He Ximeng took the court but didn't rush to score. After bringing the ball past half-court, He Ximeng executed a high pick-and-roll with Qin Rui. He cut into the paint, drawing the double-team from Weifang No. 1 Middle School, and then passed back to Qin Rui, who was following up. Qin Rui easily scored two points under the basket.
On the other end, He Ximeng and Huangfu Yanlin combined for a successful steal.
Despite having a clear fast break opportunity, He Ximeng didn't drive directly to the basket. Instead, he deliberately controlled the rhythm and delivered a no-look bounce pass to Huangfu Yanlin, who was making a fast cut on the left. This assisted Huangfu Yanlin in scoring two points easily.
As soon as He Ximeng entered the game, he immediately contributed 2 assists and 1 steal, leading Zhuji Middle School to take the lead.
"Damn! This substitute point guard for Zhuji Middle School is pretty good..."
"His breakthrough speed is fast! His passes are also very accurate..."
"That steal just now was also impressive!"
"With this skill, why is he a substitute?"
"Maybe because his scoring ability isn't good?"
"Exactly, look at those two opportunities just now, he could have shot himself..."
"That's possible! He might not be confident in his scoring ability, so he'd rather pass than drive to the basket himself..."
"What a shame! If his scoring ability was a bit stronger, he would definitely be a starter..."
The players from other teams watching in the stands were discussing animatedly.
On the sidelines, Gong Xiaobin, who had just been substituted out for Weifang No. 1 Middle School, was also a bit stunned: "Zhuji Middle School's number 4 player's passing and ball-handling skills shouldn't put him on the bench! Could it be that they're hiding their strength?"
It had to be said that excellent players had very keen instincts.
Gong Xiaobin's first reaction was that He Ximeng's passing and ball-handling skills surpassed Chen Feng's... However, suspicions aside, Gong Xiaobin, unlike He Ximeng, was not half a "head coach" and couldn't make adjustments to the team according to his own ideas. Gong Xiaobin could at most make suggestions to the head coach. But the problem was that He Ximeng had just shown a different demeanor, and the head coach of Weifang No. 1 Middle School was also waiting for the situation to change before making adjustments. After all, less than a minute had passed since the last adjustment, and less than two minutes remained until the end of the first quarter.
What could be done in two minutes?
He Ximeng led Zhuji Middle School on a 10:2 run against Weifang No. 1 Middle School!
By the end of the first quarter, the entire Weifang No. 1 Middle School team was bewildered, not understanding what had happened in those short two minutes.
The entire audience watched as Zhuji Middle School's number 4 player kept delivering assists, assists, and more assists...
Zhuji Middle School scored 10 points, all orchestrated by He Ximeng. Among these, three were direct assists from He Ximeng, and two were situations where after He Ximeng's brilliant pass, his teammates took one dribble before shooting for the score.
The evenly matched game between the two teams took a one-sided turn due to He Ximeng's entry. And it happened at the end of the first quarter, a time when most head coaches disliked giving the impression of constantly changing their minds. They felt that since little time remained, they could endure it and adjust their lineup at the start of the second quarter. He Ximeng had perfectly exploited the mindset of Weifang No. 1 Middle School's head coach, seizing the opportunity to execute the desired strategy of "Tian Ji's horse racing."
When the second quarter began, Weifang No. 1 Middle School immediately sent Gong Xiaobin onto the court to stabilize the situation.
On Zhuji Middle School's side, He Ximeng did not become complacent. He didn't want to give Weifang No. 1 Middle School a chance to narrow the score, so he immediately fielded Zhuji Middle School's strongest lineup!
Yan Hui, Zhang Zhenpeng, Wang Xian, Tang Chenfeng, and He Ximeng himself!
"Number 4 is your real starting point guard, isn't he?"
As soon as Gong Xiaobin took the court, he went directly to Zhang Zhenpeng to probe.
Zhang Zhenpeng grinned: "Surprise? Unexpected? Is it a little late to find out now?"
Even though he realized he had been tricked by He Ximeng, Gong Xiaobin would not give up on this game. After all, it was the first game of the group stage, and everyone hoped to start with a victory.
Therefore, Gong Xiaobin, unwilling to admit defeat, entered his strongest mode, constantly scoring on offense and trying to defend against Yan Hui, Zhang Zhenpeng, and He Ximeng challenging the basket by himself.
But for Gong Xiaobin to block Yan Hui and Zhang Zhenpeng, he had to shrink his defense and stay as close to the paint as possible. He Ximeng quickly noticed Gong Xiaobin's intention and called Zhang Zhenpeng to the high post. As expected, Gong Xiaobin did not follow out, and He Ximeng began to create scoring opportunities for Zhang Zhenpeng with passes...
Zhang Zhenpeng had been setting screens for Yan Hui for almost a quarter, and now that he had received instructions from He Ximeng, he was eager to showcase his skills.
Zhang Zhenpeng's mid-range jump shot had a fairly stable hit rate when uncontested.
With Gong Xiaobin staying in the paint, He Ximeng found Zhang Zhenpeng three consecutive times. Zhang Zhenpeng made two out of three shots. On the one he missed, Zhang Zhenpeng managed to grab the rebound and pass it back to He Ximeng. He Ximeng took advantage of the chaos to drive into Weifang No. 1 Middle School's paint and, facing Gong Xiaobin's help defense, scored with a layup...
At the end of the half, Zhuji Middle School led Weifang No. 1 Middle School by 9 points, 42:33!
Gong Xiaobin finally understood Liu Yudong's suffering. It turned out that Zhuji Middle School was indeed much stronger than they had imagined!
Even more crucially, Weifang No. 1 Middle School knew nothing about Zhuji Middle School, but Zhuji Middle School had thoroughly researched Weifang No. 1 Middle School's offensive and defensive tactics.
Throughout the entire first half, besides Gong Xiaobin's 20 points, the rest of the Weifang No. 1 Middle School team combined only scored 13 points, less than Gong Xiaobin alone...
This scene was eerily similar to Hangzhou No. 4 Middle School's loss to Zhuji Middle School.
And compared to Hangzhou No. 4 Middle School, Weifang No. 1 Middle School was even more unfortunate because He Ximeng had found a more effective way to utilize Zhang Zhenpeng and Yan Hui. By having them spread the court, they forced the opponent to focus on stopping only one of them. If the opponent collapsed into the paint, He Ximeng would bring Zhang Zhenpeng to the high post...
With He Ximeng directing on the court, Weifang No. 1 Middle School's adjustments were always one step behind, and the final result was that they were led by the nose by Zhuji Middle School, completely losing control of the game.
What was even more critical was that He Ximeng had not shown particularly strong offensive desire in this game... because Zhuji Middle School's overall strength had indeed improved somewhat compared to their match against Hangzhou No. 4 Middle School a month ago. Some of these improvements were in physical fitness, some in tactical coordination, but more importantly, they were in confidence!
Victory brought confidence, and confidence brought a noticeable improvement in strength!
Never underestimate the power of the subconscious. Any strong team possesses firm beliefs and an unyielding will to win... Zhuji Middle School is on its way to transforming into a top-tier team in the national competition...