5 Chapter 5__: Top 16 games, the situation in Group C!(1)

AN__: Shinji is currently a small forward. He will transition into a guard, especially a shooting guard. However, at this point, he is playing the small forward position both in junior high and high school. I hope you're happy with that.

Also, this is a shorter chapter that was written a long time ago. Plus, I really couldn't find anything to add to it. So I decided to post it as it was. If you find any mistakes, please point them out.

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"By how many points do you think Sayo Junior High will lose?" Asked one of the many spectators to one of his friends. There was more than an hour before the start of the game, but a gymnasium that could hold 3,000 people was already full. Most spectators were high school and junior high school students who lived nearby. Some adult basketball enthusiasts would also come to watch these games since the high school winter cup preliminaries had already ended.

Looking around the gymnasium while shaking his head, the man's friend responded. "Although Yuuki is strong, they might lose if they don't pay attention." He said, hoping that such a thing would happen. His little brother plays for Sayo junior high, so he wishes they wouldn't lose by too many points as most spectators expected to see.

"You must be honest with yourself. Being biased all the time isn't good for your heart." Responded the spectator, shaking his head at his friend's words.

"Alright! Sayo is not such an easy piece of meat to chew on. You're going to see later on!" Said the friend confidently, intently looking at the entrance toward the court.

"Yuuki players are coming out!" An excited yell was heard, prompting 3000 heads to divert toward the entrance. Upon noticing the players jog into the court, loud cheers could be heard even if you were outside the gymnasium.

*Loud cheering sounds*

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After the two teams finished their warm-ups, they returned to their bench five minutes before the start of the game. The two coaches would then be able to finalize their tactics for the beginning of the game.

On Yuuki Junior High's side, coach Kimura gathered his players, ready to give final instructions.

"Koganei!" He called out, ensuring the young man was looking at him before he continued. "I want you to start the game with a three-pointer. Their insiders are not as good as ours. Force their outside players out of the three-point line and allow Mitobe 1v1 situations with his match. That's going to be the plan for now. Are you confident in achieving that?" Asked the coach before smiling after seeing his player's convincing expression. Afterward, he turned to Mitobe.

"Today, you're the star player of this team. Almost half of the first half's possessions will be finished by you. Are you ready?"

"Yes, coach!" Responded Mitobe in a loud voice, excited to start the game.

"Good! Hideki, I want you to read the situation. Whenever the opposite SF tries to help defend, throw that ball to Koganei outside the three-point line. Otherwise, make all the other plays inside and thrive to tire their insiders out. They are not tall or strong. Every confrontation inside is a mismatch, so make use of that. Also, don't let them control the pace of the game. They like to play fast. So, you have to force them into positional battle on every possession." Added Coach Kimura, waiting for his team's captain to respond.

"You can trust me, coach. I'll do as instructed." Answered Hideki before hearing the referee urge them to get on the court. The game was about to start. After noticing that, Coach Kimura stopped talking and signaled his players to huddle up before continuing. "Let's all yell finals in three."

"One, two, three!"

"Finals!"

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*Sound of someone blowing a whistle!*

After the referee threw the ball, Mitobe and the opposite center jumped. However, Mitobe was the first to reach the ball as he poked it toward Hideki, his starting point guard, signaling the start of the game.

Receiving the ball, Hideki waited for all his teammates to reach the frontcourt before he started dribbling the ball up the court.

Hideki looked around, noticing Mitobe went to the high post, asking for the ball. He passed him the ball without hesitation. However, as soon as Mitobe received that ball and was about to back his match down, a figure came from the wing, trying to double-team him and steal the ball. Mitobe smiled upon seeing that and threw the ball back to Hideki at the top of the key, who immediately passed it to Shinji on the wing.

*Sound of a ball going through the hoop*

Shinji would never miss such an open three-pointer at this level of competition. Smiling, Shinji looked at Sayo Junior High's SF with a sneer. "You're looking down on me, brother. Do that again, and you're going to regret it." He spoke, quickly returning to his backcourt, not allowing the opposite team to have a fast attack opportunity.

Sayo Junior High is a run-and-gun team. Although their players aren't too tall, the tallest being 182 cm, they are fast. That speed allows them to have and score a lot of counter-attack opportunities. Unfortunately, they met a team like Yuuki Junior High, who was unafraid of their speed, and the following possession proved that.

As Sayo's PG tried to speed up the game's pace, Hideki appeared near the mid-court line, stopping him from accelerating and following him to his backcourt. That forced the opposite PG to slow down and look for passing opportunities, as he couldn't drive past Hideki's tight defense.

Fifteen seconds went by as Sayo's players tried to find shooting opportunities. However, Yuuki junior high's players were following them too tightly, not giving them chances to shoot the ball. Five seconds before the end of their possession time, the opposing SF caught the ball on the left wing, Shinji sticking to him, not giving him space to dribble the ball comfortably.

Seeing the time going down, the SF tried an Iverson-style crossover on Shinji without any fake movements to deceive him. However, the ball was snatched before he could drive past Shinji, allowing the latter to have an easy layup, scoring five points in a row.

Unfortunately, Sayo Junior High's point guard managed to hit a mid-distance shot three seconds before the end of their possession time, reducing the score difference by two points.

As Hideki dribbled the ball up the court on the following possession, he noticed Sayo junior high's SF still inching toward his C's position, looking to help him defend against Mitobe and giving Shinji a lot of space. Hideki shook his head with a smile on his face. 'You're looking down on our star player!' He thought, quickly transferring the ball to Shinji, who had become relatively annoyed by his opponent's ignorance of him.

However, he soon smiled.

Just as he caught the ball, his defender came running toward him. Unfortunately, before the young SF could effectively balance himself to defend against Shinji, he got passed by the latter with a quick and straightforward crossover dribble. Being passed so effortlessly, the opposite SF was ashamed and wanted to follow behind Shinji and stop him from scoring. However, as he took two steps back and turned around, Shinji dribbled the ball behind his back and stopped advancing before smoothly stepping outside the three-point line, creating enough space to shoot another three-pointer, scoring eight points in a row.

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*loud surprised sounds* followed by *Loud cheering sounds* after the ball went in.

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Such a smooth combination of moves is rarely seen in the middle-school circle, especially during games that don't involve Teiko Junior High's starting players or other well-recognized talents like Kotaro Hayama, who had an epic battle against Hisashi Mitsui in this year's inter-high semifinals.

Although Yuuki Junior High is one of the strongest teams in the nation, it never had a well-renowned star player to attract fans. Teiko has Daiki Aomine and Sejuro Akashi, who often perform amazing tricks during the game. Suzuki Junior High has Kotaro Hayama, one of the best dribblers in the country. Shoei Junior High has Teppei Kiyoshi and Akira Sendoh, two of the best players in the country. However, Yuuki junior high only had Hideki, a traditional point guard, who is more inclined to pass the ball than score it.

Although Hideki is good enough to be considered an uncrowned king, his style of play doesn't allow him the notoriety to get that title. He's a traditional point guard in charge of setting plays but rarely ends them. However, since the start of the Winter Cup, Shinji has gained a lot of fans for Yuuki Junior High through his decisive and sharp style of play. Otherwise, this venue that could hold 3000 people would not be filled for such a game.

Going back to defense with three fingers up in the air, Shinji smiled, a sudden thought appearing in his mind. 'Why don't I start a YouTube channel? This type of content might be well-liked by the public.'

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The game continued as Sayo was forced to do position play on every one of their possessions while Mitobe killed them on the inside, scoring 8 points in a single quarter. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 23 to 11 in Yuuki Junior High's favor. Walking to their bench, Yuuki Junior High's players looked pretty satisfied with their performance in the first quarter of the game.

Coach Kimura, also content with the player's performance, directly let the substitute players play 7 minutes in the second quarter. Some coaches like to overexert their player's physical fitness every game, while others have, at most, a seven-man rotation. On the contrary, Kimura wants to use every player he has if they're qualified to participate in the level of competition the team is playing in.

That's why Shinji and Hideki averaged around 28 minutes of playing time during this Winter Cup, and they are the players who play the most on the team. However, Teppei Kiyoshi, for example, plays 36 minutes per game, showing the difference between the two coaching styles and philosophies.

Fortunately, Yuuki Junior High's substitutes are pretty good, expanding the score difference to 16 before the arrival of their starters, who ended the game with a vicious 14-00 sequence at the beginning of the third quarter.

At the end of the game, the score was fixed at 68 to 31 for Yuuki Junior High. Shinji scored 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and delivered three assists in the game, smoothly winning the man-of-the-match trophy for the third time in this year's Winter Cup.

After thanking the fans for coming, Kimura and his players walked out of the stadium, ready to go home and continue training. They will play their next game in three days. They don't have time to celebrate such an expected victory. That may sound arrogant, but that's the truth. The Boston Celtics wouldn't glorify their win against a bad team like the Houston Rockets. That's the reality of powerful squads, and Yuuki Junior High's players got used to winning in their three-year career in junior high.