Y13 [EN]: Chapter 21

00021 NCAA National Tournament =========================================================================

Youngjae, who hadn’t taken a single break in the first half, barely controlled his ragged breathing and slowly moved to the right side of the 45-degree 3-point line, following Gay’s movements. Not only Youngjae but also the Aztecs’ players were instinctively feeling it. If they couldn’t score now, the second half wouldn’t be easy. Youngjae, especially, couldn’t help but feel it more clearly.

‘We’re taking the lead with teamwork, but…’

Realistically, their individual abilities were inferior to Maryland’s. This was an undeniable fact. As the second half progressed, the gap would gradually widen, and the worst-case scenario of being caught up and overtaken when their strength ran out could occur. Ultimately, when it becomes a close game, individual ability, rather than teamwork, determines the outcome.

So, Youngjae had to choose. If he decided to seize the momentum, he had to make this shot, even if it meant making a slightly risky play.

‘…’

Gay met Youngjae’s eyes, pointed to the other players with his left hand, and then passed the ball to Youngjae. An extremely old-school 1-on-1 isolation play. Gravis Vasquez was guarding Youngjae again, and Eric Hayes, who was guarding Gay, was also hovering between Gay and Youngjae, looking for an opportunity to help Vasquez’s defense.

“Kuh!”

Youngjae’s sudden drive-in caught Vasquez by surprise, and he stepped back. Youngjae pushed his shoulder into Vasquez without slowing down.

‘What?! A post-up?!’ [A post-up is when a player positions themselves near the basket with their back to the defender.]

Although it seemed like he was just pushing, Youngjae’s bulk was more effective than expected. When Vasquez, who was of a similar size, couldn’t hold his ground and was pushed back, Hayes immediately rushed in to double-team.

In a split second, with no time to even set a screen, Youngjae moved the ball from his right hand to his left with a sharp look in his eyes, and then switched from a post-up to a face-up [face-up means facing the defender directly] and raised his hand.

“Is he shooting!”

Vasquez shouted without realizing it and raised his hand, not wanting to be fooled by a fake. As Vasquez anticipated, Youngjae didn’t shoot. But at that moment, Youngjae bounced the ball with his left hand, letting it slip between Hayes and Vasquez, and wedged his left shoulder into the gap to retrieve the ball.

[Amazing play!! Youngjae Yoon! What an incredible move!]

[To see such a powerful side from Youngjae Yoon, who has only shown smooth plays so far, is amazing!]

[He’s breaking through! Landon Milbourne is blocking him!]

Youngjae immediately moved the ball to his right hand as if he was going to shoot a layup, then kicked off the ground with his right foot and raised his hand. A perfect layup posture that anyone could see. Milbourne also jumped up for defense without a doubt, but he couldn’t see the ball or Youngjae’s hand, so he hurriedly looked down.

[Left foot!! Layup fake with his right foot without lifting his left foot!!! Amazing! Youngjae Yoon!!]

[No one can avoid that move! Youngjae Yoon retrieves the ball again and penetrates further!!!]

“Ugh!!!”

There are no players left. Youngjae even let out a shout, which he doesn’t usually do, and soared upwards.

“?!!”

However, a giant figure blocked Youngjae’s view. Jordan Williams used his height to block Youngjae’s view and pushed the airborne Youngjae threateningly. His balance could have been shaken, but Youngjae kept his eyes fixed on the rim even while being pushed, and momentarily retrieved the right hand that was about to lay the ball up and moved the ball to his left hand.

Kwaang!!!

Beeep-!!

Even while taking Williams’ block with his whole body, Youngjae stretched his left arm to the end and moved his left hand to the end as if placing the ball on the rim, and was thrown off balance and fell to the court.

“Ugh…”

Even though his back was aching as if it was tearing apart, and he fell right in front of the cheerleaders, hearing worried voices saying, ‘Oh my, what should we do…’, Youngjae groaned and raised his upper body, staring intently at the ball that was precariously placed on the rim behind the transparent backboard.

Swish-

[Basket count!!!! Youngjae Yoon!!!]

Wowwwww!!!!

Even though he fell to the ground, Youngjae felt the pain disappear as soon as the shot went in, and he shouted loudly as he got up, even though he was limping.

“Wow! That monster!”

D.J. Gay was the first to rush over and support Youngjae, giving him a thumbs up. Soon Kawhi Leonard, Cowell, and White also rushed over to support Youngjae until he could walk properly, accompanying him to the free-throw line.

“That’s enough now.”

“You’re still limping. Don’t be stubborn.”

“It’s okay. It’s just because I fell suddenly.”

His back was still tingling, but Youngjae had to endure it. At least when shooting free throws, he had to show that he was fine. That way, he could make them realize that they couldn’t stop his offense with fouls.

“Hoo…”

Forcing himself to endure the pain, Youngjae shot the free throw in a stiff posture without bending his back. Youngjae shot the free throw relying solely on the finger roll of his right arm and right hand.

Tung-tung-

The ball bounced unsteadily on the rim a few times, but like a lie, it went right into the rim.

[Wow, the first half is over. 35 to 29! San Diego State is leading in the round of 64 between San Diego State and Maryland! The dominant player of the first half is definitely Youngjae Yoon. That fantastic play at the end was truly an amazing breakthrough that is hard to see in the NCAA.]

[Yes, he fooled Vasquez with a shooting fake and immediately broke through by pushing his shoulder into the double team of Eric Hayes and Vasquez, right? And then he gave Landon Milbourne an amazing layup fake. It’s really difficult to give a fake that looks like you’re jumping without lifting your feet, right? You have to support your whole body with just the tip of your left foot, which means your body balance is perfect to that extent. At the end, a really dangerous foul came out, but he still chased the rim to the end and crammed the ball in with his left hand. His skill and tenacity are really amazing. It looks like he’s limping more than I thought; I hope it’s not a serious injury.]

[We’ll be back with the second half after halftime.]

Youngjae walked as if nothing was wrong until he entered the locker room, but he seemed to have bruised his back, so he slumped down on a chair as soon as he entered the locker room and rubbed his back.

“Good job. It was a satisfactory game against a strong team like Maryland. There’s not much to say about the defense.”

Coach Fisher raised the morale of the players and talked with them about the defense inside the paint, which was the only area where they were somewhat lacking.

“Yoon. Are you okay?”

“Yes… I’m fine.”

He said he was fine, but Fisher could clearly see that he wasn’t. He had to rest at least at the beginning of the second half. Fisher couldn’t take Youngjae out for the entire 20 minutes because the first half was so intense, but he was going to let Youngjae rest for at least 10 minutes, even if he was healthy, but Youngjae had fallen on his back.

“Still, you’re resting at the beginning of the second half no matter what. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“…… I understand.”

Youngjae didn’t insist anymore. Youngjae knew that he needed rest. He pulled up the ankle brace on his ankle again to maintain tension, and then Youngjae decided to receive massage, taping, and icing from the medical staff to temporarily relieve the pain.

“Yoon!”

The players told Youngjae ‘Don’t worry’ and left, and Kelvin Davis, who would be put in instead of Youngjae, called Youngjae last.

“Ah, Davis.”

At the beginning of this season, Kelvin Davis, a senior, had his position taken away by Youngjae and secretly resented Youngjae. However, when he came onto the court as a bench member with Youngjae, he achieved a career high for the season due to his much better 3-point success rate and field goal percentage than the records he had accumulated over the past three years. Even though his playing time was reduced to 1/3, Davis, who benefited greatly from Youngjae, now recognized Youngjae as a true member and center of the Aztecs, even though he grumbled at Youngjae like Gay, who had formed a rivalry with him.

Even so, he couldn’t help but like Youngjae, who didn’t want to be the captain or play selfishly, but wanted to maintain D.J. Gay’s captaincy and prioritized team chemistry above all else.

“Do you remember what I said during the last game of 2009?”

“Ugh… of course. I said I wanted to go no matter what.”

Davis nodded and reached out to Youngjae.

“Give me some energy.”

“Why are you doing this? Your 3-point shooting percentage is better than mine.”

“That’s in practice. It’s still 3% lower than you in real games. So give me just 3%. Don’t be stingy.”

Youngjae stared at Davis, who was grumbling, and then smiled and slapped his palm.

“Okay.”

Before leaving, Davis nodded without avoiding Youngjae’s gaze.

“Stick closer and harder!”

Even though Davis was clumsy at defense, he stuck to Vasquez like glue and encouraged the Aztecs’ bench members. While facing Vasquez, Davis thought once again that Youngjae, who had locked down such a monster player, was amazing and slightly raised the corners of his lips.

“Tapley! There’s space! Stick to him!”

“Hold on! Don’t get pushed back!”

“Use your time wisely!”

“We don’t have any fouls yet! Use your fouls!”

Kelvin Davis led the team, shouting at the top of his lungs. But even so, Gravis Vasquez, whom he was facing, had very flashy dribbling and accurate shooting ability. If he thought that even this was because Youngjae had locked him down and his hands had gone cold, it was terrifying to think about what it would have been like in the first half.

Beeep-

Still, Davis was already a senior. Davis was not inferior in terms of experience. He never gave a shooting foul, and if he couldn’t steal while trying to steal, he touched Vasquez’s hand to break the flow with a foul. But the bench members, Chase Tapley and Alec Williams, were freshmen. Tyrone Shelley and Malcolm Thomas helped, but there was a big difference in level and they lacked experience.

[About 5 minutes have passed in the second half. The 6-point difference is now 40 to 38. It’s a one-possession difference.]

[It’s painful that they only scored 5 points in 5 minutes, but Coach Fisher knows it, right? It seems like he’s trying to conserve the stamina of the starting players as much as possible in order to go all-in at the end. On the other hand, Maryland’s Gary Williams seems to be trying to regain the lead at this opportunity. Vasquez, Milbourne, and Hayes have played an average of 23 minutes each for 25 minutes, Sean Mosley has played 21 minutes, and Jordan Williams has already played over 20 minutes.]

[This is exactly what the bench members have to do. In the case of the Aztecs, the point difference is narrowing, but what’s encouraging is that it’s because of Kelvin Davis, a senior. He was involved in all 5 points, right? As soon as he received Malcolm Thomas’ pass to the outside, he made a spot-up 3-pointer, and Kelvin Davis poked an assist foul when Chase Tapley was fouled while shooting. In addition, he is cleverly using fouls to break the flow.]

============================ Author’s Note ============================

★Thank you to those who gave advance reservations, recommendations, comments, and coupons!!

White Heart-nim///There will be no suspension. Don’t worry^^.

Jo Chang-hyun-nim, Leadven-nim, SosuHands-nim/// Thank you. I will try to meet your expectations.