Wang Xian's height, nearly 10 centimeters taller than Fu Zai Feng, made him significantly more effective than Tang Chen Feng in disrupting Fu Zai Feng's pull-up jump shot.
Fu Zai Feng had intended to use his speed to shake off Wang Xian, but unexpectedly, Wang Xian turned the tables, directly interfering with Fu Zai Feng's shot from behind, causing it to miss the rim entirely.
Yan Hui grabbed the rebound and immediately passed to the open Chen Feng. Without delay, Chen Feng launched a long pass to the streaking Zhang Zhen Peng.
Zhang Zhen Peng played power forward in the second lineup, tasked with protecting the boards. However, in this configuration, with Yan Hui and Feng Chen in the paint, Zhang Zhen Peng roamed near the free-throw line, allowing him to immediately initiate fast breaks during transitions from defense to offense.
The Jinyun Middle School interior players couldn't possibly retreat in time, while their perimeter players... Zhang Zhen Peng, leveraging his strength and height advantage, muscled his way through the opponent and successfully completed the layup.
One defensive stop, one offensive score.
He Ximeng, by merely adjusting a position and a player, had transformed Zhuji Middle School's initial deficit and passive play into a gradual control of the game's momentum.
Zhang Yide, seemingly relaxed, remained silent, but He Ximeng's on-court judgment, lineup adjustments, and tactical choices were all registered in his mind. Outwardly calm, inwardly he was experiencing a tempest, not much different from Zhang Tian Ai, whose eyes were wide with admiration.
Zhang Tian Ai's favorite player was Fujima Kenji, and what she admired most was Fujima's composed command both on and off the court, the aura of a great general emanating from him...
Wasn't He Ximeng now a real-life version of Fujima?
In fact, Zhang Yide had handed over command to He Ximeng before the game precisely to gauge He Ximeng's coaching aptitude and its extent. If He Ximeng possessed talent, Zhang Yide might consider recommending him for specialized coaching education... The result of this observation was truly astonishing!
In Zhang Yide's estimation, He Ximeng's talent for coaching was clearly superior to his talent for playing. He had never encountered a high school student with such sharp insight, such delicate control, and such decisive resolve!
With even a modicum of systematic training, Zhang Yide was confident that He Ximeng would surpass him, being more than capable of leading a school team, or even a provincial youth team, and potentially a CBA team as a professional head coach.
After this national tournament, Zhang Yide decided to have a serious talk with He Ximeng. The path of a professional player had an exceptionally low probability of success... If He Ximeng agreed, he would humble himself and plead with his former coach to scout He Ximeng... If he received that person's approval, He Ximeng could smoothly enter the pipeline for China's basketball coaching circles...
Of course, all this was for after the national tournament. For now, let the young fellow enjoy the final moments of his high school basketball career! Simultaneously, Zhang Yide could continue to see what other surprises He Ximeng would bring him in his coaching of the upcoming games...
He Ximeng, engrossed in the game, was naturally unaware that the seemingly dozing "Third Master" was already planning his future. While Third Master's intentions were for He Ximeng's own good, they were destined to be unfulfilled...
The introduction of Zhang Zhen Peng and the positional adjustment of Wang Xian had helped the Zhuji team reverse the unfavorable situation on the court.
Halfway through the quarter, He Ximeng subbed out the starting lineup, retaining only Zhang Zhen Peng, and brought in Qin Rui, Zhu Ningzhen, Fu Xinyuan, and He Ximeng himself.
Both Huangfu Yanlin and Fu Xinyuan, being first-year players, were swingmen who could play shooting guard or small forward. However, relatively speaking, Huangfu Yanlin possessed slightly superior ball-handling offense and organizational skills compared to Fu Xinyuan, while Fu Xinyuan's defense and spot-up shooting were slightly stronger than Huangfu Yanlin's.
Therefore, when Zhuji needed to strengthen its defense, He Ximeng chose Fu Xinyuan to partner with him, rather than Huangfu Yanlin.
Fu Zai Feng had assumed that after Wang Xian was subbed out, he would get a respite and be able to score easily again. Unexpectedly, while Fu Xinyuan's defense was not as precise as Wang Xian's, he was still an ace player from the junior high league, possessing solid fundamentals. Most importantly, he had abundant energy and the fearlessness of a rookie.
With Wang Xian preceding him and Fu Xinyuan behind him... He Ximeng used a small forward to guard Fu Zai Feng, exploiting the height advantage to disrupt Fu Zai Feng's mid-to-long-range shots, complemented by the lockdown defense of Zhuji's interior players like Yan Hui and Qin Rui. This successfully limited Jinyun Middle School's offensive effectiveness.
First establish defense, reverse the situation through defense, seize the game's rhythm, and then use ball movement to initiate Zhuji Middle School's favored fast breaks...
With this series of coordinated plays, Jinyun Middle School finally lost the dominance it had at the start, retreating step by step.
70:61, Zhuji Middle School defeated Jinyun Middle School, securing their second victory in the group stage.