Chapter 21: Inter-School Basketball Tournament (7)

  The second half of the game was very different from the first half, and these junior high school students running on the court were restricted by many factors in fully demonstrating their usual level of play. Physical strength is one of the biggest factors.

  After twenty minutes of high-intensity confrontation, the middle school players' running speed and shooting accuracy in the second half were significantly lower than in the first half. Most players felt that their physical strength was slowly leaving them, their footsteps became heavy, and their bodies became sluggish. This is a manifestation of physical decline.

  The third quarter saw both teams' shooting percentages plummet, with the two teams combining for less than 20 points in the quarter. The score was 44-47 entering the fourth quarter.

  There are still two people on the court who have not appeared in this situation, namely Lin Xiaoyu and Chen Yongzhi. In the third quarter, Lin Xiaoyu and Chen Yongzhi seemed to have agreed that they would not make too many attacks on the court, as if they were waiting for the fourth quarter to arrive, accumulating strength and preparing for the fourth quarter.

  Run, catch, jump, shoot. Chen Yongzhi's simple scoring method has a very high hit rate, and the scoreboard of Shiyan Middle School is constantly being refreshed under Chen Yongzhi's offensive method.

  Lin Xiaoyu relied on her teammates' cover to block, break through, assist and score. They all played in perfect harmony, and Feicui Middle School also closely followed the score under Lin Xiaoyu's lead.

  The spectators on the sidelines were also watching the intense and rapid changes in offense and defense on the field, bursting out wave after wave of cheers.

  Chen Yongzhi lowered his body, tightly defending against the No. 15 player he was determined to defeat. Just now Chen Yongzhi's mid-range shot had missed the frame and failed to widen the score gap, so it was especially important to defend against Feicui Middle School's attack this time, with a three-point difference in the score.

  To be honest, Chen Yongzhi knew that his defense for the entire game was only half successful. This number 15 not only scored himself, but also made people unable to defend against his strange passes. If Feicui Middle School didn't have him on the court, he would have been able to pull the score difference to over two digits by now.

  In the third quarter, Chen Yongzhi saw that No. 15 did not attack, so he also handed over the attacking responsibility to his teammates, because Chen Yongzhi knew that if he continued to score with all his might in the third quarter, his physical strength would definitely not be able to keep up with No. 15 in the fourth quarter. This No. 15 had a speed faster than himself, agile changes of direction, and ball control skills that were not ordinary, his fake movements that made people look away often deceived him, and what was more deadly was that he could still make accurate assists to his teammates for scoring when Chen Yongzhi defended him to the death. So Chen Yongzhi also recovered his physical strength relatively during this time without holding the ball, preparing to defend No. 15 to the death in the final quarter of the game without sparing his physical strength.

  Chen Yongzhi stood at a distance of more than one and a half arms from No. 15, Chen Yongzhi knew that the mid-range shot of this No. 15 was not very stable, so Chen Yongzhi put all his defensive emphasis on his breakthrough.

  Chen Yongzhi slowly followed the No. 15 player, his eyes fixed on the opponent's eyes, using his line of sight to judge the direction of the breakthrough. Because the first two steps of the No. 15 player's breakthrough were too fast, Chen Yongzhi had to look at his line of sight in advance to predict and judge the direction of the breakthrough, otherwise it would be difficult to block the opponent's breakthrough route.

  Chen Yongzhi suddenly saw the No. 15's gaze shift to his right rear, and Chen Yongzhi immediately shifted his center of gravity to his right side. But just as Chen Yongzhi's center of gravity had barely moved to his right side, the No. 15 flashed past him on his left side like lightning.

  "It's all fake movements!" Chen Yongzhi felt extremely unbelievable, and in the blink of an eye, he quickly turned around to follow the No. 15 player. Unfortunately, the No. 15 player who had deceived Chen Yongzhi had already reached the basket, and his first step for a two-and-a-half-step layup had already been taken. Chen Yongzhi could only stretch out his hand to heavily slap the ball in the No. 15 player's hands as he was about to score, committing a foul to stop him from scoring.

  Chen Yongzhi's foul disrupted the normal layup of No. 15, but the deformed layup after the foul still made the ball bounce several times on the rim before falling into the basket.

  Chen Yongzhi watched as the fifteenth number shot another free throw from the penalty line, feeling that he was even farther away from this fifteen number who was half a head shorter than him.

  When a person sees that the one they desperately want to defeat is about to defeat them, the feeling of unwillingness and pain is a great torment. It's as if their heart is being bitten by thousands of poisonous snakes. Chen Yongzhi's heart was in such agony at this moment. Chen Yongzhi, who had never encountered any major setbacks before, now had eyes that were as cold as an iceberg that would not melt for a thousand years.

  The score was tied at 55 with six minutes and change remaining in the game between Jade High School and Experimental Middle School.

  Chen Yongzhi, who had become a bit irrational, took the basketball and forced his way to the bottom of the basket, pushing away Yang Tianxiao, who was defending him. Chen then made a small hook shot to score.

  However, No. 15 quickly organized a beautiful attack, a beautiful straight pass, and easily tied the score again with Feicui Middle School's single forward.

  Chen Yongzhi continued to use this slightly barbaric attacking method to refresh the score to 57-59 at the bottom of Feicui Middle School.

  But Lin Xiaoyu then scored an easy layup after a block by his teammate to tie the score.

  Chen Yongzhi, who was determined to score, had the ball snatched away by the defender with the number 15 jersey when he tried to force his way into the basket for the third time.

  The No. 15 player who stole the ball immediately drove the ball and launched a fast break.

  The pain and suffering that had been suppressed in Chen Yongzhi's heart immediately erupted after the No. 15 stole the basketball from his hands, and Chen Yongzhi, with eyes burning with anger, chased after the No. 15 like a madman.

  When No. 15 jumped up to the basket again, Chen Yongzhi, who had no way to organize No. 15's score, lost his mind and pushed No. 15 hard in mid-air.

  That No. 15, who was jumping and controlling without any support, was pushed forward by Chen Yongzhi with a habitual momentum, his body flew out of the baseline like a kite with a broken string, and heavily knocked over a row of advertisement boards in the audience seats at the bottom line, falling to the ground and making a loud crash.

  At this time, the stadium with more than 2,000 people fell silent after a burst of surprise. Everyone clearly saw this frightening scene. Everyone stood up and looked worriedly at the fallen billboard behind them, but no one knew what had happened to the No. 15 player who was knocked flying.

  When he saw the Fifteenth being pushed into mid-air by himself, Chen Yongzhi suddenly woke up to what he was doing. Chen Yongzhi dared not believe that it was his own hands that had pushed the Fifteenth in mid-air so ruthlessly, but his own hands told him that this was indeed something he had done.

  Chen Yongzhi stared blankly at the falling No. 15 advertisement board, his mind a complete blank. All Chen Yongzhi could hear was the sound of his own rapid heartbeat. The sound seemed to come from afar, rather than from his own chest...

  The players on the field of Feicui Middle School rushed to the fallen billboard. Yan Nan and Lin Pingfeng, as well as a group of substitute players from Feicui Middle School's bench, also rushed onto the court.

  "This is intentional!" Yang Tianxiao angrily shouted and rushed to the front of Chen Yongzhi, punching his face. Just now, behind Chen Yongzhi's back, he saw this happen and found that the movement of the No. 9 player pushing people was intentional, without any restraint.

  Chen Yongzhi, who had been punched in the face by Yang Tianxiao, did not fight back and stood dazed on the spot. Yang Tianxiao, who wanted to give Chen a few more punches, was tightly held back by his teammates.

  Yang Tianxiao, who was being held back, struggled and cursed: "Let me go, I want to beat that bastard to death! Is this how you play ball? Don't stop me..."

  Yan Nan rushed to the front of the overturned billboard before a group of Feicui Middle School players, and the first thing he saw was a puddle of blood on the ground...