Day 3, Champion's Charge

It was day three of the Tokyo preliminaries. Shin stood on the court doing his pre-game warmup he looked around the court and gallery, Yoyogi was warming up on their side of the court while the other team was doing nothing of sorts.

The absence of warming up was detrimental to the team and players, but Middle school sports clubs were like that, most of them were formed for having fun.

There weren't many clubs that looked at their sport as something competitive and strived to excel n them.

Shin: "Being in a club for having fun is not a bad thing playing with people with similar interests is fun. We can't expect that everybody is playing while aiming for the top."

Shin: "This was why the middle school basketball scene became gloomy, teams playing for fun become overwhelmed by Teiko, and Teiko looked like they weren't even trying. It wouldn't have been a problem if the miracles all went to different schools, but because they gathered at Teiko, the situation became so depressing."

Shin looked at the team they were going to face in Round 3; they were a team playing for having fun.

Shin: "Playing for having fun doesn't mean that they are not good. They are better than all the low-level team, they are better than Iwatobi, but they still are too weak for us."

Shin: "The current Yoyogi could only be challenged by Shoei, Teiko, and the teams that will reach the finals."

Announcer: ** The game for Block A, Round 3, Yoyogi Middle School vs Sagami Middle School, will begin shortly.**

Coach: "Huddle!"

Team: "Yes, Sir!"

Coach: "Sagami Middle School is a school that focuses on defense, their center is 181 cm tall, and all of their team focuses on defense. I don't want you to play aggressively and tire yourselves; we still have another game to play."

Team: "Yes, Sir!"

The result was 65-34

Shin contributed to Yoyogi's victory with eighteen pints, three rebounds, fifteen steals, two blocks, and nine assists.

The viewers saw the game as a one-sided victory of Yoyogi, but experienced people in the stadium could see what truly transpired.

Day 3, had two matches; Round 3 and the semi-finals. The fight to win the semi-finals started in round three itself, Middle School students didn't have a body capable enough to play two games at full strength, to at least have a chance at winning, you are required to at least have enough stamina to complete the game.

Yoyogi started the game with all their starters on the court, but by the end, they only had Yukimura Shin of Yoyogi's starters on the court. Being a powerhouse school also meant having a deep bench with many substitute players.

Yoyogi started by moving the ball and increasing the area Sagami needed to defend; they wanted to tire out Sagami's team.

Yoyogi didn't need to focus much on defense, as Agami wasn't aggressive on offense, by halftime, Yoyogi had run down Sagami, and all their players were exhausted.

Yoyogi had already substituted Ishida before halftime, and Shin took over the playmaking. He made sure that the offense operated smoothly by disturbing the scoring evenly between the members.

Sagami could watch as the Yoyogi pilled up points no matter how they dried to defend, seeing the point gap widen, they started to push themselves, and the pace of the game became faster than what Sagami was used to.

While on the coach's side, he replaced Ishida in the first eight minutes of the game, and during halftime Mibuchi and Aone were also pulled out of the game. Coach wanted to leave Mibuchi and instead pull out Shin, but Shin insisted that he was fine and continued to play.

Sagami too wanted to switch members, but they couldn't as their reserves weren't skilled enough to compete against Yoyogi.

The second half was even more brutal, Shin was on support went on offense, and increased the score so that the Sagami team couldn't make a comeback.

Eight minutes left in the game, Otsubo was substituted with the second-year Center.

Shin judged that the score was sufficient and also returned to assist the current members on the court, he wanted the bench to have experience of the game as some of them might be part of the team next year.

The reserves were more than enough to overwhelm the tired Sagami team, and Yoyogi won by a thirty-point lead.

But what happened in the semi-finals was what showed the whole stadium that Yoyogi was ready to be a top contender for the Nationals and live up to the glory gained last year.

The opponent Murata East Middle School was a stable school with a good reputation in Tokyo, but against the current Yoyogi's offense, they couldn't help but look amateurs.

Yoyogi showcased what they brought to the table this year, Otsubo went for rebounds and blocks like a demon, Aone showed what power and skill combined could do on a court, Ishida supported his team from the outside and presented himself as an all-round player.

Mibuchi finally showcased his Heaven shot; the viewers were surprised with his high accuracy on a tough fadeaway jumper. He was like a sniper who shot from the outside.

Then there was the first-year rookie who scored twenty-seven points, ten steals, four blocks, one rebound, and twelve assists. He showed the ability to score anywhere on the court. Yukimura Shin established himself as a genius rookie who spearheaded the champion's charge in the semi-finals of the Tokyo prefecture preliminaries.

Yoyogi Middle School was the champions, and they were as strong as ever.

The finals of Block A were bound to be interesting as the viewers found out that Shoei Middle School also wiped out the floor against their opponents and were headed to the finals to face Yoyogi.

The Tokyo Middle School basketball scene was excited and wondered who would win, the Towering Champions, Yoyogi Middle School, or the Rising Challengers, Shoei Middle School, but one thing that they all knew for sure was that it was going to be exceptionally exciting.

But what they didn't know was, that the scene was going to get even more heated on Day 4 when Teiko walked on the court to show teams in Block B to show who was the boss.