Chapter 46 The Regional Championship 3
So the Tigers' team had no choice but to wait for Jake's team on the defense court and give them room to advance, so it also killed the idea of Xavier pressing Jake, they could not risk taking a ball back again, so the idea of Jake was successful and the team was advancing calmly.
Of course, it just happened this way because Jake's team was not stuck to attack, if they wanted to attack faster it would not work.
So Xavier started another attack on his team, Jake was now giving Xavier a little more space to choose his options better, he could move back to his PF plus he was not the best player on his team either, so he tried to pass the ball to Center Jay.
Jay was the main player in his team last year, he was very good in his attacks more a little deficient in his defense, but most of the centers of the region were like that, the technicians even preferred a Center that could attack better than one that he could not, even if he defended well.
Because defending in the pitcher was complicated, even a skilled defender could not stop the other team from scoring, it was a safe ball of attack in basketball.
Jake's team was no longer the coach's choice, Roy had also preferred a Center that knew how to attack Owen who was better at defense, but his reserve was no better as well as Owen was more complete he could stay for another year, not team owner.
Of course, Jay acknowledged that Xavier was more important than him this year in the team, but he still wanted to show that he had quality, helping to eliminate the team that was the champion last year.
So he turned and thought of going straight to the court to make the points, plus Owen was in his way, they knew that Jay would play a major role in this game, now it was up to Owen to defend his tank.
So Jay tried to pass Owen more unsuccessfully, when he saw that another opponent came to steal the ball he hit the ball back and two-point shot.
So the game was tied again, and so the two teams were attacking attack, and when the first period ended Jake's team was leading by just two points, yet despite appearing to be a tight match in the score to the truth was that the pressure was all over the Tigers.
When Jake's team attacked they had plenty of time and Jake knew how to control the rhythm of the game, with the strategy of advancing all together the Tigers had no more how to press the ball out if they did not want to risk a play in the back.
And Jake's team attacked calmly and Jake was still spinning his attacks, so they did not lose an attack in the game.
Plus the Tigers' attacks were not so smooth, they were under pressure because they were always behind the board, and everyone knew that their opponents had not given the maximum yet, in addition, all attacks defenders pressed the attackers who failed to advance no time for the key, they got stuck in the mid-range.
And with an error, they ended up behind the scoreboard in that first period, so the Tigers' players got tired faster and Xavier had more pressure at the time he had to organize the play.
The second period continued almost the same, this time the Tigers tightened more in the score, but it was useless when Jake made some signs the whole team moved in a way that the opponents were lost, but Jake knew where each one would go.
Other times after making a simple signal Jake gave a pass from scratch and the player only moved later to receive the pass, it seemed that this team played that way years ago, but what happened was that only Jake had to remember all the signs, his teammates had to decorate only four or five each.
As soon as the Tigers got tired, and Jake's team attacked softly, in the middle of the second period Jay decided to risk and advanced to the basket of the team of Jake to do a layup, more Owen was on top of him and gave a block in the move, thus increasing the morale of Jake's team and with the Tigers getting discouraged.
In the third period when the starters had come back from the reserve bench they were behind the scoreboard by 12 points already and could hardly win that game, Jake had been the only one standing on the court all the time was still overflowing with energy.
So with the downtrodden adversary, Jake's team slowed down and only managed the advantage, the end of the game ended up 64-36 with a score higher than that of the first game.
This showed for all teams that Jake's team was the favorite to win after all the Tigers were better this year than in the past, and yet Jake's team won easily, moreover, Jake had not yet given all he had This game.
So everyone went to their homes, Jake had nothing to say as a captain besides praising the team, especially Owen who had the hardest part today, as Luke did not have much to say, everyone knew that his level was lower than the rest of the team plus everyone can see that he struggles in training and games.
Jake also felt that he was getting better, he was making the right decisions faster and faster, it seems that what he needed most is to try more games like this, so now he was using the maximum of his statistics, mainly the intelligence to organize the plays.
This was not as easy a game as it seemed, just that they did not make mistakes and the opponents were too hasty for not being able to make the plays they had trained and ended up losing the game.
If Jake's team made a lot of space or made several mistakes, the opponents would pass the score and gain confidence, of course, Jake would not let that happen, but he was happy to hide his skills as much as possible.
When Jake got home he saw that his mother had not been so worried after the first game, of course, if she knew that the game would be much more difficult than the first round, she would not be so calm.
After that another two weeks passed and Jake's team won the other two games and now only the final game was missing, these two opponents were much weaker than the Tigers team and whenever they played they entered the court with morale low.
So the games were dominated by Jake's team who did not overdo it and kept the advantage on the score of only 20 points, not to humiliate the opponents, although Luke is his fault, all teams also had a weak player for Luke to score.
In addition, Luke had also improved with his training and experience of the matches, now he could do more accurate point shots and do better layups until his defense improved, he learned to use his height advantage to set pressure on opponents.
Jake also knew to hold and did not score more than 10 points in any of the matches, but always all the points of the team passed through his hands, not all were assists but he sent through the signals.
So after these four games, coach Roy just needed to watch the games because Jake was the boss, and he did well, Jake knew the time to scold and comfort and always praised the plays well executed.
So many rival coaches looked on him with envy, it's hard to find such an independent player who is not arrogant yet if they knew that the idea of the signs on the court to pass the balls out of Jake could not tell what face they would do.
And also Jake did not know any more had some companies and also other private schools in the area that were paying attention to him, they were just waiting for him to play everything in a game to see if it really was worth investing, or if he was not quite as capable and was just making some mind games for his opponents.
More everyone hoped that unfortunately they could not see it in this regional championship and they would have to wait for the state because the team that Jake would face in the final was the same one they faced last year and won.
Because this year's Bears team was weaker than last year's team because most of those who stayed were not adequate substitutes for those of last year.
And it was clear to everyone that Jake's team was much stronger this year, many already said they were favorites to win the state championship too, so everyone had an easy win.
Jake's team was also confident of the victory, so everyone spent the week waiting for the eager match, Roy was a little concerned that the players were very relaxed and made mistakes in the game but he did not want to lower the morale of the game.