Chapter 430 End of Time at the University 2
In another attack by the Kentucky Wildcats team after a good move the ball was left for Turner, Turner held the ball and Williams soon came on the defense, so Turner pa.s.sed the ball to Sheppard who was free in the middle.
When Sheppard received the ball Jake who was nearby was prepared, Sheppard saw that he was free and tried the shot from outside because he had already scored 6 points in three-point shots in that game, but this time Jake approached quickly and made the block rejecting the shot.
Sheppard and the other players on the Kentucky Wildcats team did not expect this, but Williams who took the remaining ball was waiting for it and soon started the counter-attack for the Tar Heels team.
Williams slowly advanced the ball so that his teammates could move forward, before reaching the three-point line Williams pa.s.sed the ball to Jake who was in the middle, Jake took the ball and made a high pa.s.s.
Carter took the ball high and made a dunk to complete the alley-oop and make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, the players of the Kentucky Wildcats team did not expect this and so the Tar Heels team further increased the lead on the scoreboard.
The game continued like this and the Tar Heels team ended the 1st half by winning the game with a good advantage, little by little the Tar Heels team was controlling the game and the players of the Kentucky Wildcats team were getting more anxious.
In this 1st half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 19 points, 8 a.s.sists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks, Jake was playing very well and his teammates were playing too, so he had more freedom in attack and after the middle of the 1st half, he can better help the team defensively.
"And so the 1st half of the game ends, the Tar Heels team is winning the game in the final of the NCAA tournament that started very much between the teams, the players of the Tar Heels team and the Kentucky Wildcats team are playing very well and so the game it is very exciting and with many points."
"But after half of the 1st half of the game, Jake started to play better in defense and with the Tar Heels team dominating most of the game"s rebounds they managed to increase the lead on the scoreboard."
"The Kentucky Wildcats team is still able to attack well with Mohammed because N"Diaye is not able to defend very well against him, but N"Diaye still helps in disrupting Mohammed"s attacks in the game, that"s one of the problems with the Tar Heels team not having one good Center on the team."
"But with Jake and Williams. .h.i.tting so many three-point shots for the Tar Heels team that advantage will only increase, so the Kentucky Wildcats team will have to defend better to be able to hold off the Tar Heels attack."
"For the time being, the Tar Heels team is winning this game and is closer to winning the NCAA tournament this season for the second year in a row, let"s see if the Kentucky Wildcats team gets a reaction."
Just as commentators said the Tar Heels team was winning the game, Coach Guthridge was very pleased with the players and praised Jake for his good defense and praised Jamison who had more rebounds in the game.
If the game continued as it was with the Tar Heels players having a good performance, they would win the NCAA tournament again, on the other side, the Kentucky Wildcats" coach Tubby Smith was worried about the game.
He had to ask the players to increase the pressure on the defense and try to press more against Jake and Williams and also within the three-point line, that was difficult for the Kentucky Wildcats team and the players would get more tired doing this, but he was the only one way to achieve victory.
Jake"s family and friends were rooting for him in the stands and everyone could feel that the Tar Heels team would win this game, the crowd at the Alamodome was greater for the Tar Heels team because of the team"s record of victories and the greater coverage of the media.
Eva and Kate were still nervous because they really wanted Jake"s team to win this game and knew that Jake would be very sad if he lost that game, Jerry West who was watching this game with David Falk was very pleased with Jake"s performance and had high hopes for him on the Lakers" team if all went well.
The Kentucky Wildcats team returned for the 2nd half of the game by pressing in attack and defense, the players were tired after the semifinal game and also because of the pressure.
The Tar Heels team had to defend better in the 2nd half, but the players were less tired because Jake knew how to control the team"s pace of play so the players wouldn"t get tired that much, but the pressure was the same for both teams.
The Kentucky Wildcats team went on the attack and Turner received the ball and soon received pressure from the Tar Heels team and Williams came to defend against him, so Turner had to pa.s.s the ball to Sheppard who was free in the middle.
Even though Sheppard was free he knew Jake was around and so he didn"t risk the shot from the outside, Sheppard pa.s.sed the ball to Padgett who was ahead, soon Jamison arrived to defend against him and so Padgett had to move away and Jamison did not go on defending.
So Padgett took advantage of the s.p.a.ce to try the shot from outside and score 3 more points for the Kentucky Wildcats team, the Kentucky Wildcats team was better organizing the shots and trying not to try three-point shots or pa.s.ses close to Jake.
One of the advantages of the Kentucky Wildcats team was that all the players on the team could attack well if necessary, and not everyone on the Tar Heels team defended well, but the players on the Tar Heels team expected this and thought it would be a challenge between attacks.
The Tar Heels team soon gave the answer and Jake advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed to Carter on the left, Carter was playing very well in that game as well as Jamison, in the decisive games he was one of the players who always performed well and was one of the most important players on the Tar Heels team because of that.
Carter advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed to Jamison further to the left, Jamison tried to advance and the players of the Kentucky Wildcats soon pressed in defense, so Jamison had to pa.s.s the ball to Carter further.
Carter pa.s.sed the ball to Jake in the middle and also advanced into the three-point line, the Kentucky Wildcats team"s defense started to press Jake who made a signal and N"Diaye came to make the screen and so Jake was free to try the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team.
The game continued and the two teams kept pressing in the attack and the Kentucky Wildcats pressed in defense trying to prevent the Tar Heels team from further increasing the lead.
In another attacking play by the Kentucky Wildcats team, the ball went to Turner who advanced and soon saw the defense of Team Tar Heels pressing, so Turner had to pa.s.s the ball to Sheppard who was in the middle.
Sheppard was free as in many moves because Jake was defending against him and was making room for him, Sheppard did not risk the shot from outside and tried to pa.s.s the ball to Mohammed later on.
But Jake foresaw that move and managed to intercept the pa.s.s by making the steal, with the ball Jake advanced to the attack with speed, Sheppard was the player who was further behind and had missed the pa.s.s and ran to defend against Jake.
When Jake continued running using all his speed Sheppard was left behind and the crowd began to celebrate the points that the Tar Heels team would do, Jake continued running and entering within the three-point line decided to make a show for the crowd.
After crossing the free throw line, Jake jumped to do a 360-Reverse Dunk and make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, normally Jake used to make the simplest dunks just to cheer up the crowd, but as was the final and the last game he thought he could do something special.
Just as Jake thought the crowd and the players who were on the Tar Heels team reserve began to shout excitedly by the move, even his teammates who were on the court approached Jake to greet him for the move.
With this move and the advantage that the Tar Heels team had on the scoreboard, the Kentucky Wildcats players were losing their desire to play because they knew that the Tar Heels team was getting closer and closer to winning this game.
Even so, this was the last game of the year so they kept attacking to try to win, in another move the Tar Heels team was attacking and the ball was with Carter on the left, Carter advanced and pa.s.sed the ball to Jamison ahead.
Jamison tried to advance to make the layup and Turner got the steal and so the Kentucky Wildcats team had the counterattack, Turner advanced quickly with Sheppard and Mohammed, the Tar Heels team players who managed to react and came back to defend were Jake, Carter, and Williams who were further back when Turner steal.
Jake was naturally the fastest and was the last defender of the Tar Heels defense when Turner arrived on the Tar Heels three-point line with the Carter ball behind and Sheppard was more to the right being defended by Williams.
Turner came with the ball and Mohammed was advancing quickly too, Jake had not yet reacted to the move and waited, Turner stopped to try the mid-range shot and Carter managed to recover and pressed Turner who pa.s.sed the ball to Mohammed.
Mohammed received the ball and tried the layup, Jake was waiting for it and went up after Mohammed and in time made the block preventing Mohammed from making the points, after that play the victory of the Tar Heels team was almost guaranteed.