Aaron quickly positioned himself outside the center circle with his knees bent, ready for the game to start.
On the other side, Dominykas was already set in the center circle alongside Ivory Brooks, both waiting for the referee to toss the ball up and fight for the opening tip.
Once the referee entered the court with the ball, the players focused on the ball he held between his hands as he walked toward the center circle.
Without saying a word, he simply turned his head in both directions, seeing that both teams were ready and prepared for the game to begin.
Throwing the ball as high as he could while blowing his whistle, the game had officially started.
Thanks to his height and extra bulk, Dominykas won the opening tip without any trouble, quickly passing the ball to Corey while the others sprinted toward the other end of the court, ready to attack as fast as possible and catch the Villa Angela team off guard.
Dribbling the ball, Corey headed to the other side, his eyes scanning for potential passing lanes as he quickly crossed into the opponent's half, being immediately marked by Jeff Albert, the other team's point guard.
Having the path blocked, Corey quickly attempted to cut to the left based on dribbles between his legs, but despite that, Albert had him tightly marked; so Corey, seeing it was difficult to pass him, forced a pass toward Maurice, but before the ball completely detached from his hand, another hand quickly struck the ball, and out of the corner of his eye, Corey saw Albert pass by him, scooping up the ball.
"And Albert steals the ball!" Jerry's commentary was heard as the play unfolded, and Jeff immediately ran toward the Royals' basket.
"And at a bad time, Jerry, with the Royals team pushing aggressively, their paint is unprotected," Logan commented into the microphone, watching the players' positions on the field.
At that moment, in Jeff's mind, he already believed that he had scored the first 2 points for his team without complications; so as soon as he entered the paint, he performed a jump, trying to do a spectacular dunk, ending with the crowd's exclamations toward him.
What Jeff failed to notice, perhaps because he was focused on his thoughts, was the player who was quickly charging toward his own basket.
At the highest point of his jump, Jeff was about to slam the ball through the rim until suddenly he felt a hand slap against his, causing the ball to crash against the backboard and rebound far out of Jeff's control.
Once on the ground, Jeff quickly turned while his vision caught the back of player number 15, who was picking up the ball.
"Counter-attack!!" Aaron shouted, quickly launching a deep pass as he moved back up.
While that happened, the exclamations and shouts from the crowd didn't wait, in a clear sign of astonishment.
"My goodness, what a block!" Jerry shouted with disbelief in his voice. "When we thought Albert would score the first 2 points of the game, the Royals' number 15 said no," he continued narrating hurriedly.
"Impressive play by number 15," Logan began while checking the roster of players he had received before the game. "According to this, number 15 is named Aaron Reed, and an impressive fact is that he is a freshman, and this is his first tournament," he finished saying with surprise in his voice upon knowing Aaron was only a freshman.
"And what a way to make himself known with such a tremendous block," Jeff finished saying as his and Logan's attention returned to the court.
Thanks to Aaron's timely block, the counter-attack was set in motion, with Omar being the person who caught the ball while quickly running down the right sideline of the court in a straight line to get near the hoop.
As soon as he stepped into the paint, his path was quickly blocked by Brooks, who stood in front of him, blocking the way under the basket, but without losing his composure, he quickly passed the ball to the player closest to him, who was Corey, only to pass in front of Brooks and receive the ball again in a manual pick-and-roll.
Once he had surpassed the rival center, Omar jumped and slammed the ball with force against the rim, scoring the first points of the game.
"2-0." Current score in favor of the Royals.
"And Omar Calhoun scored with a great dunk, he slammed the ball against the rim!" Jerry shouted into the microphone while the Royals' fans screamed in celebration.
"YEAHH!!" a group of fans yelled.
"That's how you do it, Omar!" a fan shouted, his voice drowned out by the noise of the roaring crowd.
"The Royals knew how to launch an effective counter-attack once they blocked what seemed like a certain score by Albert," Logan technically detailed to the excited crowd.
Meanwhile, on the court, once Omar's feet touched the ground, he turned and began high-fiving each of his teammates until he finally reached where Aaron was.
"Good job," Aaron congratulated Omar, raising his hand for a high-five, which Omar didn't reject.
"Thanks, bro," Omar said, sharing a smile.
Once the celebrations ended, everyone got into position, ready for the restart of the game, this time with the ball in possession of the Vikings.
Without wasting time, Jeff asks for the ball to, once receiving it, run in the direction of the opposing court while the Royals' players formed a man-to-man defense, each marking a different player, with Corey being the one in charge of marking Jeff.
Seeing that the player marking him was the point guard from whom he had stolen the ball a minute ago, and not the player who had blocked him, Jeff simply smiled with mockery while quickly trying to shake off Corey, who had stuck to him like glue.
"Get off me," a frustrated Jeff said toward Corey, seeing he couldn't get him off and the shot clock was reaching its end.
Seeing he couldn't get him off and with time running out, Jeff forced contact in order to generate space to pass the ball.
"Watch out!" one of Jeff's teammates shouted in his direction.
Without realizing it, being focused on getting off Corey, he didn't see how Maurice approached from his blind spot to steal the ball and quickly turn around.
Unprepared for that, the Vikings team retreated quickly, compressing the space under the rim, thus preventing Maurice from easily penetrating under the post.
"Tscht," Maurice clicked his tongue while stopping and looking for any possible shooting angle toward the hoop.
"Pass it to me!!" Dominykas yelled, being under the post but at the same time being flanked by two players.
Discarding the idea of passing the ball and seeing there was no other option, Maurice decided to simply force a shot toward the hoop.
All the spectators inside the stadium followed with their gaze the trajectory of the ball toward the rim, and when it touched the rim, the Royals' fans put their hands to their faces while the Vikings' fans sighed in relief seeing how the ball bounced off the rim.
"Rebound!" one of the players yelled, causing chaos to break out under the paint with each player looking to get the ball.
But while most of them pushed or obstructed the way, one of them had his gaze set on a specific point on the perimeter of the court; so while he headed there, the ball, as if attracted by some magnetic force, headed in that same direction.
Once in position, he caught the ball between his fingers while the rest of the players quickly approaching in his direction like an uncontrolled stampede.
Without losing his calm, Aaron took a jump shot and, once he reached the highest point, he released the ball from between his fingers, causing the ball to trace a slightly elevated angle, causing it to stay in the air for longer.
The players simply stood watching the parabola the ball traced until it reached its highest point to begin to descend cleanly toward the rim.
"swish." was the clean sound the ball made as it went through the rim without any trouble under the attentive gaze of all the people present.
5-0. Current score, Royals in the lead.
"And now the Royals go up by 5 after a brilliant shot by their number 15, Aaron Reed," Jerry exclaimed in the direction of the crowd, who were applauding and screaming frantically.
"I must add, Jerry, that the boy seems to have ice in his veins by being able to launch that shot under the pressure of seeing the Vikings players rushing toward him," Logan praised Aaron's calm.
While the fans celebrated and Jerry and Logan narrated the game, some people in the crowd talked among themselves.
"That's my nephew!" Paola exclaimed, standing up and applauding in the direction of her nephew, who was quickly surrounded by his teammates.
"That's how you do it," added Hector, who was sitting with his arms crossed while nodding in the direction of the court.
"Stand up and celebrate," Paola said, turning toward both people who were sitting on both sides of her.
Once that was said, Hector stood up and began to applaud louder, calling the attention of the people around him, just like Melissa, who did so with slight shame seeing how people didn't stop looking around them.
Joe Arbitello and Artie, on the other hand, analyzed Aaron's play with more care and emphasis on details.
"The boy has character," Artie couldn't help but praise in the direction of Aaron, seeing how he didn't shrink or get nervous when the players began to rush in his direction to be able to get the ball.
"His shot improved too," added Coach Arbitello, remembering the angle and the form in which Aaron launched the ball from the 3-point line, causing the ball to enter cleanly.
Back on the court, the Royals players began to celebrate, high-fiving and patting Aaron on the back, who accepted them quickly while they headed toward their side of the court, ready for the other team's serve.
Without wasting any time, Jeff passed the ball toward Ivory, who quickly headed toward the other side of the court like a tank ready to ram everything that crossed in front of him.
Seeing that, Dominykas quickly takes action, planting himself in front of him and looking to stop him based on force, but while both players collided with each other, Ivory took advantage and passed the ball toward the shooting guard Sidney Weems, who got open to receive the ball, ready to turn to be able to score.
Before the ball even rose in front of his head, he saw how Aaron arrived quickly in front of him to block his vision of the basket; so without wasting time, Sidney passed the ball to the player closest to him, who was Jeff.
Seeing where the ball was heading, Aaron tried to move to block Jeff, but he was quickly blocked by Sidney, who attempted a screen, giving Jeff some valuable seconds to be able to launch the ball.
Without any interference, Jeff calmly launches the ball toward the net, finally scoring valuable points for the Vikings.
5-2. Current score.
"And it was Jeff Albert with a mid-range shot that opens the scoreboard for the Vikings," Jerry narrated with microphone in hand.
"It has to be said, Jerry, perfect moment by Albert along with the timely block by Weems, which gave him some valuable seconds to score," Logan finished saying toward the crowd.
While the noise of the crowd became more frantic as the game continued its course, seeing the plays from both sides with a high-intensity offensive style.
The question everyone was asking was who would be the winner of the match, whether the Royals team or the tenacious Vikings from Villa Angela St. Joseph.
Authors thought's
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