PCJ – Chapter 527 Complete Domination

Xu Chuan’an smiled as he turned to Wang Peng, who was sticking close to him, and said, “Staring at me won’t help. I haven’t even touched the ball yet.”

Wang Peng grinned and replied, “They were just careless earlier. Do you really think a few guys from your class can beat professional players?”

Xu Chuan’an mocked, “Wang Peng, are you blind? So far, only Zhang Jiaohua and Zheng Wendong have touched the ball on our side. Do you even remember the score? If not, I’ll kindly remind you — it’s 12 to 0.”

“12 to 0, so what? Let’s see how long you can keep that score!” Wang Peng said, embarrassed and annoyed.

“Of course not for long — we’re about to score again. Just watch.” Xu Chuan’an had also noticed the shift in the game’s tempo. He wasn’t foolish enough to let Wang Peng keep him locked down; he intended to draw Wang Peng away to distract one of the pros — Yang Jianlong seemed like a good choice, since he looked weaker.

Wang Peng didn’t catch on to Xu Chuan’an’s plan and continued to tightly shadow him.

Yang Jianlong served steadily this time, delivering the ball directly into Zhang Yusong’s hands.

Zhang Jiaohua didn’t even try to steal the ball this time. That kind of opportunity only comes once. No matter how fast his reaction, he couldn’t outrun a basketball. With the opponents now alert, stealing from professional players wasn’t so easy. And if Zhang Jiaohua pressed too hard, the defense left to Zheng Wendong and the others in the back would likely crumble. Their strength may have increased, but their skills and reaction speed were still far behind the pros. Without Zhang Jiaohua’s help, their defense was practically nonexistent. If An Hao hadn’t tried to physically bully Zheng Wendong earlier, would Zheng have been able to stop him?

This time, Zhang Yusong didn’t hold onto the ball. The moment Zhang Jiaohua approached, he passed it straight to An Hao. Instead of going head-on against Zheng Wendong again, An Hao used a skillful move to shake him off, jumped lightly, and made an easy shot into the basket — finally scoring a face-saving point.

The students and teachers watching sighed — the gap in skill was painfully clear. Now that the professionals were getting serious, the high schoolers clearly couldn’t keep up.

“Yeah, having pros play against us high schoolers is kind of bullying.”

Zheng Wendong felt disheartened — he had no idea how to deal with An Hao.

“Zheng Wendong, don’t lose heart! As long as we keep hitting those three-pointers, they can’t catch up!” Xu Xiaoting shouted from the sidelines.

That’s right! The players from Class 1 suddenly lit up. They didn’t need to stop the pros — as long as Zhang Jiaohua kept scoring, the pros wouldn’t stand a chance.

Zhang Yusong’s lips twitched. “Still trying to score? You think we’re made of paper?”

He reached out to block Zhang Jiaohua, preventing him from receiving the ball. An Hao stood nearby, ready to intercept. The other three players each marked an opponent tightly.

Zheng Wendong felt the pressure. With two defenders on one and tight one-on-one coverage elsewhere, any pass risked interception.

“Pass to the open space!” Zhang Jiaohua shouted, then turned and ran.

Zheng Wendong quickly lobbed the ball. Having trained for years on plum-blossom stakes, Zhang Jiaohua’s nimble footwork let him slip between An Hao and Zhang Yusong like a slippery fish. He leaped up, caught the ball mid-air, and launched a shot.

“That move again!” Zhang Yusong turned his head away, unwilling to watch. Judging from the ball’s arc, it was going in.

Sure enough, the crowd erupted in cheers.

Zhang Jiaohua quickly pulled Zheng Wendong aside. “Keep passing like that. They can’t stop me!”

“Got it!” Zheng Wendong replied with a grin.

The score gap widened again. But Zhang Yusong and the others didn’t panic. He signaled, “Let’s focus our defense on number 7. That guy’s accuracy is ridiculous. Don’t let him touch the ball. An Hao, Zhi Ning, and I will guard him. Jianlong, you hold down the backcourt.”

An Hao gave some advice to Yang Jianlong, “When you get the ball, don’t rush to break through. These guys are strong — we may not have the edge in physical play. Use your technique.”

As Zhang Yusong passed the ball, he shouted, “Keep the ball moving!”

Yang Jianlong passed it back to him and then quickly ran to get into position, now playing with the urgency of a real professional match. They had to score reliably — losing to high schoolers would be a huge embarrassment.

Zheng Wendong quickly called out, “We can’t defend one-on-one — let’s switch to zone defense. Block them from getting inside for layups, even if it means giving up outside shots.”

Zheng Wendong, Xu Chuan’an, Zhou Qimu, and Liu Zhen formed a defensive circle under the basket, leaving Zhang Jiaohua on the perimeter to harass and prevent three-point shots from Zhang Yusong.

Having experienced the power of these high schoolers, even An Hao didn’t dare rush in. Getting injured while trying to force a foul would be worse than losing the game.

Zhang Yusong got the ball a few times but didn’t have the confidence to shoot in Zhang Jiaohua’s face, so he kept passing. Yang Jianlong finally got an open shot, but it just barely missed — it spun around the rim and popped out.

Xu Chuan’an and Wang Peng both leapt for the rebound. They collided mid-air, sending Wang Peng flying, while Xu Chuan’an secured the ball effortlessly.

“Ref! Foul! He pushed me!” Wang Peng yelled, thinking Xu had shoved him.

“Stop shouting or I’ll call a technical foul! That was clean body contact — no foul,” the referee, Shen Honggang, responded. He already had a bias toward the local Four High students and held Wang Peng in disdain. If he hadn’t been forced, he wouldn’t have agreed to ref this obviously unbalanced match.

Zhang Jiaohua ran over, took the ball from Xu Chuan’an, and fired another long-range shot. Zhang Yusong and An Hao couldn’t react in time — the ball swished through the hoop again.

“Don’t shoot unless you’re sure you’ll make it!” An Hao was furious with Yang Jianlong for taking a reckless shot. In a real game, an open shot might be acceptable, but not when trailing this much against a superhuman shooter. One mistake widened the gap even more.

“You two can’t even stop one guy, and now you’re blaming me? I barely missed! If luck were on my side, that ball would’ve gone in!” Yang Jianlong snapped back.

“Enough arguing! Haven’t we embarrassed ourselves enough?” Zhang Yusong quickly shut them up.

He Chuan’an smiled at Wang Peng. “So these are the pros you brought in? Not very impressive.”

“Just wait. Your tears are coming. You guys are running like maniacs now, but once you’re out of gas, they’ll crush you,” Wang Peng insisted, still confident in the pros.

“You got a screw loose or something? Standing still drains stamina?” He Chuan’an scoffed.

Wang Peng was stunned. The players weren’t even moving that much — Zhang Jiaohua was ending plays with a single shot. The real running only happened during defense.

No matter how hard Zhang Yusong and the others tried, they couldn’t get past Zhang Jiaohua’s deadly accuracy. Even though the pros used their skills to score almost every time, Zhang Jiaohua’s consistent three-pointers only widened the lead. By halftime, the pros were trailing badly. Embarrassed, they found a random excuse and fled the court. They just couldn’t take the shame anymore.

The crowd of students and teachers from Four High roared with excitement — their school team had beaten professional players from the Beijing team! It was a miracle. But everyone knew the win came down to one reason: they had a ridiculously overpowered sharpshooter.

After the game, Shen Honggang approached Zhang Jiaohua. “Do you know who those guys were?”

“I heard they were pro players from the Beijing basketball team,” Zhang Jiaohua replied, already guessing where this was going.

“Are you interested in seriously training? With your talent, you could get into any college you want on a basketball scholarship,” Shen Honggang offered.

“If I wanted to get into college, I could do it with my grades. I don’t need basketball for that,” Zhang Jiaohua said honestly — that kind of promise held no appeal for him.

“Uh… you’re only in your first year. Three years from now, anything could happen. But your basketball skills — if you keep improving — even Tsinghua or Peking University would be easy for you,” Shen Honggang said.

“If I wanted to go there, I’d get in with my grades.” Zhang Jiaohua shook his head. “I don’t want to waste too much time on basketball.”