Chapter 157 An Exciting Final 4
After a few more plays the first period ended, the two teams were very equal and the Elite team was ahead with a 2 point lead at the end of that period.
Jake had 7 points and 7 assists in that early period, but he could not do any steal, Jake still had to analyze William's playing style to have a chance to steal the ball.
Everyone in the crowd was thrilled with this end-to-end final, but they did not have many exciting plays in the first period, but they knew that in Jake's games it would not be so slow the whole game.
Eva and Anna were a little anxious about the game, but they were happy that Jake's team was winning and Jake was playing so well, they expected the game to continue like this.
Joseph, Oliver, and Matthew were quieter than the others in the stands, they were cheering for Jake and they had the feeling that Jake could get the victory without too much difficulty.
Tiffany and Clara were also calm, they had accompanied Jake since many years ago and they never saw him lose any game, so they had confidence that Jake would always win, it seemed strange, however it was true, after Jake lost a game that could change, but has not yet happened.
At the beginning of the second period, William was with the ball, he saw that the team of the Hawks was behind the board and decided to bet more on individual plays and Gabriel and Logan for this game, these were the players who washed the team with him for this Last.
So William reached the three-point line and passed the ball to Logan, Logan passed by Harrison easily and went to the inside area to attempt the layup, Mark appeared to cover Harrison and Logan passed the ball to his team's Center.
Hawks 'center was alone and tried to do the layup, but Jake who was following the move rose and made a block to end the Hawks' attack, David took the rebound and passed the ball to Jake to organize the attack.
Jake followed calmly to the attack, when he reached the three-point line he passed the ball to David, David received the pass and fired the shot before the defender came in to make 3 more points for the Elite team.
William was upset because when he was thinking of tying the game the advantage increased to over 3 points when he reached the three-point line William also made the shot out to make 3 more points for the Hawks team he could not afford that this advantage would continue.
Jake was still trying to analyze William's playing style, he had to admit that the Hawks' PG was one of the best players he knows in that position, Jake went to the attack and passed the ball to Mark.
Mark received Jake's ball and used his body to protect the ball as he made the turn on the opposing player and then dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team, Mark was beginning to regain his confidence before the last game.
Jake realized this and started to pass the ball over to him, in an end game like this it was more important not to lose attacks, and for that besides himself, Jake trusted Mark more.
Mark also seemed to be getting better and more conscious in defense, Jake was happy with his friend's improvement, especially since it would help his team a lot.
William did not care much about Mark, just as Jake had Harrison and David on his team who were not very good at defense, the Hawks' team center also struggled defensively.
So they already had this failure in defense for some games, William came on the court and passed the ball to Logan, Logan received the ball and easily got rid of Harrison to make the shot from outside and make 3 more points for the team two Hawks.
Jake got the ball and started to organize another attack for his team, he reached the three-point line and saw that William had been fumbled by the change of position of his team's SG, so Jake took advantage and ran behind David to the bottom of the court to make the shot from outside and make 3 more points for the Elite team.
Jake had no confidence in hitting all the shots from outside, but he knew he could only keep the advantage to the team because he and David hit several shots per game, besides, in that game Jake was calmer because Mark could get the rebounds for the Elite team.
William grabbed the ball and went to arrange another attack for the Hawks' team, reaching the three-point line he passed the ball to Gabriel, Gabriel who learned from the mistake last time picked up the ball and quickly got rid of Carter and made the dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
Jake grabbed the ball and advanced to the attack, reaching the three-point line he did not stop and made a feint to cheat William and continue heading towards the inner area, William tried to recover and Jake made a sudden stop and then a crossover and can leave William behind, and advanced until doing the layup and 2 more points for the Elite team.
Jake came to defend, William made a feint and could pass by Jake using the speed, Jake who was attentive did the steal at the moment that William relaxed and advanced to the attack.
Jake ran alone to the attacking court and only stopped after he made the dunk and 2 more points for the Elite team, Jake was trying to catch the dribbling style of William from the beginning of the game, now he had the opportunity to do the steal and did not lose.
William was even more annoyed by this, he got the ball to start another attack for his team, but he was not so inexperienced so and did not try the individual move again, he passed the ball to Logan.
Logan received the pass and left Harrison behind easily and advanced to make 2 more points for the Hawks' team, Harrison was very upset about it, he was not managing to get in the way of Logan.
Also, because Logan's defense was very good he was not having a chance to attack as well, even though he thought of having more chances he knew he was not the best option for this game but David to Mark.
Jake grabbed the ball and started to organize another attack for the Elite team, he advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Mark again, Mark this time he moved away from the opponent's center and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
By the time the end of the second period the Elite team was winning by 6 points, Jake had 19 points and 12 assists in the game now, plus he had 3 steals and 2 blocks in that period, William tried a few more moves and Jake could do more some steals.
Mark was also doing well and had already managed to score 12 points and grabbed 4 rebounds for that game, David also had 12 points so far, with all the Elite team having a good game they were getting closer and closer to getting the trophy for that one national Championship.
Tiffany and Clara were very happy about it, both as sponsors and as friends of Jake, as they had increased Jake's patronage even though knowing it was well worth it was good for Jake to win the national championship to convince the shareholders.
Tiffany did not have many problems because she was the majority stockholder of the company, but in Clara's company, her husband was the one who was starting to bother, at first Robert who did not want to have much contact with Clara did not care what happened in the company.
But after he virtually assumed he was cheating on Clara and also after the company began to get more valuable he also started trying to interfere in the company's business, with the 10 percent of the company he could just mess up the decisions a little and impose nothing.
So now Clara was trying to make all the decisions she made right in the company, increasing Jake's sponsorship was something she had to have some results to prove that it was not a personal decision but rather the best of the company.
At the beginning of the third period the Hawks' team was starting to get anxious about the score of the game, they were the champions of last year playing much less than this year, two years ago they knew that the Elite team had won the second time.
So everyone thought it was the turn of the Hawks team, but they never thought that the Elite team would form another strong team after only two years, now the comment that Elite team could only win because they had recruited players from other schools seemed to be false.
William grabbed the ball and advanced to the court of attack with more speed, they wanted the fast attack to be able to take the advantage of the score of the Elite team and to be able to at least tie in that period, so he passed the ball quickly to the SG of his team who pass by David and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the team donates Hawks.
Jake got the ball and started to organize another move for the Elite team, he reached the three-point line and passed the ball to David who fired the outside shot to make 3 more points for the Elite team.