Chapter 55 The State Championship 3 (1/2)

So the time passed and the day of the third game arrived, Jake spent the whole week thinking of another solution to win this game by using the strength of his teammates, but could not think of anything, even if the others received the ball and passed quickly someone would have to give the shot, and that would be the one to receive the lack.

Of course, it would not be the whole game that the other team would miss, only when they wanted to get past the scoreboard, but Jake did not know when that time would come so he could only trust his teammates who knew how to shoot.

The opposing team was called Snakes, probably by coincidence they used this tactic, they were an average team with no players to be taken into special consideration, most of them were efficient, they made the layups to be wrong and also the 2-point shots, they did not usually lose attacks.

Their defense was not very special, they did not steal the ball and also could not disrupt the attacks very much, only with the tactic of stopping the game with fouls they got so far, of course, that they had the skills needed to win the regional competition.

The game started and the ball was in possession of Jake, as he knew his team could lose if he played as always he talked to his teammates that he would spend less the ball in that game, it was necessary, more, if the opponent's defense scored double in it, would openings.

So Jake reached the three-point line and did his signs as always, to see that the opponent was planning to start with a foul, so he passed the ball to Owen and when his marker became distracted he left the mark and ran to the key , so Owen returned the ball to Jake who alone did the layup and scored the first two points.

That caught the Snakes by surprise, so they missed the chance to get ahead in that game, when they went to the attack, Jake and his teammates were scoring higher than usual, yet they managed to tie the game in a 2-shot from the opponent's SF.

They did some research on Jake's team and found out that Aiden and Lucas were defensive faults, but with tight marking like that would be difficult for them to attack all without making a mistake.

So Jake always told the team to at least know how to put pressure, because with the pressure and then the fatigue the aim of the opposing team would fall, and Jake told Owen to try a block if he saw an opportunity.

The game continued like this and used his teammates and his speed to score points and avoid the fouls, he was not afraid of fouls, but he wanted to show the other team that his tactics did not work against him and his team.

The team of Snakes, on the other hand, had lost hurts attacks because of tight marking, and so Jake's team finished the first period 6 points ahead, although Jake had run quite a bit was not at all tired and he had scored 8 points only in the first period.

The Snakes' team was missing out on what to do on defense, he who was known to do many fouls had failed to do any, and when they tried to double-marking Jake he would pass the ball and his teammate would score the free basket.

So the Snakes realized that they would lose the game sooner than they thought, the team already knew that by doing what they did and also without skilled players they would not win, nor did they think they would lose in the third round either.

But Jake is a player who can break the balance of a match on his own, even if he were to get tired in the third period it would be too late to narrow the gap, and it's not like when Jake leaves the court his teammates could not score points.

So the game continued like this until the end of the second period, the game was already 40 to 28 for Jake's team, Jake had made 22 points, and the PG who was trading him was now exhausted and Jake still full of energy, so everyone players are either Jake's team or opponents, including fans, reporters and scouts from other teams underestimated much that Jake could do.

Everyone thought that Jake was hiding his skills but no one thought that much, he was a PG and he was always the third on the points list, behind Aiden and Lucas, and how he had played so well in defense in some games, they, however, he could not move due to his tying movements, and the players did not seem to sleep a bit.

Jake in that game proved his potential as SF or SG, no one thought he should be the one who gave the passes, it was a waste of potential, of course, Jake knew what they thought, more was as he had said in the interview.