And the hunt begins
And the hunt begins
Coach Swendel as well as the rest of the players on the team were looking at Jason with a look that contained a mixture of respect and awe, some of them just smiling and shaking their heads in disbelief.
With the scoreboard reading 34-28 all of them understood that the lead that they had built and managed to maintain was all thanks to Jason.
He took on the assignment of guarding Rudy whenever he was out on the court as well as carrying the majority of the load on offense end in order to force Rudy to expend more energy on defense.
Although they were used to seeing Jason give a hundred percent effort every game this was the most they had seen an opposing team push Jason to his limits.
There had been games in the past where Jason was forced to play hard and give it everything that he had, but those games all had other conditions and circumstances around them.
In terms of an opposing team forcing him to play with everything that he had solely through the talent and ability available to them, it hadn't been done since Jason played against the Silva twins, but even then that was before he had started to improve his conditioning.
On the other side of the court, at the opposing team's bench. Sweat was flowing down the sides of Rudy's face, colliding together under his chin before forming droplets that fell onto his shorts as he tried to catch his breath.
His shoulders quickly rising and falling as he held his sports bottle in his hands he looked across the court over to Jason.
'Shit! How he still got so much left in the tank? We been playing crazy hard and it's already the second half. He lookin like he'll be good to go by the time we hop back in. And the morale over there is completely different too.'
Rudy couldn't help but grit his teeth and clench his fist as he glared at Jason and his bench. Even though both teams should be just as exhausted Jason and his teammates seemed to be much better off.
He could see Jason and his teammates smiling and their body language told Rudy that they felt like they were in control of the game.
Rudy dragged his gaze back to his bench and his head began to feel hot as he looked at his teammates.
They were all hunched over breathing hard with some of the worst expressions on their faces that Rudy had ever seen from them.
He could tell that his teammates were losing steam, not just physically but mentally as well. They were already starting to look defeated.
"Come on man, y'all are making it too obvious that y'all are feeling gassed. Do you want Jefferson to know that they're running us outta the game!?"
Some of his teammates began to raise their heads staring at Rudy with annoyance and anger in their eyes.
Thankfully before tensions could get too high their Coach clapped his hands together "Enough! I get what you're trying to say Rudy but you can't talk like that to your teammates.
Everyone is trying their best and I know that you guys are tired. But don't let the fatigue make you lose control of your emotions.
That would be worse than having some bad body language. They might be playing it off but don't be fooled. Those guys played the same minutes that you did and they're just as tired.
Keep playing hard and we can swing things over to our favor." A wave of relief washed over him as it seemed that his players were able to calm down his players.
'Thank god, looks like they believed that shit. I feel bad lying to them but at this point they need it. If our morale drops now then we'll really be done for.
All I can hope for is that Jason will run himself tired enough for us to strike and take advantage.'
As the third quarter began Jason continued to hound Rudy on defense as he picked him up full court. Shuffling his feet and keeping his hands active he smothered Rudy as soon as the ball was inbounded to him.
'Hnn Damn it!' After almost having the ball poked out of his hands a few times Rudy angrily passed the ball up the court to his teammate that had been waiting back just in case.
With the ball out of his hands Rudy moved to the top left of the three-point line before calling out a play while throwing out a hand signal "Red 3".
Rudy began cutting toward the basket but then began curling around as his Power Forward set a screen for him close to the top of the key.
Seeing Rudy sprinting his way to the top of the three-point line his Point Guard readied the ball in his hands as he threw the pass.
Rudy smiled as he saw the ball heading his way. Mid-step he had his hands ready to catch the ball but it never made it to him.
Jason's figure flashed by him as his outstretched hand deflected the ball from its original destination, sending it bouncing up the other side of the court.
Chasing after the ball Jason was able to gain control of it with a swift swipe of his right hand without breaking his stride.
But even with his smooth retrieval of the ball he quickly found himself being caught up to with Rudy who was chasing after him with everything that he had.
'I don't know how the hell you managed to read that play so perfectly but you ain't scoring off of this turnover.'
Rudy stuck with Jason as he dribbled his way up the court toward the paint. With Rudy on his left Jason used his body to protect the ball as he handled it with his right hand.
As they neared the basket Jason slowed down half a step as he brought the ball from his right to his left hand with a behind-the-back dribble.
Rudy shifted to the left and as he saw Jason bring the ball up above his head with his left hand he put his hands up and began to contest what he thought was a floater.
Unfortunately for him Jason quickly brought the ball back down as he gathered it in both of his hands before hop stepping to the right.
After catching Rudy off guard with his move Jason used the hop step to go into a layup. As the ball fell through the net the entire arena began to rumble with the crowd's thunderous cheers.
- - -
A bead of sweat trickled down the announcer's face as he ran his hand over the top of his blonde slicked back hair.
With a fervent look on his face he looked down at the court as the players sat down at their respective benches.
"Has this been a game or what folks!? Purists of the sport must be in heaven right now as this has been a defensive game through and through.
We thought that Jaya was giving it his all as he went to work guarding the offensive phenom that is Rudy Jackson but this quarter he has shown us that he still had another gear on defense hidden up his sleeves.
He started the third quarter off with that amazing read that lead to him stealing the ball, not to mention that amazing finish. Ooh he dug deep into his bag for that one.
But the most amazing part has to be the crazy amount of effort that Jefferson has played with this quarter. Not only are they forcing High Bridge to chase them around constantly with their half-court sets.
They've been pushing the tempo with their transition offense. Pushing the fastbreak every opportunity that they get they have forced their opponents to play at their pace, along with playing tenacious hard nose defense.
If this is how the rest of the game will play out I don't feel too optimistic about High Bridge's odds for victory.
But with how intense this game is turning out to be you have got to wonder, do Jaya and his teammates have enough left in their tanks to keep up this style of play?
Stay tuned folks because after this quick commercial break we will find out."