Chapter 227 Last National High School Championship 5
After that, the game continued with both teams playing well and the Elite team increasing the lead with Jake and Mark's plays and the firm defense of the team that made the opponents make more mistakes.
After half of the third period having passed Jake received the ball again to organize another attack for his team, in this third period as he was concerned that something bad might happen Jake didn't pass the ball as much as before and scored the points in most plays.
Before reaching the three-point line Jake passed the ball to Lucas on the left, Lucas received the ball and after holding a little passed to Nathan who was on the right, Nathan saw Jake asking for the ball again behind.
But even though Jake could score the points if he got the ball he decided to pass to Mark who was also asking inside, Mark received the ball for the first time in the third period and made the turn after trying a dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
But Thiago was close in defense trying to prevent Mark from making another move on him again, so after making the dunk, Mark ended up landing after making the jump over Thiago's feet.
Mark in addition to tall was also heavy, so he fell with his 115 kg and soon both fell to the ground, Thiago was just in pain because Mark had stepped on his feet, but Mark seemed to have suffered an injury from falling wrong on landing.
So the game stopped to serve both, after a time of service and tension Thiago raised apparently well-receiving applause from the crowd that was happy that he was fine, but Mark had to leave the court quickly to be served and the game continued.
Coach Mike was worried about Mark as well as all the players, but the game would restart and he could not leave the team with one less, yet he knew that the team's reserve center was much worse than Mark.
So Coach Mike decided to improvise Carter in the Center position for now and Lucas who had already played as PF went to play in Carter's place, Harrison was put in place of Mark who was being served in SF's position.
The game continued and the Foxes team took advantage that the Elite team had embezzlement and began to push trying to reduce the Elite team's advantage by 12 points at the time of the third period.
Jake realized this was what he was worried about and having a bad premonition, but there was no way he could do anything to prevent it and he kept playing the same way and working harder in defense to help his team after Mark left.
At the end of the third period, the Elite team had only a 4-point lead. In addition to the defense that showed several loopholes for the opponents, the attack was also worse than before, Nathan who felt guilty for Mark's injury ended up missing some attacks.
After all, if Nathan had passed the ball to Jake and not to Mark this play would not have happened and Mark would not be injured, in defense besides Carter who was playing improvised was holding tightly Thiago.
Lucas, who was always good at defense, played well in his original PF position, but Harrison could not stop the attacks of the opposing SF and Nathan was also playing poorly in defense giving more room for Joe to attack.
Jake had scored 12 points in this third period and had 30 points throughout the game now, just him scoring so many points and playing well in defense that the team continued to maintain the lead, the coach decided to take Nathan who was playing badly and put David
After all, even though David couldn't help much in defense he could help more in the offense, now the Elite team had to try to play well in the latter period and hope that luck helps them qualify for the finals.
The doctors attending this emergency semifinal match examined Mark and saw that he had a sprained foot during the fall after doing the dunk, it was no one's fault it was just a gambling accident.
Even if it wasn't a serious injury it would take Mark at least a few weeks to recover, so he was out of this game and the final if the Elite team qualified, Mark was taken to hospital for more thorough exams and Coach Mike decided not to talk about it until the game is over.
In the fourth period Jake again made even more individual moves and even attempted several 3-point shots to secure victory and the spot in the final, in defense David was doing better than Nathan at the end of the third period and Jake resumed playing as before and made some steals to prevent enemy attacks.
David and Harrison were playing well too, just like Lucas so the Elite team had many ways to attack besides Jake, so by the end of the fourth period they still managed to win with a 5-point lead at the end.
Jake had scored 45 points in the entire game and also had 11 assists plus 8 steals and 6 rebounds, in the end, he had to play with everything he had to ensure victory and qualifying for the team final.
But even with the victory nobody from the Elite team celebrated, Thiago came to apologize at the end of the game after learning that Mark had gone to the hospital, even though it wasn't his fault it was because of him that Mark was injured.
As Captain Jake soothed the team that was all worried, Jake was also smart and realized that Coach Mike should know something he didn't say to the other players, so Jake took everyone to talk to the coach.
"Coach, we want to know what happened to Mark."
"I don't know just like you guys, he was taken to the hospital for more tests before we can know anything else."
"Then we go to the hospital where Mark was taken, I take some in my car and whoever has a car also takes others who want to come, where he was taken, coach?"
After knowing the name of the hospital through coach Mike they went to the hospital to find out about their friend's situation, after all, they knew each other for 5 years and even Jake was worried about it.
Jake knew Coach Mike should know something, but it was true that without a full hospital checkup all the doctors could do at the scene was to speculate about what happened.
But Jake couldn't rest until he knew what happened to Mark, after all, he felt a little guilty because he knew something wrong could happen, but he can't stop his friend from getting hurt.
Arriving at the hospital Jake asked his teammates to wait at the hospital reception to not cause any turmoil after all almost 10 people came together and could not walk blindly in the group.
So Jake wouldn't be waiting at the front desk as he should and went into the hospital to find a doctor to ask, even though he knew he shouldn't, luckily after walking for a while in the hospital corridors Jake ended up meeting Mark's mother.
Jake had known her before once Mark introduced her to him in a state championship final game in the past, as he had a good memory it was impossible for him to forget his friend's mother and that was helpful today.
"Excuse me, would you be Mark's mother?"
"Who would you be?"
"And I'm a friend of his and captain of the school basketball team, Jake."
"So you're Jake, I've heard a lot about you from my son, he considers you very well and says you'll be a great NBA star."
"Exaggeration of him, I came here with my teammates as soon as the game ended as it is?"
"He's pretty fortunately, it was just a slight twist when he fell, but I don't think he can play in this national championship anymore."
Jake had expected this, but he felt very bad for Mark now, Jake had also realized that his friend's mother didn't seem to like him very much and didn't want Jake to stay long.
She even looked relieved now that she knew her son's injury was not serious and that Mark would no longer play basketball, even if she was quite discreet Jake realized that she didn't even introduce herself to him.
"So I'm going, for now, tell Mark that we won the game and that his teammates came here to wish him a good recovery."
"I tell him."
After that Jake told his teammates that Mark had sprained his foot and could not play with them anymore in this national championship, then decided to take everyone out, he and his teammates wanted to see Mark, but Jake knew that his mother just made excuses for not allowing and decided to just leave.
Jake was Mark's best friend on the basketball team, Mark said his mother didn't like him playing basketball and just wanted him to study after all his mother thought the chance to study at a private school was one of the best for him teaching, was Mark's chance.
Mark was very smart and with Jake's help he got good grades, he was able to keep playing high school basketball because he told his mother that the school required him to play to keep the scholarship and also that if he played well could get a scholarship to the university.
So Mark just wanted to play basketball until he went to college and then got a good job as his mom hoped and quit basketball as a hobby, but Jake eventually changed his fate and Mark began to improve his skills as a player.
So he got a college scholarship as promised to his mother and his mother chose him a university that was not so good at basketball but was good for his studies, Mark knew so maybe he couldn't keep playing after college and wanted to make the best of him in this national championship.
But it looked like he had no luck and got injured in the semifinal, so now Jake wondered how Mark must be feeling bad about not being able to play in that national championship anymore.