Team Practice part 3

After Jason dunked, the crowd went wild

"Are they really middle-schoolers?!" A guy from the crowd questioned.

"An alley-hoop?!" The coach of the other team looked menacingly at Alexandra because this felt like a trap. At first, the coach thought this would be an easy game because Alexandra said there were going to be 3 first years in the first string.

What the trio did had completely exceeded his expectations as he then contemplated what to do.

Anton got the inbound pass as he immediately passed the ball to DeShawn.

But when DeShawn got the ball, DeShawn noticed that a different person was defending him. His eyes widened as he saw that it was Akihiko.

Their respectives teammates looked on as they had one thought in their head.

'The battle of the aces.'

DeShawn was in a triple threat position as he then looked at Akihiko. Their teammates all moved away as they were now in a ISO situation.

The two were not making any moves. Suddenly, DeShawn drived in an explosive speed trying to pass Akihiko. But DeShawn was not able to get Akihiko off him. They soon reached the paint as the two people were neck and neck with each other. When DeShawn was finally near the rim, he then forced a lay-up as he jumped.

But as soon as he saw Akihiko reacting to it, he immediately ducked to go for a double-clutch lay-up. When DeShawn thought he was finally able to score, a hand suddenly swatted the ball away as Akihiko also reacted to his double-clutch lay-up.

"What?!" The reactions of DeShawn's teammates were intensified upon seeing their ace getting shut down.

But the worst part of it all was it was a snatch block. Akihiko just retrieved the ball from the block as he then passed it to Nash. DeShawn was still shocked at what happened. But his eyes were now more resolute because he won't back down from a fight.

Akihiko's team finally got on their position as Nash passed the ball to Akihiko. And now, DeShawn was there to guard him. The two were positioned at the left corner of the court.

Akihiko was in a triple threat position as the two were once again in an ISO situation. Akihiko first tested the waters by doing a jab-step. DeShawn reacted to it as Akihiko took advantage of this as he drove to the rim. DeShawn quickly catched up but as Akihiko reached the paint. Akihiko slowed down as he then spun to the right where he was then greeted by rim. The abrupt stop caused DeShawn to stumble and fall down.

When he looked up, he saw Akihiko jumping.

"No way!" Anton commented seeing what Akihiko was about to do.

"Dann first years." Mike said as he looked at his junior once again flying high.

Right after Akihiko spun to the right, Akihiko jumped and jammed the ball into the rim, causing a rim rattling dunk.

The crowd was ecstatic upon seeing a dunk. Especially since the dunk was made in a simple practice game and was made by none other than a middle schooler.

DeShawn at this point was down to the ground. But he clenched his fists as he forced himself to stand up. But when he looked above, he saw a hand. It was Akihiko's hand, he took it as Akihiko helped him to get up.

After seeing DeShawn get up, Akihiko went back on D.

Walter finally spoke up and said

"Let's get back at them in the next play, okay?"

Like some green haired guy said

"Don't give up! There's no shame in falling down! True shame is to not stand up again!"

The team even when they had no chance of winning, still gave up a fight.

Anton passed the ball to Robin, who posted up against Henry. Robin then did a fake as Henry fell for it. Robin took advantage of this by immediately capitalizing by doing a hook shot. The ball went in as their team was still not giving up.

Akihiko got the inbound pass as he once again reached the half court line. There he was greeted by two people.

"A double-team, huh." Akihiko said as he looked at his two defenders. One was DeShawn while the other was Robin. This was the choice they made because they couldn't leave Jason and Nash unguarded.

Akihiko then saw Henry running to the paint. So without any hesitation he did a crossover. After he did that he threw the ball between the legs of Robin because he had his too wide. This made the two defenders surprised at what Akihiko was able to accomplish.

After catching the pass, Henry simply jumped and laid the ball up for an easy 2 points.

On the way back, Henry patted Akihiko's back and said "Nice Pass." it was also accompanied by a smile and a thumbs up.

Once again, the other team got the ball. But as soon as Anton reached the 3 point line.

Nash said

"I guess it's also time for me to show off."

Anton was confused but as soon as Nash said that, Nash stole the ball.

Nash dribbled slowly to let the defense reorganize themselves. Anton was guarding Nash as he saw that Nash had a huge grin in his face.

Nash did a hesi, Anton was expecting a crossover because of the way his body was positioned. But Nash betrayed his expectations because he spun around Anton. Nash then drove to the rim, only to be greeted by Gavin. But Nash didn't back down as he jumped for a lay-up. They were in the bottom of the rim as Gavin jumped for a block.

But Nash suddenly ducked for a up and under lay-up.

*Swoosh*

The ball went in as the crowd cheered for Nash's play.

For the rest of the game, they took control and the final score was 69-16. Akihiko's team was happy at the result.

Alexandra cheered for her team as she had one thought in her head

'They will surely reach greater heights.'