring prowess inside the paint. With no one to stop him, there's just no way Izuki, a calm dude like him, would not exploit this clear advantage. Even though Seiji is great at generating his own shots, getting literal free points by passing the ball to Akagi is just the way to go this game.]