At halftime, some of the spectators on the sidelines went to buy snacks and some went to the bathroom, all waiting for the final battle of the second half.

As Randy Wilson and Mike came out of the bathroom, Wilson said, "You said you only liked baseball, but you seemed nervous just now?" ”

Mike said expressionlessly, "Actually, it's not bad to watch basketball once in a while. ”

TNT's commentary partners are Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley, and every halftime is the time to affirm Smith's halftime commentary.

Kenny Smith was saying, "From the first half of the game, both teams played relatively solidly, and anything could happen in the second half, but I still think the University of Virginia has more chances, they are stronger overall. ”

Charles Barkley immediately retorted: "But they can't do anything about that Chinese kid at Columbia." ”

At the beginning of the second half, all the main players on the Columbia side were resting off the court, but on the University of Virginia side, it was Sheehan Singer who played on the court with a substitute.

Columbia University was originally a team that relied on Li Chenglong to drag forward, and now Singer Tri is playing with a substitute on the court, and Columbia's bench lineup is not an opponent at all, and after only 3 minutes, the University of Virginia erased the 6-point gap, and the two teams were tied at 40.

Li Chenglong took the initiative to ask Joe Jones: "Coach, it's time for me to play, we can't let them continue to rise." ”

The rest of the main players expressed their willingness to play, so Jones called a timeout and replaced all the main players, and the University of Virginia also changed the main players. In fact, there are only more than 30 games a year in the NCAA, and the physical requirements for players are not high, and it is not a big problem to play the whole court in the national championship.

Replaced by the main player, the ball is still on the side of the University of Virginia, Singer Tri controls the ball on the perimeter, after the half-court battle, Harry Scott has been able to familiarize himself with the defense and shooting, Singer Tree couldn't find a good way for a while, so he transferred the ball laterally to JR Reloz, who was also outside the three-point line.

Li Chenglong knows that the opponent has the habit of transferring the ball to Reloz once the perimeter opportunity is not good, because Reloz is a pitcher at the University of Virginia, but he obviously has a bad hand in this game, and he has not thrown a few outside balls so far, but the opponent's habit routine will not change.

Li Chenglong deliberately gave up a little space to catch the ball, and as soon as the opponent passed the ball, Li Chenglong immediately started and cut off the ball before Reloz received the ball.

Li Chenglong, who made a successful steal, immediately launched a fast break, and the University of Virginia was caught off guard by this steal, and no one could quickly replay it, and Li Chenglong ended the fast break with a dunk.

Barkley said: "Nice steal! I said they couldn't do anything about that Chinese kid, and he made a steal as soon as he got on the court. ”

Next, Columbia University led the offense with Lee Chenglong, while the University of Virginia had stronger players overall, and they were always able to score points when Singer was limited to a certain extent, and the score was always more anxious.

At 13 minutes and 39 seconds, Li Chenglong and Martin Taylor's pull-up jump shot after the block and dismantle were successful, Columbia University led 48-46, and in the next round, the University of Virginia connected an empty connection inside and outside, allowing the spring man Soroyer to dunk and successfully equalize.

At 10 minutes and 24 seconds, the University of Virginia was successfully rebounded by power forward Jason Gayne in the second offense, and Lee Chenglong responded to the answer ball in the face of Singer's three-point shot in the next round.

The score alternately rose, the battle was more intense, and both teams held their breath, trying to find an opportunity to play a wave of attacks, but neither team could do it.

With 2:35 left on the clock, Columbia defended the opponent's offense, and at this time, the score was 59-58, Columbia led by one point, and Joe Jones immediately called a timeout.

Joe Jones said on the sidelines: "Remember, wait a minute, the offense has to play the success rate, cover more, run back, and use up 35 seconds of attacking time, we have to score this goal so that we can have a minimum of three points apart, they can't overtake the score in one more round, for the rest of the time, it's a big advantage." ”

The two sides re-played, but they didn't expect the other party to suddenly start pressing all over the court, which caught Columbia's side a little off guard, and Harry Scott almost lost the ball because of it, but fortunately Li Chenglong went back to answer and was able to avoid a mistake.

Li Chenglong personally dribbled the ball through the half, after a few months of games, his dribbling level improved quickly, the opponent wanted to break the ball twice and was changed by Li Chenglong to dodge, and the opponent had to give up.

Li Chenglong took the ball to the front court, according to Jones's requirements to play the success rate, the University of Virginia is a group of very athletic players, running back to cover the opponent are following tightly, several passes to teammates have no good chance, basketball is back to Li Chenglong's hands again, 35 seconds of offensive time is only 8 seconds, Li Chenglong chose to come by himself.

The more critical the time, the more you have to let the stars play, this is the American basketball philosophy.

The opponent's small forward Marty Denny is responsible for defending Li Chenglong, Li Chenglong holds the ball and changes direction in front of the body, the basketball is transferred from the left hand to the right hand, the opponent just moves without losing position, and then Li Chenglong dribbles behind again, the basketball returns from the right hand to the left hand, the opponent's footsteps move again, the center of gravity is raised, Li Chenglong with another back dribble, the basketball is from the left hand to the right hand again, the opponent's center of gravity has completely moved, has lost the defensive position, Li Chenglong immediately accelerated from his right hand to break through.

There was not much time left to attack, and immediately after Li Chenglong broke through Marty Denny, he made a mid-range pull-up jump shot, and the spring man who had been preparing to make up for the defense was one step too late.

Undisturbed, the net made a smooth grinding sound.

Swish!

Two-point goal!

Li Chenglong waved his hand vigorously to celebrate, he didn't expect this breakthrough to be so smooth, he had used this kind of continuous shaking in training before, but the success rate was not high, but this time he used it at a critical time.

Kenny Smith, a point guard by background and also born in New York, was full of praise for the breakthrough: "Beautiful breakthrough! This is by far the most beautiful breakthrough of the game, and there is no shortage of kids in New York who are good at it. ”

Charles Barkley immediately interjected, "Are you trying to say yourself?" To be honest, you didn't show extraordinary breakthrough ability in the era of playing, except for floating on the outside shooting threes. ”

Lee scored the goal to bring the gap between the two sides to three points, and as Joe Jones said, the opponent can't overtake the score in one round unless it is an extreme three-plus-one.

With 2 minutes left on the game clock, the University of Virginia went on the attack.

The University of Virginia used blocking and dismantling to give Singer the opportunity to face Martin Taylor, Martin Taylor is not the kind of bulky inside, Singer Tree can't easily pass Taylor, and in desperation, the forced shot was rubbed by Martin Taylor's fingertips, Li Chenglong reacted quickly and rushed over to get the ball, and immediately launched a fast attack.

In the face of Columbia's fast attack, JR Reloz and Marty Danny both returned quickly, but they returned deeper and returned directly to the penalty area, Li Chenglong took the ball to the front court and directly chased three points outside the three-point line.

Swish!

The fans in the stadium boiled over, it was an important three points, and the score gap became 6 points.

"This is the worst-case scenario for the University of Virginia, they can't score in two consecutive rounds, Columbia University has won both rounds in a row, the score gap has gone from one point to six points, and there is only about 1 minute and 39 seconds left, so I think we can congratulate this dark horse in advance on making it to this year's Sweet 16." ”

The University of Virginia called a timeout, the opponent arranged offensive tactics, and Columbia University also arranged defensive tactics, and the initiative was completely on Columbia's side.

After the pause, Columbia changed its defensive expansion and became a defensive strategy of defending three points and putting two points, and the tactical arrangement of the University of Virginia was originally to grab three points, and if they didn't hit or grab a rebound, they would immediately foul, and Columbia's change of formation made them have no choice for a while, and they didn't know whether to continue the arranged three-point tactics or change to a safer two-point strategy.

The authority of the NCAA head coach is much greater than that of the NBA, and the most direct point is that the NBA can directly call a timeout by the players on the court, but the NCAA must have the final say in the head coach. The NBA always has a babysitter head coach for the stars, and that will never happen in the NCAA.

NCAA teams are head coaches with greater authority than stars, so the players at the University of Virginia subconsciously followed the head coach's arrangement, grabbed three points, and the basketball bounced out of the basket under interference, and the basketball bounced near Li Chenglong, and he immediately won the rebound, and Singer, who was closer to him, immediately fouled him.

Kenny Smith shook his head and said, "The University of Virginia players made one of the worst on-court choices on the court, they should have opted for a safer two-point game that would have kept some suspense in the game, although they still didn't have a chance." But they made the mistake of choosing to steal the three-pointer, and now the three-point miss is fouled on Bruce Lee, and with Lee's free throw shooting rate, this is simply giving him points. ”

In the NCAA rules, the half-court fouls reach 7 to start the free throw, but in order to encourage players to practice free throws, when the number of fouls is 7 to 10, the foul free throws are 1 plus 1 free throws, that is, the first free throw can continue to make the second free throw, and the first free throw will not be the second free throw.

The NCAA only makes two straight free throws when the number of fouls reaches 11 in the half.

At present, the number of fouls at the University of Virginia is 8, and the free throws should be 1 plus 1, if they foul other players, they may be able to get the ball directly without losing 1 point, but if it is committed on Li Chenglong, it is basically two points.

Standing at the free throw line, Li Chenglong took a deep breath, he knew that if he hit both free throws, he could basically declare the game over.

The arena became much quieter, except for the University of Virginia fans making noise to distract Lee.

As the referee's whistle sounded, Li Chenglong slapped the ball twice, raised his hand with the ball, shook his wrist and plucked the ball, the basketball flew towards the basket, and the players of the two teams began to compete for the rebound, especially the players from the University of Virginia, no one wanted to go here and be eliminated, or be eliminated by a dark horse.

What if Lee doesn't make a free throw? Dreams are always there.

Compared with Li Chenglong's previous free throws, this time there was a rare sound of friction without smoothness, the basketball slammed on the front of the basket, flicked to the rebound, bounced back and knocked on the basket, and finally jumped into the basket.

Li Chenglong breathed a sigh of relief, he was indeed a little nervous just now, but fortunately, the goal was still scored, and the score gap became 7 points.

The fans who supported Columbia University at the scene also breathed a sigh of relief, and then there was a huge cheer, and when Li Chenglong was about to score the second penalty, the scene was quiet again.

Li Chenglong, who was no longer nervous, did not let the accident appear in the second penalty, a familiar voice.

Swish!

"With an eight-point deficit, unless Maddie shows up, I can declare the game over, the lads at Columbia University have done a great game and they are continuing their dark horse path." Charles Barkley was impatient to show his prophetic prescience.

In the final time, the University of Virginia's first three-point shot once made everyone in Columbia a little nervous, if they hit three points in a row, they could really turn the tables, but the next two consecutive three-point misses, Columbia's foul free throws were hit by Martin Taylor twice, and there was not much time left in the game, which made the University of Virginia have to give up the game.

The referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, and the scoreboard was 66-61, and Columbia eliminated the University of Virginia in a hard-fought game to reach the round of 16 of the national championship, also known as the Sweet Sixteen.

(To be continued)