Lee knew how good Akira Sendoh was. In his freshman year, Sendoh was proclaimed as the Rookie Sensation, a basketball genius, the Savior who was going to lead Ryonan to the National Championship and from there, to the win the title. And honestly, Lee believed that this would be the year.
But knowing and actually understanding are two different things. Tonight, Lee understood.
In many of the plays, the ball found itself in Sendoh's hands, and more often then not, it then found its way to the basket. Sendoh put on a stunning display of offensive scoring, tearing through the defense, then taking a step back and draining the jumper. Even before the game, the opponents were intimidated, and Sendoh exploited that advantage.
What Sendoh's firepower did was that it drew the attention of the defense to him, leaving the other teammates open. And Sendoh, with his pinpoint passing, found the open man again and again, frustrating the defense. Lee almost pitied the Kainan defense as Sendoh methodically, and boldly, took it apart.
And this time, Lee took himself out of the play, to give Sendoh more room to work with. As Sendoh got by Hiro, Lee's hope soared. Then it came crashing down along with Sendoh.
Nobunga had come from behind Sendoh and hammered him, intending to take him out of the game. Then, as Sendoh began to roll, Nobunga came down on his ankle, at the very least, fracturing it.
Lee stood by helplessly as the team fell apart like Sendoh's ankle.
Fukuda immediately confronted Nobunga, and the two got in a shoving match, that Koshino was desperate to stop. Lee watched as Hideyoshi also got into and the rest of the bench as well came to join the brawl. Oh, god, no, this can't be happening.
And the rest of the game proceeded in much the same manner. Whatever elegance and order it held, it was quickly dispersed. Half time did nothing to calm any of the players. There came a series of fouls, and the pace slowed down because of it. Lee found that he could do nothing to control the game. With so many fouls, the game stops every two minutes and it's hard to get anything started, much less maintained. It's like a child, playing the piano for the first time, there just isn't any continuation.
Lee tried even to force some offense by driving to the hoop, but he was met with frustrating defense. Occasionally, he was able to break through, then he was fouled and thrown to the ground. Which, unfortunately, turned out to be extremely effective. Lee couldn't find the basket on the free throws. Jin continued to hit shots, with hands, sometimes the whole team in his face. He was in a zone... however Lee was more or less in a rut.
The game was over the moment Sendoh went down. They were just too stubborn to admit it. The final score, 93 to 64. Jin ended up with 36 points, on 12 of 21 shooting, 7 of 12 from behind the arc.
Lee managed 7 assists, but had 5 turnovers, and only 12 points on just 5 of 17 shooting.