International Basketball Championship 41 - Everything Thread

[Panay Islands and Guimaras]

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ANOTHER SHOCKING WIN WITH A NEW STAR IS BORN
Apollotown, Ranoria


Traveling Panayense fans in the game against Abanhfleft

Before the celebration started, the traveling Panayenses made the whole Apollotown like a Mardi Gras parade with some flares, flags, and songs to sing for the Island 5. "It feels like going to New Orleans!", says a resident. "I actually danced along with these fans, and it was so exciting!" In the first quarter, the Fleftics are trying to dominate, but with the speed of Mejía, they failed to do so. Mejía scored 10 points each game with Hiejima scored 6. But the star of the show was Yoon, being a playmaker, had some tries to distance himself from the defense, which he actually did. Yoon will go on to dominate the game with 26 points, alongside Mejía scoring 20 points and Vergara, with 15. What Hiejima do? He still score some 6 more until he was subbed by an upcoming superstar, Salvador Álvarez. And also he got fouled, so Andolong requested that he could be a sub in the next game. After the game, the fans were really excited on this one, but they already know that they could face the powerhouses, Banija again. "We're happy that we're winning against a powerful sporting country.", says Andolong. "I didn't know that Abanhfleft actually has a weak point in this game! *laughs* But, kudos to the Fleftics for a fair game." Now, the new starting 5 is released against Banija, someone stayed, but someone just got in:
23. Ernesto Mejía (PG)
22. Josué Yoon (SG)
14. Edgar Andolong (C) ©
13. Salvador Álvarez (SF)
*17. Edgardo Dy (PF)
Will this new starting lineup could beat the Banijans for the first time? Or could be the Banijans who got their hopes up?

*indicates that the player has its first cap in the national team.

[Panay Islands and Guimaras]

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RANORIANS IN APOLLOTOWN CALLED PANAYENSES, "PARTY MAKERS"
Apollotown, Ranoria

Yes, you've heard it right. Panayenses are party makers. And the people of Apollotown knew it. At first, it was unbearable for them to hear them chanting like that, but when they go to the streets, the party is about to go down. "I never knew they could play trumpets like this in one hand!", says Ashton, an Apollotown resident currently in high school. "These guys are really crazy and I think they're from Europe because they're kinda cheer like that." "These guys really inspired me how to love your country when your national team is on a verge of victory.", says Richard, another Apollotown resident, who is a Ranorian basketball fan. "I've never seen something like that. They're just like Europe!" "They say our chants are heavily influenced by Europe.", says Ledesma, member and *surdo drummer of the travelling *barra brava, "La Banda del 98". "But it actually influenced us by the Latin Americans." "They're doing a Mardi Gras-esque cheering and I love it!", says Melanie, a Ranoria high school cheerleader. "I heard some of them are dancing too, so when I see them, I'm like, I'm gonna join on the fun!" The travelling fanatics of La Banda del 98 has been a source of pride for the Panayense *barra brava community and it can always continue to cheer on the national team and bring joy to the foreign locals.

*barra brava = Latin American equivalent of American cheerleading and European ultras with a marching band but with different instruments
surdo = a big tom instrument that is one off the bass drums in barra brava, and also in Brazilian samba.

[Valentine Z]

Part 3 – A world devoid. Eerie silence, muted environment, but it is the nothingness of it that is the most unsettling.

Chief Aviator Eveline Gwen Tracer Hepburn “Fate of Existence and the Omniverse” Ellen Trixie Caitlin Foxworthy Avril Verlene Celinda Sammy Doris T-Rev Oxton Arielle Lindall Leslie Vitesse Allison: I can leave Gwen’s Angels with Joshua even until the end, I don’t have to be there. I’m not saying this because I do not want to be there, moreso that I trust them with their game and training plans. After all, I can see the future – one where our fourth match, one against Southwest Eastnorth, would be a win, and that we will get those scores for sure. The reasoning for me being there is a moral support, you know? Treat your team and your fellow people nicely and interact with them, and they will do their utmost effort in order to win those matches. On top of that, I can always visit them anytime, so there really is no problem. With all of this said and done, it’s just now time for me to go for that vacation that I have been talking about to everyone else. Some might think ahh, Eveline is making such a big deal out of it. Well, in a way, that is true! But you know, while no doubt it’s fun to be around Valentine Z – I am not sponsored to say this, by the way! – there are also trillions and trillions and worlds out there that I can go and explore around in. I am doing just that now, and maybe you would like to hear about it too. I randomly picked an idea, and this is the one that I’m going to – an abandoned world. It does not have to be too specific. As long as there are flora and fauna that are untouched, with elements and signs that the world has been abandoned for very long, it’s all good to me. There are, as always, precautions such as making sure that the atmosphere and especially the laws of physics is optimal for human bodies (or those who are travelling with me; see my Time-Travel Tourism). I can tank it, but you all cannot.

Found one such world. As I stepped through the portal, the soft and gentle ground of dirt and grass greeted me, as it should as I checked beforehand. The skies are clear, the mountains are grey, and the forests are lush and green. This is all very normal so far. Perhaps someone who knows a little bit more about botany and the like might notice the differences, but if I show you a picture of it, you will think that it’s just another picture I have taken from Earth, or maybe a movie setpiece at best with some inaccurate vegetation here and there. The trees are a little different – most of them have moss growing on them, and they are also 20 meters tall on average. They are not that big as I thought, because from my understanding and quick search, trees can grow up to and exceeding 40 meters. Well, the non-Valentian ones and from typical Earth settings. Starting off, this is already something a little different. One more thing that I noticed after I have closed my portal is that the place is eerily quiet. You might think – Eveline, you actively seek out a place where there are no humans and no sapient beings, so that is to be expected. Well, that is true, but I also mean that there are little to no animal noises. No bird chirping and in the skies, the rustling of the leaves and bushes are all a result of gusts of winds, and there is no majestic roar of a mountain lion, a moose (if they roar; they do!), bear, whatever. I readied my railgun, with 50 bullets for it. I don’t really need anything exotic to fire it, all it needs is to be conductive to be launched. I used arrowheads to even bullets before, all yields excellent results. Anyway, this is not about my gun, and instead the trip itself. The gun hummed with life and gripping it on my hands, I proceeded on forward to the forest ahead. I landed in a clearing 400 meters to the trail into the forest.

The lack of animal sounds is also confirmed inside the forest – it is that nothingness that made it all the more eerie. This is thankfully balanced by the fact that the trees are not that tall and does not branch out that much. As a result, I have a healthy amount of sunlight falling onto the forest floor. The air smells a little dry, so at least I am not in a tropical area. The trek along the trail is nothing unusual, but it also got me thinking – if there is such a trail, that must mean that there are people or animals that used it. The only problem is that the trail looked relatively fresh so someone or something is using it in a relatively present time. (No, I’m not using my time powers to find out; it spoils the fun, you know?) As I walked for 8 meters, I saw a couple of blueberry bushes here and there, which I reckon at least that they looked like one. I approached one slowly and picked a couple of the fruits, along with the leaves and branches that were lying around. All of it went into my hyperspace container; I always packed a few of these for such a thing. Normal plastic bags and even metal containers are not ideal – you will never know with the things that you have picked. One time, I picked up a couple of what appeared to be strawberries, only to find out that they are paralysing ticks. I had to stop time as I lied down around these little buggers. It’s normal for me, yeah.

As I walked a further 3.13 kilometers (according to my suit’s odometer, step-trackers, and the like), I came across something interesting other than just the forests. A cave – the mouth of the cave is 3 meters tall and wide. Just enough for me to fit through and hey, I do not always need to be at some outlandish heights. Well, unlike those people from horror movies, I neither go in there blindly or shouted “HEY IS ANYONE THERE?” Like, seriously, why do people even do such a thing? I know it increases the suspense and all, but it is also practically extremely stupid and idiotic. You are alone, you shout and gave your position, and you also have no means to defend yourself. For me at least, I have the means to defend myself and I am NOT giving away my position. The alone part… ehh, I am used to that. Of course, with all of this said and done, I am also a bit curious as to where it goes and lead to. Picking up a small piece of rock and rolling it into the cave revealed that the ground was at least solid and, you know, right there. It does not seem to slope down or anything of that sort. I contemplated as to if I should use a NVG since it is technically shooting infra-red and I don’t fancy knowing who- ahh, you know what, I can reverse time if I screw up, right? Being cautious like this is good and all, but I can balance curiosity, caution, and suspense. I’m not going to spoil my experience by jumping around large chunks of time, but if I was about to be mauled by some cave dingo, I can reverse time and prevent myself from being eaten. Provided that they can try and do so, of course. For that moment, I was contemplating as to whether or not I should explore around more, then I realized that there was not much elsewhere. As far as I can see, it’s just trees, trees, and more trees. And this weird lovely cave in the middle.

Throwing caution to the wind and relying on my powers, I ventured further into the cave, rapidly losing light as I went. The ultra-sensitive cameras don’t work because after all, they still need some light. So night-vision it is, then.

[Kamijiro]

Return of the Full-Court Press

"So, what's all this?" Taiki asked as he walked into the resort's weight room. Inside, Kazuma Maeda and Kanata Miura were building what looked like a giant hazardous waste pile and spill. In reality, they had attempted to create a way to distill nicotine-laced alcoholic beverages to sate their ever-growing urge to fly to the nearest country that sells cigarettes and buy the first store they see clean out. If there's one big cultural clash between Ranoria and Kamijiro, it's that tobacco products aren't legal. In Kamijiro, they're not just legal, but most adults smoke. With prohibition being the official stance of the country, it's truly the only drug one can consume legally. Of course, this would imply that there isn't a full-blown area of Narakugai that's essentially just dive bars and strip joints. But that implication would be flat wrong, because that's all Narakugai is known for.

Anyway, the ever-growing mess of these two mad (or maybe just stupid) scientists was now becoming a giant mess. The hotel staff had tried to come in and clean it up, but half of it was literally illegal materials. So now, for the second time on this trip away, the police were on their way to this resort to deal with the idiots known as the Narakugai Night Roses. They'd be here any minute, and that's why the other two called Taiki into this.

"HELP US CLEAN! PLEASE!" Begged Kanata. Kazuma was begging too, but more quietly.

"Shit, you guys are fucking idiots. Let me find a mop. You two start hiding the illegal stuff. Don't care how or where, just do it fast."

The police walked into the lobby around three minutes later to find Taiki and Kanata mopping up the floor in the weight room.

"We got a report of illegal substances being consumed, neither of you would happen to know anything about it?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing illegal here, officer. Just two basketball players cleaning up some... uh... piss." Kanata said, fumbling for a liquid that could've been spilled and somehow settling on that.

"Really?" Hissed Taiki, who was now trying to hide the fact that this liquid was in fact a clearish-brown color.

"I don't really believe you. But I also don't care enough to check because, quite frankly, I don't wanna know what the hell that stuff actually is. You two have to be searched for illegal substances, though."

Ten minutes later and two strip searches later, nothing has turned up on them. Of course, that's because Kazuma had run off and stashed the cigarettes in his room's safe. The officers leave.

"Really? That was the best story you could come up with?" Taiki asked, once he and Kanata were alone holding their mops again.

"It worked, didn't it?"

"You're so unbelievably lucky, you know that? If I were you, I'd buy a lottery ticket or go put all my money on black. There's no way that should have worked, for fuck's sake."

--

The game against Delata was one that the scoreboard lies about. It ended with a five-point win for the Night Roses, but the reality is that they were comfortably in the lead for most of the game. A mad comeback from Delata in the final three minutes was enough to scare the Night Roses into subbing their starting five back in, but they were able to stay the course and finish the game up at the foul line. Moving to 3-1 means the Night Roses are second in the group, a fact that they're quite proud of. Oh, also, Yuki Kuji crashed out on another ref and got tossed. Which is odd, because this is now twice he's been ejected. Which is two more times than in all of the games the Night Roses had to play to even get selected to represent the country (which comes out to zero ejections in 30 games played). So there's that.

Line Score
    1Q  2Q  3Q  4Q  FIN
KMJ 26  21  20  20   87
DEL 19  23  22  18   82

Kamijiroan Player Stats
Starters
Name (Eng.)     PTS  REB  AST  BLK  STL  FG/FGA  3P/3PA  FT/FTA  PF  TOV  GmSc
Takuya Kabe      30    3    3    0    0  11/23    3/6     5/6     5    4  15.3
Taiki Ito         8    1    4    0    1   2/7     0/1     4/4     4    1   7.0
Yuki Kuji         0    2    0    2    0   0/2     0/1     0/0     4    1  -1.6
Kazuma Maeda     23   13    1    2    0   7/14    1/4     8/11    0    2  20.0
Natsuki Sakurai   8   10    0    4    2   3/5     0/0     1/4     3    1   9.9

Bench
Name (Eng.)     PTS  REB  AST  BLK  STL  FG/FGA  3P/3PA  FT/FTA  PF  TOV  GmSc
Atsuya Iwasaki    6    6    2    0    0   3/11    0/2     0/2     2    2  -0.1
Kanata Miura      3    5    0    0    1   1/1     0/0     1/2     4    0   4.4
Ichirō Mizuki     7    2    2    0    1   2/7     1/6     2/4     2    0   4.7
Junya Sugawara    2    1    0    2    0   0/0     0/0     2/2     2    0   2.9
Katsumi Nishimura 1    3    0    2    0   0/1     0/0     1/2     0    1   1.6


Totals          PTS  REB  AST  BLK  STL  FG/FGA  3P/3PA  FT/FTA  PF  TOV
                 87   46   12   12    5  29/71    5/20   24/37   22   13   

DNPs
Kyōgo Ueda, Shōya Kimura, Shin'ya Yamada

[Quebec and Shingoryeo]

Part 1 - Johanna and Ian
Part 2 - Saul and Paisley
Part 3 - Horace and Maybritt

Part 4 - The Father and the Daughter

Another week would pass for Team Quebec, as the Reapers carried on with their business in Ranoria. The festive atmosphere of New Quebec, a city that was conveniently named after the land of their Arrosian colonisers many centuries ago, had worked out nicely for all parties concerned so far into the tournament. Their second game of the tournament against a hapless Sardinia–Sicilia squad that's just happy to be here competing was anything but close, as the Reapers started out to a 28–3 start in the first quarter en route to a 117–58 victory.

The victory, one that everybody had expected but not to the double score it would receive, was a comprehensive one with all twelve players on the matchday's list receiving no more than eighteen minutes and scoring over twelve points. On normal times this wouldn't have been the case, especially after a surprisingly close contest against Ko–oren to open their IBC–41 journey, but with the game starting out hot early and on no pace of slowing down both coaches Youngblood–Parker and Rawlyk saw no particular need to overload their players.

'Let's be honest, we don't expect this to happen every match and it shouldn't,' Ben Rawlyk said as he addressed the media after the end of the match. 'But in any scenario where everything goes this well, I'm sure we could afford to do that. But we'll be back to square one after the bye and not playing nobody for fools.'

The subsequent bye went by quickly, as extended practice sessions followed. With the prevalence of nightlife in the area, especially with how late everything had started compared to rest of the country, most of the sessions were held in the afternoon and evening before the players would head out to Le Xenith or other nightclubs in the city, or stayed comfortably in their hotel.

Those sessions, of course, were both public. With the nature of Team Quebec's extended roster, which is where they would announce twelve players for the gameday roster, this was something that the Reapers had worried relatively less about. The attitude, to let the others challenge on their own merit, wasn't an easy one unless the machine was working, but the neverending substitutions they had faciliated to create stylistic and even size based mismatches were proven enough with their threepeat run at this point in time that nobody had raised the issue with the public nature of the practices they held.

This, of course, meant that hundreds if not thousands would be watching. One of them happened to be an elderly man in his seventy-ninth year, as the ever-chronicled Dr. Heo Dong-Soo watched the Reapers run another five on five scrimmage to close out the day. This wasn't something that he was unfamiliar with as he too was decades ago a parent to a Grim Reapers player in middle of their Silver Generation of talent - the Reapers hadn't changed much in their stylistic approach to the game. They had the same extended rosters to run, the instability on coaching staff to handle, and media attention to follow, with sole exception being that they have now climbed the top of the mountain. Not once, not twice, but five teams with two olympic golds and the IBC threepeat, and their names were remembered even as their iconic two towers, point guard Heo Myeong-Yoon and small forward Hazel Hanson-Conavacio, was only etched into the wall thanks to the gold secured on the home court of Twin Cities.

Days go by but the same ole reigns here, was what's on his mind, as he waited for his daughter, Myeong-Yoon, to come out of brief congregation with her friends and their family downstairs. At age seventy-nine, he was well beyond the age to worry about his kids. His son, Myeong-Shin, was a hall-of-fame third baseman with a brilliant career of his own with Kingston Tigers and Concord Heights Royals, and his managerial career with the Saint John Green Sox, Hanbat Eagles and nowadays Saguenay Lions, had meant that he was unable to fly abroad to join his family while midseason. His daughter, Myeong-Yoon, too was busy, not because of basketball but because she was occupied running Perce Town, a Q-League team her and his son-in-law, Rico Sierra, owned. As a professor emeritus, he knew choices had to be made for his children when it comes to their own children and spouses, and didn't say much about that unless offered advice.

But then the life kept calling him back, even as he tried his best. His retirement from Université St. Croix, Royal Archives of Shingoryeo and the Chunchugwan Institute of History had meant no change to his usual schedule. If anything, his workload had grown because of his duty as the Lord President of the Shingoryeoite Privy Council, which met bimonthly and held significant power between the Shingoryeoite Crown and the Parliament, as well as his increased capacity advising Christine II in past year or two.

The issues that had come up in the past half-decade had mostly involved that of Alexandre VI, the Prince of Abitibi, as well as Prince Laurent V, the youngest brother of Christine II. The joint nature of those two cases, of course, made the affair complicated and bipartisan in nature. It was, on one hand, complicated enough with Christine II's famous disliking of the bride-to-be's mother, Eileen de Ramaut [better known as Plongeon], but the Queen seemed to have accepted the inevitable in the memory of her late friend, Lord Lundrigan.

But what complicated was the wishes of late Jacques IX, who had left on his words to those present, which had included the Queen, the Queen Mother Elisabeth, and his longtime colleague and friend, former Prime Minister Kim Seung-Yin, Christine II had blocked the petition for Laurent's remarriage to Erina Roberge, an indiepop singer-turned-socialite, for 36 years. Part of this had come from their disagreements over the sudden nature of remarriage after his first wife's tragic passing, but also involved orders of succession that Jacques IX hoped would only be addressed after the future Prince of Abitibi [meaning Alexandre, born two years after the passing] would be married in the altars of Sandringham Abbey.

Eventually the time had come for the general understanding that the long wish be granted, but now came the legal roadblocks. The nature of Laurent's three-decade-long affair, by which point their children would become parents on their own right, required the Privy Council and the Prime Minister, Lucien Azagury-Zovaco, to address the procedure on their interpretation Royal Marriages and Divine Assent Act of 1678. It would take a year, and only a week after the previous month's royal wedding, were the petition finally approved.

All of this, in any case, had left Dr. Heo felt relevant and yet awkward. Being a man of progressive thinking, but more importantly implementations, he had helped great many without flicking his finger. All of the Moogoongwha, the PJLQ and even the Front Populaire de Shingoryeo [ex-NPD] had asked him for advice behind the scenes, and he was able to present options and insight in ways that would benefit them. But those words may or may not have had consequences too, and with him watching his children's friends, both Pinson and Lundrigan, pass under tragic circumstances that seldom involved politics, he felt powerless by how much and how little can be done by him the same time.

'Feels like a villain, don't you?' Myeong-Yoon arrived from downstairs, as she brought two cups of coffee out for both of them. 'You know, dad, we could all tell that you don't really embrace it.'

His daughter, who stood six-two and appeared even taller with a neatly-dressed suit, reminded him of his late wife, who had the same straw-coloured hair as his children, lately. 'Surely I do,' Dr. Heo answered back, as he picked up his cup that was warm enough. 'But somebody has to play that role. I just happen to have done it lot more times than others.'

'You know, I've come to understand you a bit more now that Armando and Sergio have grown,' Myeong-Yoon nodded. 'You always want the kids to do well, and avoid whatever tragedy that waits.' She then briefly waited, before resuming. 'Thirty years certainly feel like eternity, especially without mum, isn't it?'

'Always,' Dr. Heo agreed, before connecting the dots. 'You know, I'm not worried about Rico or Naomi, both my in-laws have done brilliantly for themselves, nor am I worried about Gyeong-Wan, your cousin. I'm more worried about her.'

'The princess?' Of course, Myeong-Yoon's question could have referred to Christine II, whom he had taught in his earliest years at St. Croix, or Claire Lundrigan. Even Queen Mother, the Petrogradian Grand Duke's who had relied surprisingly a lot for advice from time to time, would have worked. The daughter had seen him work with four generations with royalty before, and while she had not come to feel fond of the Queen due to their personality conflicts, she understood why her father still advised for them and at the Privy Council.

'Who else,' he answered. 'It took me decades for her to accept Eileen, even if the Queen would never admit. She knows neither her nor the poor girl's not at fault, like how I don't want you to think of my steps and think of Maureen.' This, of course, was a reference to his own career-ending injury. He had obtained it while driving en route to Maureen's birthday when he was 22. While he had survived the car crash and he would reconnect with his future wife, his highly-promising fencing career too would come to an end.

'No, I do not blame nobody, at least I'm not the Queen', Myeong-Yoon nodded again in agreement. 'But I do miss him as much as she does.'

[Ranoria]

Note - corrected East Lithuania's spelling in the xkor on the last match, that's why there were ten entrants there - I'll have that fixed here.

CUTOFF for MD5! Here's some highlights if you need some inspiration (or just appreciate Larry Bird).

Tomorrow is OFF for National Chocolate Cake Day


Group 1: Apollotown
North Oharan Valley Union 71–63 Foden
Abanhfleft 78–81 Juvencus
Banija 76–56 Panay Islands and Guimaras
Maraonia 68–85 Of the Golden Harp

   Group 1: Apollotown           Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD 
 1 Panay Islands and Guimaras      5   4  1  422 362 +60
 2 Juvencus                        4   4  0  312 276 +36
 3 Of the Golden Harp              5   4  1  402 378 +24
 4 North Oharan Valley Union       5   2  3  355 382 −27
 5 Maraonia                        4   2  2  305 319 −14
 6 Banija                          4   2  2  303 287 +16
 7 Abanhfleft                      5   1  4  383 402 −19
 8 Ralsalin                        4   1  3  306 345 −39
 9 Foden                           4   0  4  260 297 −37

Group 2: Ranoria City
Natkr 95–82 Vaishnavaria
The 189 77–72 Oclea
Southwest Eastnorth 57–103 Sarzonia
New Rotterdam City 66–107 Valentine Z

   Group 2: Ranoria City         Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD 
 1 Sarzonia                        5   5  0  429 289 +140
 2 Valentine Z                     5   5  0  470 339 +131
 3 Southwest Eastnorth             4   2  2  293 329 −36
 4 Vaishnavaria                    4   2  2  325 327  −2
 5 The 189                         5   2  3  367 393 −26
 6 Oclea                           4   2  2  314 331 −17
 7 New Rotterdam City              4   1  3  287 342 −55
 8 Natkr                           5   1  4  372 456 −84
 9 Delaclava                       4   0  4  259 310 −51

Group 3: Memphis
Cardenao 76–61 Dacarbatia
Valanora 94–83 Aphrilia
Lisander 79–94 Equestria
Jeckland 61–67 Nightralia

   Group 3: Memphis              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD 
 1 Valanora                        5   5  0  446 349 +97
 2 New Umoja                       4   4  0  330 269 +61
 3 Cardenao                        5   4  1  399 355 +44
 4 Equestria                       5   2  3  413 405  +8
 5 Nightralia                      5   2  3  351 385 −34
 6 Dacarbatia                      4   1  3  260 326 −66
 7 Aphrilia                        4   1  3  290 307 −17
 8 Lisander                        4   1  3  296 339 −43
 9 Jeckland                        4   0  4  276 326 −50

Group 4: New Quebec
Zuwabia 67–84 Quebec and Shingoryeo
Crpostran 90–103 Sardina-Sicily
Aurevbush 60–88 Ko-oren
Gatchingerrak Union 75–95 Delitai

   Group 4: New Quebec           Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD 
 1 Quebec and Shingoryeo           4   4  0  390 276 +114
 2 Crpostran                       5   3  2  405 432 −27
 3 Ko-oren                         5   3  2  427 366 +61
 4 Delitai                         5   3  2  419 363 +56
 5 Zuwabia                         5   2  3  360 391 −31
 6 Aurevbush                       4   2  2  296 295  +1
 7 Sardina-Sicily                  4   2  2  333 375 −42
 8 Gatchingerrak Union             4   1  3  293 318 −25
 9 All-American Confederacy        4   0  4  285 392 −107

Group 5: Fiston
Britonisea 69–91 East Lithuania
Kamijiro 66–90 United States of Nova Calania
Kronbia 74–84 Delata
Safiloa 75–79 Drawkland

   Group 5: Fiston               Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD 
 1 Drawkland                       5   5  0  408 372 +36
 2 United States of Nova Calania   4   3  1  303 302  +1
 3 East Lithuania                  4   3  1  314 280 +34
 4 Kamijiro                        5   3  2  416 394 +22
 5 TJUN-ia                         4   2  2  322 279 +43
 6 Britonisea                      5   2  3  365 368  −3
 7 Safiloa                         4   1  3  269 294 −25
 8 Delata                          5   1  4  363 407 −44
 9 Kronbia                         4   0  4  295 359 −64

[Panay Islands and Guimaras]

---

LOSING STREAK ENDED BY A SIMILAR FOE WITH PROBLEMS
Apollotown, Ranoria

La Banda del 98 made their way again to the arena where they would play against a similar foe in the Island 5's debut, Banija. As we say in Panay, "Un viejo confiable". Would the Panayenses end their Banijan nightmares? Or a win against the Island 5 would be the hope of the Lions? And the Banijans did it without no hesitation, bringing back the Island 5's nightmares from their debut in IBC 40. Where a Banijan player scored some 28 points against Mejía's speed and Hiejima's reactive skills. Maybe Andolong's lineup was a failure after all. But the only thing that the Island 5 loves, is the La Banda del 98 still partying the whole Apollotown with some Latin American instruments, and a moshpit of course. Even though the Banijans wanting to "silence them", LB98 still says that they will never shut up until it's over. "I guess I regret my decision to change our starters.", says Andolong. "But still, I gave chance to the forward ones. Even though we lost. And, I'll bring back the usual starting 5." "They may break our hearts, but they will never take our soul for our team!", says a traveling Panayense fan. "You're going to meet your fate if you face us, you little cats! You can't fuck with us! Long live the Islands, bitch!" The growing hate on Banija by the LB98 became stronger and stronger, developing a new rivalry for the Panayenses. Then they would play against Maraonia, would the Island 5 go back to their winning ways?

[Sarzonia]

And on the seventh day, He brought the team chocolate cake.

Sarzonia's national basketball team have been playing dominant basketball to open the 41st edition of the International Basketball Championships. They continued that by demolishing Southwest Eastnorth by a final score of 103-57.

The big news coming out of that match was DJ Henry playing his first minutes since his knee injury during Matchday Two. He logged 14 minutes of playing time, scoring four points, grabbing three rebounds and blocking a shot. Manager Kyle Trenton said Henry told him he was ready to go, but Trenton decided to keep Henry on a "pitch count" with the day off for National Chocolate Cake Day coming up and another match against an unranked foe, New Rotterdam City in the offing.

"I figured after a couple of games where Deej wasn't playing that he'd need some time to get acclimated back to the pace of the IBC," Trenton said. "There's no benefit in rushing him into the starting five and risk aggravating his injury or having him get a worse one."

Trenton said Henry would also be on a pitch count against New Rotterdam City, but he expected to start the burly centre against Valentine Z.

"That's our main focus," he said. "To get ready for the top seeds in our group, and a team that's been a rival of ours for a while now. But for today, I figure we needed a little bit of levity to break up the monotony of a long tournament."

The morning began with the team gathered in their seats expecting to see a narrated video of the team's matchup against Southwest Eastnorth and notes for the contest against New Rotterdam City. Instead, there was a narrated video about the chocolate spice cake recipe the bakery Trenton hired to bake several such cakes for his players.

"We're going to take the day off to just relax," he said. "We'll meet up later today to go over some notes about New Rotterdam City," he said. And I'll have my "trap-match" speech ready he thought. "But for right now, we can afford to take a day off to assess."

And where Sarzonia are right now is in great shape. After five matches, only groupmates Valentine Z (470) and Group 3's Valanora (446) have scored more points than Sarzonia's 429. However, where the Stars set themselves apart is the defence, which has only conceded 289 points in five matches, an average of 57.8 points per match allowed. Currently, all the other teams in the IBC that have conceded fewer than 300 points have only played four matches. Sarzonia's plus-140 point differential currently leads the tournament.

Trenton said he wasn't taking his foot off the gas despite the day off.

"We know it's a grind," he said. "I'll be pushing these players hard for the Valentine Z match, and in the knockouts. I figure they'll be better prepared for the grind ahead if I pick my spots for when I push them and when I don't."

[Of the Golden Harp]

Incredible performances from the Golden Harpian team in their first basketball championship, starting 4-1. Labrhas has dominated the middle with 27 points in the 85-68 win against Maraonia along with 11 blocks so far in the campaign. O'Laoghaire has put up an incredible performance this campaign, especially with being just 16 years old, 8 points a game for him as a backup. Angus Forester has been unstoppable with 17 points per game and he has only missed one pass so far. Solid performances from Hughes and Harrison have helped greatly in getting good opportunities to Labrhas who has dominated with 30 points a game. The centers and forwards put up most of the shots with excellent passing from the guards. Catgoucaunson is showing great progress along with Sherburn.
Points against Maraonia
Harrison: 4
Hughes 3
Underwood: 7
Forester: 25
Labrhas:27
Bench: 19

[TJUN-ia]

After our opening day defeat, the Hoops-Jaguars of TJUN-ia had managed a good bounce-back, taking down a UR and #64 to move to 2-1 in Group 6 here in Fiston, Ranoria. Bao Zhou was happy with how things were going, the sun felt like it was starting to shine again and TJUN-ia felt like this team could do something later down the line. Then it changed. Because we played East Lithuania.

The Commoners, as they like to be called, entered this contest 1-1 in their debut IBC and while they had certainly done well for themselves so far, we were expected to get the dub before our bye...but that didn't happen at all. Sometimes, the basketball gods can pull the rug from under you out of nowhere and that is exactly what happened the moment that ball was tipped. The moment we started trading you felt that's something might be off, but you can't be 100% certain. Then Tony Soprano and Nadya Vincas started poping off and from that moment on, we were simply not good enough. I know that as the top seed, pressure can certainly get to you, but to fall 73-68 to an unranked team? Fair play to East Lithuania, they deserve the win, but we simply were not good enough.

Four down, four to go and while some have played more than ourselves, the fact is we are currently 5th with three Top 35 teams still left on the schedule. Britonisea will be after this extended break. GO HOOPS-JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group 5, all games @The Lion's Den, Fiston, Ranoria)
MD1: vs Drawkland (11) L 71-73 (5th/0-1)
MD2: vs Delata (UR) W 84-70 (4th/1-1)
MD3: vs United States of Nova Calania (64) W 99-70 (2nd/2-1)
----------------Break----------------
MD4: vs East Lithuania (UR) L 68-73 (3rd/2-2)
MD5: BYE (5th/2-2)
----------------Break----------------
MD6: vs Britonisea (18)
MD7: vs Kamijiro (32)
----------------Break----------------
MD8: vs Kronbia (25)
MD9: vs Safiloa (UR)

[East Lithuania]

East Lithuania 3rd In Group 5 Halfway Through!

The second game day of the second leg concluded last night, setting up another one day break as Ranoria prepares to celebrate National Chocolate Cake Day before another two action packed days of basketball commence again. With Game Day 5 now complete, the whole field has now played at least half of their games and the fun stage of speculation, prediction and expectation commences as the fans and commentators alike eye the table a little closer than before. The people of East Lithuania were not expecting to find the table of any interest before their team took off from Invictus, the tool itself only useful for those who care where each team falls within it. With the hope of a single victory being all the expectation anyone could muster, all looking at the win and loss column would do would highlight the pathetic nature of that goal at all. Now, however, East Lithuanians will be buying out their own communes worth of chocolate cake in celebration as they get the tables delivered today; even with the thought of sneaking another win over a ranked opponent became easier to swallow, absolutely no person would ever expected the score that they did it by. East Lithuania: 91 - Britonisea: 69.

From the opening tip off, East Lithuania dictated the tempo of the match with precision shooting and becoming a black hole in the paint. Gary Kirby and Mikel Prost combined for 15-of-16 from behind the three point line, while Sa Bunn, Derby Doyle and Mark Looper all got a double-double with solid rebound work on both sides of the floor. Britonisea's offense was just effective enough in the first half to keep the game interesting, even trading the lead back and forth with three minutes to play in the second; by the time the third quarter reached the same point it had completely spun out of control. A small lineup of Vincas, Kirby, Prost, Prost, Bunn proved far more effective than even the Commoners could have predicted as a 25-0 run followed shortly thereafter; Vincas' quick hands either swiped the guard at half court or put enough pressure on to force a quick pass, the Prost brothers jumping on and either forcing the turnover or another rushed pass that would be picked off and chucked down to a sprinting Kirby. By the time Britonisea had found a workaround, the game was over in all but official senses, East Lithuania running their third string by the eight minute mark and simply holding shape until the buzzer sounded.

"Certainly better than we could have hoped for," head coach Eishesh Ivana spoke plainly after the game. "We saw where the best route of attack was and didn't let up. Solid effort by the team, good to know everyone got some time on the court in this one. With us being in a qualifying spot halfway through, all we can do is put our heads down and navigate this new road as best we can. We've shown so far we're on a far better track than even we give ourselves credit for."

"Everyone played a key part and the scoreline reflected it," spoke captain Sa Bunn after the game. "We've been keeping our defense tight and taking advantage of our possession, this game was our chance to spread our wings and fly a bit. All we can do is keep doing just that."

Following National Chocolate Cake Day, the second half of the group stages begins in earnest. East Lithuania's remaining schedule bookends it's most difficult challenges; Kamijiro is next on the schedule, who faced a horrific 90-66 defeat to Nova Calania that set themselves back to fourth in the group. If East Lithuania plays with the same intensity and precision as they showed today, it cannot exactly be written off that it's possible to sneak a win out of this as well. However, it's fair to say Ivana and Rumplestiltskin would kill us if they caught their players reading this; Kamijiro is a ranked team, and one that has been making the tabloids with stories of late night partying and wild last minute rides to the Lion's Den. While this outlet will certainly not hold any of these claims as true for the time being, if they are, last night's beat down will certainly do wonders and ending those stories quickly. For East Lithuania, the mission is clear; stay the course and make these teams beat them. It's been surprisingly difficult for many in this group to do so.

[Aphrilia]

IT'S THE THIRD, AND PLAYOFFS DRAW!
Well, time really seems to pass much more quickly than you think, huh?

Well, I think you should know the drill by now. Last post, I covered the NABL when it was two third through the Regular Season. Now that this is the fourth pot I've made covering the NABL's debut season, we'll be covering the final third of it as well as information about as the Pot Allocation and the Playoff Draw! Here's the final table of the NABL Regular Season:

-- CORMORANT DIVISION              Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD 
 1 Winx City Skynets                33   23  10  2673 2310 +363
 2 Shelldaze Storm                  33   21  12  2382 2257 +125
 3 Gallatyne Executioners           33   21  12  2517 2482  +35
 4 Billingham Bankers               33   20  13  2570 2384 +186
 5 Massawitch Curse                 33   20  13  2608 2485 +123
 6 Lange Peak Skeeters              33   20  13  2535 2467  +68
 7 Cheval Knights                   33   17  16  2475 2505  −30
 8 Stallend Wallers                 33   14  19  2514 2556  −42
 9 Crownford Frontrunners           33   12  21  2365 2529 −164
10 Vestal Hope                      33   12  21  2369 2553 −184
11 Indy Coast Pirates               33   10  23  2436 2579 −143
12 Myrtle Flagbearers               33    8  25  2357 2694 −337

-- ADELLIA DIVISION                Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD 
 1 Halifax Glacial                  21   14   7  1677 1522 +155
 2 Luther Kingpins                  21   14   7  1644 1511 +133
 3 Ashford Rangers                  21   14   7  1641 1519 +122
 4 Blackgem City Conquerors         21   10  11  1547 1527  +20
 5 Trosspine Galeforce              21   10  11  1516 1538  −22
 6 Darlingtown Blaze                21    8  13  1546 1585  −39
 7 Northfolk Pine                   21    8  13  1518 1642 −124
 8 Luther Goths                     21    6  15  1498 1743 −245

-- HELLASTIA DIVISION              Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD 
 1 Pallas City Angels               21   15   6  1568 1426 +142
 2 Tekkomura Steelers               21   14   7  1657 1458 +199
 3 Clouding Quintet                 21   13   8  1586 1437 +149
 4 Koffdif Landsknechts             21    9  12  1600 1561  +39
 5 Khoi Dau Revolution              21    9  12  1539 1650 −111
 6 Icazzeta Muskets                 21    9  12  1510 1640 −130
 7 Arterskye Waves                  21    8  13  1552 1661 −109
 8 Firewatch Highlanders            21    7  14  1537 1716 −179

Looking at the tables, you can tell who's through and who's eliminated. But I'll cover the Divisions anyway.

First of all, of course, is the Cormorant Division. The Skynets end up winning the battle for the Cormorant Division Regular Season title, with the Bankers falling off a bit and runners-up Storm performing well in the final third of the Regular Season. The Hope and Frontrunners tie in terms of games won, but the former have a worse Points Differential and thereby are eliminated. But I am personally quite happy to see that at least the Pirates had performed well in the final third of the season considering that through the early and middle half of it, they have been horrendous to say the least. And man The Skeeters kind of fell off, but considering they're in the Playoffs as well, we'll see.

CORMORANT QUALIFIED: Skynets, Storm, Executioners, Bankers, Curse, Skeeters, Knights, Wallers

Up next we have the Adellia Division, and it has been quite competitive. The Top 3 is tied in terms of wins and losses, as well the the 4th-5th and 6th-7th placed teams. They've now proven that they were the most competitive Division (You'll see later). The Glacial are in first, whilst the Kingpins are second, and the Rangers third. In the end, it was the Conquerors and Galeforce that ended up fighting for that fourth playoff slot from this Division, but twenty points scored separate them and the latter were eliminated due to Points Differential. Meanwhile, the Goths scored the worst PF and PA out of every Adellia and Hellastia Division team. They really need improvements.

ADELLIA QUALIFIED: Glacial, Kingpin, Rangers, Conquerors

And lastly, the Hellastia Division. Oh boy I was really right when I said that the fourth slot would be the heavily contested one. And I was also right in that the Top Three would seal their spots in the Playoffs. The Angels win the Division outright despite being worse in PD compared to the Steelers and even third placed Quintet. But it's that fourth slot that ended up being quite hectic to say the least. The Landsknechts, Revolution, and Muskets ended up all going 9-12, but the former was the only one to end up with a positive PD and thus eliminating the latter two. This is quite the shocker considering the Landsknechts were as low as 7th two thirds way into the Regular Season. Sports can really be surprising eh.

HELLASTIA QUALIFIED: Angels, Steelers, Quintet, Landsknechts

Those are all the teams that have qualified. But now, let's see the Pot Allocation of the teams! The Pot Allocation is the official name for drawing up the Pots before making the Playoff draw. Tiebreakers for this are of course, Points Differential then Points Scored. Without further ado, here is the results of the first ever Pot Allocation!

-- TEAM NAME               Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD DIV POS
 1 Winx City Skynets        33   23  10  2673 2310 +363 CRM 1st
 2 Tekkomura Steelers       21   14   7  1657 1458 +199 HLA 2nd
 3 Billingham Bankers       33   20  13  2570 2384 +186 CRM 4th
 4 Halifax Glacial          21   14   7  1677 1522 +155 ADL 1st
 5 Clouding Quintet         21   13   8  1586 1437 +149 HLA 3rd
 6 Pallas City Angels       21   15   6  1568 1426 +142 HLA 1st
 7 Luther Kingpins          21   14   7  1644 1511 +133 ADL 2nd
 8 Shelldaze Storm          33   21  12  2382 2257 +125 CRM 2nd
 9 Massawitch Curse         33   20  13  2608 2485 +123 CRM 5th
10 Ashford Rangers          21   14   7  1641 1519 +122 ADL 3rd
11 Lange Peak Skeeters      33   20  13  2535 2467  +68 CRM 6th
12 Koffdif Landsknechts     21    9  12  1600 1561  +39 HLA 4th
13 Gallatyne Executioners   33   21  12  2517 2482  +35 CRM 3rd
14 Blackgem City Conquerors 21   10  11  1547 1527  +20 ADL 4th
15 Cheval Knights           33   17  16  2475 2505  −30 CRM 7th
16 Stallend Wallers         33   14  19  2514 2556  −42 CRM 8th

POT 1: Winx City Skynets, Tekkomura Steelers, Billingham Bankers, Halifax Glacial
POT 2: Clouding Quintet, Pallas City Angels, Luther Kingpins, Shelldaze Storm
POT 3: Massawitch Curse, Ashford Rangers, Lange Peak Skeeters, Koffdif Landsknechts
POT 4: Gallatyne Executioners, Blackgem City Conquerors, Cheval Knights, Stallend Wallers

The Pot Allocation, and because of that the Playoff Draw disregards which Division each team was in to make sure that actually making the draw is even possible in the first place. This gives the potential for teams from the same Division to face off against each other straight in the Round of Sixteen. And also, perhaps it's best to explain how the Playoff Rounds work. Each series will be a Best of Five, with the Final Series being a standard Best of Seven. With that bit of information now disclosed, here is the official draw for the NABL's Round of Sixteen! See you all after the games have been played out and the Quarterfinal Rounds confirmed!

ROUND OF 16
M1 Halifax Glacial v Blackgem City Conquerors
M2 Clouding Quintet v Ashford Rangers
M3 Winx City Skynets v Gallatyne Executioners
M4 Pallas City Angels v Koffdif Landsknechts
M5 Tekkomura Steelers v Cheval Knights
M6 Luther Kingpins v Lange Peak Skeeters
M7 Billingham Bankers v Stallend Wallers
M8 Shelldaze Storm v Massawitch Curse

QUARTERFINALS
Winner of M1 v Winner of M2
Winner of M3 v Winner of M4
Winner of M5 v Winner of M6
Winner of M7 v Winner of M8

[Ko-oren]

Part II

The southeast of the main island of Ko-oren has perhaps our greatest national parks: the Amandinorens - the lands of the Amandine. Unique in that they consist largely of wetlands yet they lie higher than the surrounding land. For some reason, water doesn't seem to adhere to basic physics while confined in the 'bowl' that this unique area has formed in. As a massive basin, plenty of rare animals have taken refuge.

Four rivers spring from the national parks, two to the north and two to the south, and the sides couldn't be more different. On the south side, the rivers were (and are) used to transport rocks, ore, and minerals from quarries and mines down to the coast, through two cities that were once economic marvels but have fallen on very, very tough times. Serekhan and Berelkhanaur, the Stone Cities. The rivers on the north supply clean water to Ethuweri, Gehenohn, and other towns that are popular (and expensive!) spots for their excellent weather and easy living, and where the Amahne elite is often found on their holidays. Two classes divided.

As for what's there to do in the Amandinorens, it has been divided into accessible areas and protected areas. The accessible parts have a lot of spots for observing birds, deer, reptiles and amphibians, as well as a lot of campsites, hikes, a few boardwalks near the visitor centres, and a lot of educational setups. On the outskirts there's the Zhaneht botanical gardens, who do a lot of work in assessing and protecting the protected parts of the parks. In the northeast you find the Abihlon Observatory, placed there as it's the highest part of the region, with little light pollution coming from the parks. It has since lost its relevance to the northeastern installations, but it's still a great day out. In the southeast, you'll find Lijan Zoo, which does a lot for the fauna of the parks.

It's a bit of a rite of passage for school children to make a trip to the parks, so no matter when you plan to make your visit, you'll find some buses from schools all over the place.

[New Umoja]

Stats after 4 games:

No stats recorded on chocolate cake consumption :(

[Drawkland]

It was a little too close against Safiloa. The Net Corps defense was a little too leaky against an unranked squad with only one win on their record so far, but the Corps had been somehow thriving in close games in three out of their previous four matchups. A last-second shot to beat TJUN-ia. A couple clutch baskets to pull away in the last minute against Britonisea. A clutch go-ahead shot and defensive stand against Kamijiro. It wasn't until their last game against Kronbia that they managed to win by comfortable double digits. When this match against Safiloa came down to the wire, the Net Corps seemed perfectly ready to tackle the challenge. With 90 seconds left in the game, the score was just 71-75 in Drawkland's favor. The two-possession lead was nice, but that was more than enough time to let it slip through the fingers.

Despite the pressure-packed situation, Corps head coach Domingo Abbott was still tinkering with the Corps lineup. The typical duo of Natalie Endgard and Catalina Daywasson were not present even though Drawkland's currently undefeated record was on the line. "Nat and Cat" had already played a lot of minutes, especially tonight, and were gassed. Instead, Basil Thorne and outside defensive specialist Quinn Flowers were on the floor. The complaint throughout Vince Donaldson's head coaching tenure was rooted in the apparent lack of depth on the Net Corps roster. Even with a relatively similar group of players, Abbott was challenging that notion. Maybe the lack of impact from the Corps bench wasn't rooted in their apparently suboptimal skill level, but in a reluctance from Donaldson to actually deploy them when it mattered.

Of course, most of this subtlety was completely lost on Basil Thorne. He was far and away the youngest player on the team, after all. Every other player had a much better grasp on the tactical side of things in addition to their experience. For the most part, if Basil got the ball in an open spot, he'd just pull up and take the shot. He didn't feel like it was his job to direct or redirect the offense. If Basil was more introspective, he might've considered the fact that this was a subconscious lack of confidence in his game knowledge undermining his performance. His brain wasn't able to focus on something that meta, though. It just resorted to the simplest operation. Get ball? If open, shoot. If not open, move a bit. If now open, shoot. If still covered, pass to nearest teammate.

Though Basil didn't have a ton of minutes on the floor this tournament, his very basic playstyle had absolutely been noticed by their opponents on film. He had a tendency to move to the perimeter rather than the paint if he didn't have a clean shot, since he felt more comfortable taking shots from deep rather than cutting into traffic. Similarly, he was more likely to pass laterally or towards the outside if he couldn't shake loose. Safiloa weren't as thorough in their preparation as some of the ranked teams were, but even they'd picked up on the pattern. In the three times Basil got the ball in his 4th quarter appearance of this game, he'd been defended well: a contested shot that didn't land, a turnover, and a pass that just barely got to Ruth Cookson outside the arc.

A steal and a fastbreak ended in a Patrick Nevin layup which brought the score to the aforementioned 71-75. Safiloa's head coach called a timeout, and the Net Corps convened to figure out how to get through the home stretch without coughing up their lead. Despite his complete ineffectiveness over the last 3ish minutes, Abbott decided to keep Basil on the floor, at least until the next time out.

As the team broke from the huddle, Abbott tapped Basil on the shoulder to keep him back for a moment. "Basil, they're guessing your moves too easily. You need to challenge inside next time you get the ball."

"Okay coach," was all Basil said in response. There was no time to consider the implications of that feedback. He simply internalized it immediately.

Six points and sixty game seconds later, Basil got that chance. Safiloa had scored on both their possessions, but a shot just a toe inside the arc from Ruth Cookson to beat the shot clock kept Drawkland ahead. Following the second Safiloa field goal, the score was now 75-77, still in Drawkian favor. 77 points is a nice number to be at, but this was no time for memes. It was time to win a ballgame. With less than thirty seconds left, objective #1 was to drain the shot clock and leave barely any time for Safiloa to respond. Objective #2 was obviously to score to make a game-winning shot impossible. Only trailing by two, Safiloa didn't dare foul and allow Drawkland to take a nearly insurmountable lead for free. The Net Corps didn't have an exact play drawn up, but the Corps vets were moving the ball around effectively, routing mostly through Cookson on the perimeter. They were waiting for a weakness, a small gap to get the backbreaking points on the board.

Ruth Cookson suddenly spotted Basil Thorne getting a little room in the middle of the court. She tried to dish the ball to him on a bounce pass, but the throw was just a hair off. Basil had to lean to collect it and readjust, giving just enough time for his Safiloan defender to catch up. As soon as he got the ball, another Safiloan rushed up to double team him, and the defender on Cookson pressed closer to cut off the passback option. Basil didn't panic (scientists still aren't sure if it's possible for his body to feel that emotion), but as he started to dribble and slide laterally to try and get loose, something went off in his head. It wasn't a concrete thought, but simply a ping in his instincts that told his eyes to look elsewhere. Instead of looking outside to see if Cookson or maybe Flowers were open, he snuck a look inside. Basil saw the center Harry Casper wide open near the baseline, as his defender had rushed to double on Basil. The other defender was wrapped up with Nevin in the paint. Basil didn't consciously realize the shot clock was within 5 seconds, but he knew there was no time to waste. He suddenly broke in towards the key, catching the Safiloans on their heels, then zipped the ball to Casper. With plenty of space, Casper had the room to receive the pass, jump, and jam a nasty windmill dunk.

The Drawkian fans in Fiston lit up in excitement as Casper returned to the ground and flexed hard. He had a little extra time to celebrate, as Safiloa's head coach immediately called their last time out. With 4 seconds left and a 4 point deficit, their chances of a comeback were essentially impossible, but at least they'd have time to plan their last stand. Meanwhile, the Corps on the floor crowded around Casper, who skipped forward and clapped Basil hard on the shoulder.

"Good fuckin' look, kid!" Casper screamed into Basil's face as he slapped hands with his other teammates. "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

Abbott also congratulated Basil on the excellent assist play as the Corps huddled to discuss their final strategy. The all-defensive lineup of Earls, Nevin, Douglas, Flowers, and Moss were in just in case, but it was all fluff at that point. Safiloa got the ball down the court and in the air, but it bounced hard off the rim. By the time Quinn Flowers recovered the loose ball, the buzzer was sounding and the game was over. Drawkland was now 5-0, with their bye and two games against unranked opponents still to go. It was a still a bit early to talk about playoffs, but the odds were further in Net Corps favor than anybody expected them to be before the tournament.



After the typical postgame wind-down and merriment in the locker room, Domingo Abbott came in to address the team. The Corps were still jawing and milling about, but they quickly fell into attention as Abbott entered, applauding his team.

"I am so proud of this club," Abbott began with a grin. He shook his head to get some of his short curled hair out of his face. "You're all full of surprises." He took a special look at Basil when he said that, which Basil even noticed. "How does it feel to be 5 and 0?"

The team responded with a solid chorus of assent.

"Good, good." Abbott nodded, then put on a slightly more businesslike face. "We've got a rather lucky schedule these next couple days. Tomorrow is an off day for the tournament, as it's apparently a national holiday here in Ranoria. What is it, Gerald, cake day?"

"It's National Chocolate Cake Day," confirmed Gerald Madison, who was a former Net Corps member and IBC champion. He was the assistant coach in charge of scouting, new for this edition.

"Of course!" Abbott grinned again, chuckling along with some of the players. "We will be practicing tomorrow, but I'll be sure to get some chocolate cake in for us all. Even more advantageous, this coincides with our bye, which is the day after. Two days of rest in a tournament like this is a lot; we must remain sharp."

"I seem to remember you told us to keep our schedules clear for the bye day," Patrick Nevin, the team captain, spoke up. "Will we be practicing then as well?"

"No, I think we should enjoy that day off the court, especially since we're practicing tomorrow. However," Abbott added, "there will be a team event on that day. I think the bye day is an excellent opportunity for team unity. We will 'hit the town,' so to speak, together. It's important for us to not just be a collection of players, but a true team."

"Where will we be going?" Ruth Cookson asked after raising her hand and being acknowledged.

"I feel that it's best for the team to decide!" Abbott gestured towards the players as a whole. "It's your day, after all. I reserve the right to veto any ... unwholesome activities. Tonight, you all should look at what's going on in Fiston, and bring your recommendations in tomorrow. We can vote or otherwise decide what to do after practice is finished. How does that sound?"

The team responded with general agreement, some brightly spoken and others sarcastically muttered.

"Excellent!" Abbott gave a double thumbs-up, then launched into the rest of housekeeping. One way or another, he was going to build a culture better than what Donaldson had. If team performance in previous cycles was any indication, that wouldn't be too difficult.

Basil Thorne was mostly tuned in, but his mind did wander a bit to the bye day activity. He didn't really know what his teammates were going to suggest. He figured they were all city slickers with boring urban excursions in mind. Fiston did have some rural elements just outside of town, though. Basil heard about it when they were flying to Ranoria before the tournament. Maybe he could find some way to impart some real culture to his teammates.

"No harm in tryin', I s'pose," Basil murmured to himself.

Thorne I - II - III - IV / V - VI - VII - VIII - IX / X - XI / XII

[Quebec and Shingoryeo]

Part 1 - Johanna and Ian
Part 2 - Saul and Paisley
Part 3 - Horace and Maybritt
Part 4 - The Father and the Daughter

Part 5 - Hector and Jocelyn

'You seem particularly motivated to come out today, Hector,' Jocelyn Dalembert, the seasoned QBC reporter, spoke to Hector Marimuthu, as she put her microphone close to his face. Their height difference, with him standing at 190cm compared to her 172cm frame, was evident, with Jocelyn trying her best to not look too farcical with how far she pushed her left arm. 'Obviously nobody's so happy about the way the game had turned out, especially after an outstanding first half, but you had a strong performance at 16 points, 4 assists and 3 steals, to put you as the game's leading scorer and today's MVP. What are your thoughts?'

Could have gone better really, was what's on his mind, as Hector tried his best to restrain from saying words that would be taken negatively or in controversial manner. Been there done that, as they would say. Hector, being a Montevicio native, knew early about the ways in which journos or even 'insiders' would spill and spin things he would say, and with worsening tendencies over time. And while he would try his best to clarify and answer respectfully in past, he would eventually run out of patience and just resort to giving relatively short and even vague answers.

'Nobody wants to play poorly, that's for sure,' Hector answered. 'We've surely had better games and even halves so far in this tournament, and I'm sure that there is no other way to go about it. We can't stay complacent.'

'Thank you, Hector, it's certainly been an inspiring response coming from you, as the player of the game,' Jocelyn answered somewhat in a scripted manner. Both the Reapers' players and the audience back home knew she had this tendency to run with certain closers to a question before moving on. And while this had made Jocelyn a reliable commentator, there were also growing calls online such as Thredd.edu or Twit.tur to replace her from primary line of duty as the QBC Courtside Reporter for the IBC. 'With the match against All-American Confederacy now in the books, what's next on your plan for the day?'

Hector quickly wiped the sweat off his forehead, and looked back at Jocelyn, who was about a dosen years older than him. Not that he minded it - his previous engagement, one that would last four, full years before distance had drifted them apart, was to a woman thirteen years older than him. 'Well, with the game already finished, and this still being two in the afternoon - god bless afternoon games really - I have a clear idea as to what I want to do next.' He then drew a quick breath, before continuing. Sucks to lose a bet sometimes, but it's something that he, as a player, had to accept as a way of life. 'Jocelyn, are you free for dinner tonight? 730, at the Cafe de Flore on the 12th and Legrange.'

What in the world? Jocelyn thought inside, as she slowly nodded twice. Surely he ain't serious. That was an instant reaction she had received. Both men and women in the Arrosian country, to fit their flair and tendencies, have been hit on frequently and they would even transcend into the workplace to the point where this would become a working culture issue. Of course, in her case this happened to be the courtside.

Still, Hector's face didn't change, perhaps suggesting that he was being serious enough about it. So Jocelyn decided to give a quick answer, and maybe hear back from them. For what it's worth, there were only so many ways the players and the media professionals could get each other's phone numbers. 'Thanks for the enquiry, but I ain't expecting no other company, thank you,' she answered. 'Gotta be serious when you would ask on the television right? Is that right, ladies and gentlemen?'

The arena, to their surprise, answered with a roar of 'YES!'. There were still about 8,000 Quebecois fans in the attendance, many of them still in their face paint while carrying their vuvuzelas and trumpets.

'Well surely I will,' Hector answered, as he looked back at the camera with a grin. He then slowly dabbed to the camera, before winking back at Jocelyn. 'Ladies and gentlemen, follow me @HecOfMuthu on l'Instagramme for the livestream. Premium content at no cost. Very least I could promise!'

[Ranoria]

Note - corrected East Lithuania's spelling in the xkor on the last match, that's why there were ten entrants there - I'll have that fixed here.

CUTOFF for MD6! If not friend, why friend shaped?

Group 1: Apollotown
Panay Islands and Guimaras 68–78 Maraonia
Juvencus 65–90 Banija
Foden 80–59 Abanhfleft
Ralsalin 70–73 North Oharan Valley Union

   Group 1: Apollotown           Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD 
 1 Panay Islands and Guimaras      6   4  2  490 440 +50
 2 Of the Golden Harp              5   4  1  402 378 +24
 3 Juvencus                        5   4  1  377 366 +11
 4 North Oharan Valley Union       6   3  3  428 452 −24
 5 Maraonia                        5   3  2  383 387  −4
 6 Banija                          5   3  2  393 352 +41
 7 Ralsalin                        5   1  4  376 418 −42
 8 Foden                           5   1  4  340 356 −16
 9 Abanhfleft                      6   1  5  442 482 −40

Group 2: Ranoria City
Sarzonia 86–61 New Rotterdam City
Oclea 76–82 Southwest Eastnorth
Vaishnavaria 82–76 The 189
Delaclava 91–82 Natkr

   Group 2: Ranoria City         Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD 
 1 Sarzonia                        6   6  0  515 350 +165
 2 Valentine Z                     5   5  0  470 339 +131
 3 Vaishnavaria                    5   3  2  407 403  +4
 4 Southwest Eastnorth             5   3  2  375 405 −30
 5 The 189                         6   2  4  443 475 −32
 6 Oclea                           5   2  3  390 413 −23
 7 Delaclava                       5   1  4  350 392 −42
 8 New Rotterdam City              5   1  4  348 428 −80
 9 Natkr                           6   1  5  454 547 −93

Group 3: Memphis
Equestria 89–60 Jeckland
Aphrilia 78–73 Lisander
Dacarbatia 67–94 Valanora
New Umoja 92–74 Cardenao

   Group 3: Memphis              Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD 
 1 Valanora                        6   6  0  540 416 +124
 2 New Umoja                       5   5  0  422 343 +79
 3 Cardenao                        6   4  2  473 447 +26
 4 Equestria                       6   3  3  502 465 +37
 5 Aphrilia                        5   2  3  368 380 −12
 6 Nightralia                      5   2  3  351 385 −34
 7 Lisander                        5   1  4  369 417 −48
 8 Dacarbatia                      5   1  4  327 420 −93
 9 Jeckland                        5   0  5  336 415 −79

Group 4: New Quebec
Ko-oren 83–59 Gatchingerrak Union
Sardina-Sicily 65–83 Aurevbush
Quebec and Shingoryeo 82–64 Crpostran
All-American Confederacy 91–99 Zuwabia

   Group 4: New Quebec           Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD 
 1 Quebec and Shingoryeo           5   5  0  472 340 +132
 2 Ko-oren                         6   4  2  510 425 +85
 3 Aurevbush                       5   3  2  379 360 +19
 4 Crpostran                       6   3  3  469 514 −45
 5 Delitai                         5   3  2  419 363 +56
 6 Zuwabia                         6   3  3  459 482 −23
 7 Sardina-Sicily                  5   2  3  398 458 −60
 8 Gatchingerrak Union             5   1  4  352 401 −49
 9 All-American Confederacy        5   0  5  376 491 −115

Group 5: Fiston
Delata 65–76 Safiloa
United States of Nova Calania 75–79 Kronbia
East Lithuania 69–84 Kamijiro
TJUN-ia 85–75 Britonisea

   Group 5: Fiston               Pld   W  L   PF  PA  PD 
 1 Drawkland                       5   5  0  408 372 +36
 2 Kamijiro                        6   4  2  500 463 +37
 3 TJUN-ia                         5   3  2  407 354 +53
 4 United States of Nova Calania   5   3  2  378 381  −3
 5 East Lithuania                  5   3  2  383 364 +19
 6 Britonisea                      6   2  4  440 453 −13
 7 Safiloa                         5   2  3  345 359 −14
 8 Delata                          6   1  5  428 483 −55
 9 Kronbia                         5   1  4  374 434 −60

[East Lithuania]

East Lithuania Humbled In Defeat!

The East Lithuanian Commoners left the court of the Lion's Den last night with heads hung lower than they had been all tournament. While the 84-69 loss to Kamijiro was not something many would consider an embarrassment given the difference in experience and rank, the team that had been able to overcome TJUN-ia and Britonisea certainly looked like they were not happy with themselves in their performance. The supporters for East Lithuania cheered on throughout the game and applauded the teams efforts as they left, the players taking turns waving to them and holding their hands to their chests as a clear symbol of apology. Coaches Ivana and Rumplestiltskin did their best to corral the players into the locker room quickly, hoping not to give the press any more time than they had to capture East Lithuania's defeat in any more clearer detail.

East Lithuania kept things close through the first, the starting 5 matching the experienced Kamijiro side point for point for a while, before some key steals from the Night Roses put them ahead in the contest. Ivana's quick change to the fresh youth in the lineup, key in previous contests to keep their momentum, backfired for the first time in the tournament. Nadya Vincas could not find her way through the Kamijiro defense and her nerve broke too many times trying to lob prayers into the paint. These quick turnarounds only widened the gap for the Commoners, feeling themselves on the backfoot for the first time in this tournament. Kamijiro's young roster then simply turned on the accelerator and dared East Lithuania to keep up with them and the normally strong defense from the Commoners became easy pickings as the team began to fall apart. A fourth quarter effort from Gary Kirby brought East Lithuania into striking distance for a short while, but the clock had already run down enough for Kamijiro to hold and for East Lithuania to suffer it's second defeat in the tournament and dropping down to 5th in the table.

"I'm not going to harp on the loss itself," head coach Eishesh Ivana spoke after the game. "This was one of those games we knew we were going to have to be near perfect to win; we aso can't simply accept it either though. We've proven ourselves against competition of this caliber before, and the last loss we suffered was by five, not fifteen. If this is the thing that kicks into the next gear, so be it. We will not suffer a defeat like this again."

The next game up pitches East Lithuania against Kronbia, a team that must feel it is having a disappointing tournament yet made itself known against by taking it's first victory against Nova Calania. East Lithuania has to take the lessons it learned last night and put it to use, as while the table would show that the Commoners should have a very fair shot at victory, Kronbia's win over the other team to beat the Commoners should be proof enough not to take anything for granted. This team has proven it can, all that's left is for them to prove they should.

[Ko-oren]

Basketball
Season 5/29

*  KBL                                       Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD 
 1 Ferrovente Tazers                          47   39   8  3898 3490 +408 Elite Tier & Southeast Division Champion
 2 Senoren Diamonds                           47   38   9  3807 3438 +369 Elite Tier & Central Division Champion
 3 Gehrenna Lions                             47   37  10  3856 3491 +365 Elite Tier
 4 Miradela Silvers                           47   36  11  3858 3468 +390 Elite Tier
 5 Serramonte Castles                         47   32  15  3787 3559 +228 Elite Tier
 6 Montelo Snipers                            47   32  15  3886 3588 +298 Elite Tier
 7 Etouille Energie                           47   31  16  3861 3597 +264 Elite Tier
 8 Lunay Argonauts                            47   31  16  3665 3513 +152 Elite Tier
 9 Katashi Asahi                              47   31  16  3785 3574 +211 Premier Tier & East Division Champion
10 Greencaster Central                        47   31  16  3765 3605 +160 Premier Tier & West Division Champion
11 Idyllwild Circle                           47   31  16  3822 3652 +170 Premier Tier
12 Willowbourne Circle                        47   28  19  3756 3615 +141 Premier Tier
13 Couziers Centurions                        47   27  20  3836 3664 +172 Premier Tier
14 Mawrystwyth Municipal                      47   27  20  3721 3633  +88 Premier Tier
15 Schemerdrecht South                        47   26  21  3770 3689  +81 Premier Tier & North Division Champion
16 Arakura Tower                              47   26  21  3664 3533 +131 Premier Tier
17 Ouleux Sapphires                           47   26  21  3692 3629  +63 Challenge Tier
18 Maynard Municipal                          47   26  21  3714 3689  +25 Challenge Tier
19 Bruncester Stags                           47   25  22  3621 3672  −51 Challenge Tier
20 Willowbourne Centrals                      47   25  22  3743 3647  +96 Challenge Tier
21 Mayara Blues                               47   25  22  3756 3620 +136 Challenge Tier
22 Llandy Locals                              47   24  23  3665 3639  +26 Challenge Tier
23 Aonishi Castle                             47   24  23  3631 3786 −155 Challenge Tier
24 Maethoru Banshees                          47   24  23  3707 3569 +138 Challenge Tier
25 Sterrenwolde Eagles                        47   23  24  3623 3700  −77
26 Cirelbourne Spring Bloom                   47   23  24  3652 3605  +47
27 Ansonville City Athletic                   47   22  25  3785 3743  +42
28 Alara Heat Wave                            47   21  26  3557 3682 −125
29 Straudum Power                             47   21  26  3670 3811 −141
30 Launott Winter                             47   21  26  3628 3733 −105
31 Etouille Amandine                          47   21  26  3612 3711  −99
32 Schemerdrecht Scout                        47   20  27  3593 3646  −53
33 Anarcourt Railways                         47   20  27  3680 3735  −55
34 Vurusen Floramancers                       47   20  27  3562 3641  −79
35 Fronteiro de Surre Spartans                47   20  27  3604 3711 −107
36 Katashi Higure                             47   19  28  3592 3722 −130
37 Rozenvoorde Sharks                         47   19  28  3658 3765 −107
38 Teragaseki Tigers                          47   18  29  3660 3810 −150
39 Laringen Circle                            47   18  29  3657 3778 −121
40 Bruncester Sable Antelope                  47   16  31  3568 3849 −281
41 Cirelbourne Autumn Leaves                  47   16  31  3596 3787 −191
42 Furune Elephants                           47   16  31  3532 3862 −330
43 Aviansola Forest                           47   16  31  3508 3811 −303
44 Aubury Dynamos                             47   15  32  3476 3850 −374
45 Sterrenwolde Stedelingen                   47   12  35  3612 3769 −157
46 Eaglebury Athletic                         47   12  35  3593 3819 −226
47 Norille Five                               47   10  37  3512 3801 −289
48 Greencaster Citizens                       47    7  40  3493 3988 −495

*  Elite Tier                                Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD 
 1 Etouille Energie                            7    5   2   538  498  +40 Quarterfinals
 2 Senoren Diamonds                            7    5   2   535  522  +13 Quarterfinals
 3 Lunay Argonauts                             7    4   3   581  558  +23 Quarterfinals
 4 Gehrenna Lions                              7    4   3   603  589  +14 Quarterfinals
 5 Ferrovente Tazers                           7    4   3   552  548   +4 Round of 12
 6 Montelo Snipers                             7    3   4   497  504   −7 Round of 12
 7 Miradela Silvers                            7    2   5   524  555  −31 Round of 12
 8 Serramonte Castles                          7    1   6   503  559  −56 Play-in Round 2

   Premier Tier                              Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD 
 1 Katashi Asahi                               7    5   2   561  517  +44 Round of 12
 2 Couziers Centurions                         7    4   3   551  537  +14 Round of 12
 3 Idyllwild Circle                            7    4   3   551  508  +43 Round of 12
 4 Schemerdrecht South                         7    4   3   563  580  −17 Play-in Round 2
 5 Mawrystwyth Municipal                       7    3   4   555  579  −24 Play-in Round 1
 6 Greencaster Central                         7    3   4   548  568  −20 Play-in Round 1
 7 Willowbourne Circle                         7    3   4   554  577  −23
 8 Arakura Tower                               7    2   5   535  552  −17

   Challenge Tier                            Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD 
 1 Maynard Municipal                           7    6   1   576  560  +16 Round of 12
 2 Maethoru Banshees                           7    4   3   547  529  +18 Play-in Round 1
 3 Willowbourne Centrals                       7    4   3   573  554  +19 Play-in Round 1
 4 Ouleux Sapphires                            7    4   3   570  534  +36
 5 Bruncester Stags                            7    3   4   546  568  −22
 6 Mayara Blues                                7    3   4   548  551   −3
 7 Llandy Locals                               7    3   4   531  558  −27
 8 Aonishi Castle                              7    1   6   536  573  −37

Play-in Round 1
Mawrystwyth Municipal (1West) 89–66 Willowbourne Centrals (1West)
Greencaster Central (1West) 64–86 Maethoru Banshees (1Central)

Play-in Round 2
Serramonte Castles (1Southeast) 85–77 Maethoru Banshees (1Central)
Schemerdrecht South (1North) 81–76 Mawrystwyth Municipal (1West)

Play-in Final
Serramonte Castles (1Southeast) 84–68 Schemerdrecht South (1North)

Round of 12
Ferrovente Tazers (1Southeast) 79–75 Serramonte Castles (1Southeast)
Montelo Snipers (1Southeast) 74–81 Maynard Municipal (1West)
Miradela Silvers (1Southeast) 68–76 Idyllwild Circle (1West)
Katashi Asahi (1East) 67–75 Couziers Centurions (1Central)

Quarterfinals
Etouille Energie (1Southeast) 72–64 Maynard Municipal (1West)
Senoren Diamonds (1Central) 81–81 Idyllwild Circle (1West) (93–91 OT)
Lunay Argonauts (1Central) 70–76 Couziers Centurions (1Central)
Gehrenna Lions (1Central) 85–78 Ferrovente Tazers (1Southeast)

Semifinal
Etouille Energie (1Southeast) 79–71 Couziers Centurions (1Central)
Senoren Diamonds (1Central) 102–63 Gehrenna Lions (1Central)

Final
Etouille Energie (1Southeast) 74–79 Senoren Diamonds (1Central)

---

Division of Champions

*  Division of Champions                     Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD 
 1 Ferrovente Tazers                           4    4   0   357  291  +66
 2 Katashi Asahi                               4    2   2   326  333   −7
 3 Greencaster Central                         4    2   2   313  327  −14
 4 Schemerdrecht South                         4    1   3   300  310  −10
 5 Senoren Diamonds                            4    1   3   296  331  −35

[Sarzonia]

By all accounts, Kyle Trenton should be beaming with pride at the exploits of the Sarzonian national basketball team in his first full go as the national team's manager.

Sarzonia despatched New Rotterdamn City fairly comfortably, winning the match 86-61 to improve to an unblemished 6-0 record during the group stage of the 41st International Basketball Championships. The team's defence remains their strong suit, conceding 350 points within those six matches, a figure only threatened by teams that have already had their bye. Sarzonia's point differential of plus-165 leads the IBC fairly comfortably, with only No. 1 Quebec and Shingoryeo's plus-132, groupmates and world No. 2 Valentine Z's plus-131 and Group 3-leading Valanora's plus-124 joining the positive triple-digits club.

So why was Trenton not smiling after the final horn sounded on Sarzonia's easy win that left the team in a position to finish no worse than second in the group due to head-to-head tiebreaker advantages over both Vashnivaria and Southwest Eastnorth?

"We weren't sharp enough out there," Trenton fumed as he began his post-match press conference. "I told the team several times about trap-matches and told them we needed to stay on our game, and we let a one-win side hang with us too long." When a reporter pointed out that Sarzonia's 14-2 run to begin the third quarter stretched an eight-point halftime lead to 20, Trenton said, "that's just it. We should've been up by at least 20 in the first half. We looked like we were sleepwalking out there."

Trenton said after reviewing video of the match the next morning that centre DJ Henry played like someone who hadn't gotten much playing time, and Trenton admitted to having to take him out after 18 minutes as a precaution.

"We didn't quite have the chemistry on-court that we wanted. DJ and the rest of the starting five looked like they had to get used to each other a bit." However, Trenton said he was encouraged by Henry's work in training and said he'd be ready for tonight's matchup against Valentine Z.

"We're all hands on deck for Val Z," Trenton said. "It's the match we've had circled on our calendars from the moment we got the group draw. We've faced that team a lot and there's a lot of familiarity there."

When a reporter asked Trenton if the expression "familiarity breeds contempt" held true for Sarzonia-Valentine Z, he demurred.

"They're an outstanding team," he said. "They're definitely a barometre for how we really stand heading into the latter stages of the IBC. We know how they like to play. They know how we play. It's going to be a challenge."

Shooting guard Tim Lawrence, who led the Stars with 18 points against New Rotterdam City, said the team were looking forward to the matchup with Valentine Z.

"They're definitely a big rival of ours," he said. "We've played them a lot in the past few IBCs, and we're definitely going to be ready to measure ourselves against one of the truly outstanding sides in this sport."

As to which team would be favoured, Henry said the Stars were the underdogs.

"They're the third ranked team we're facing in this tournament so far," he said. "And they're the only team in our group that's ranked higher than us. We know we're going to be in for a battle."

Trenton said he wasn't thrilled with the fact that Valentine Z had their bye directly before their match against the Stars, but he expressed relief that Sarzonia's bye will be directly afterward, and after the scheduled day off for National Draw a Dinosaur Day.

"I fully expect this match to test us," he said. "We're likely going to need the extra day off to recover from a hard-fought contest." When asked if he planned for the team to observe National Draw a Dinosaur Day," he smiled.

"That's a great idea. Let's do that."

[Panay Islands and Guimaras]

---

ANOTHER LOSS FOR THE ISLAND 5
Apollotown, Ranoria

Another loss for the Island 5 as the Panayenses went on to face Maraonia. In the first quarter, the Island 5 instantly dominated the Maraonian defense with Mejía and Hiejima on board. Scoring 12 points for both Mejía and Hiejima in the first half. Until, the second quarter came. The Maraonians have found the weak point of the Island 5, starting to dominate the whole second half and went on to win the game, 68-78. The Panayenses were suspicious and furious about the questioning of the referees' decisions, igniting a brawl between two teams. Players vs players, fans vs fans. "The Maraonians are butchering the game!", says a furious Panayense fan. "If they want to win, then they need to play it safe!" As the brawl getting worse, the Maraonians jumped in to take the Panayense hooligans down, but here's the thing, they can't. Mejía, one of the players who got involved in the fight says this: "Woah, this is an absolute chaos. I can't believe it." "I am worried about the chaos going on.", says Ranorian referee Charles Ainsley. "But the thing is, these people need to calm down and potentially wait for the actual results. But I don't want to eject some of the players." Will the Island 5 recover from their loss against Maraonia by beating Juvencus? Or Juvencus will give the Panayenses a real lesson on how to "play safe"? Nobody knows what would happen next.

[TJUN-ia]

After an extended break to rest and recover, the Hoops-Jagaurs of TJUN-ia were 2-2 and still confused as to how in the hell we managed to lose to East Lithuania in our previous encounter. That result was certainly one we couldn't explain but Bao Zhou, despite everything, wasn't too embarrassed about it. All he did was just hope for calm and made everyone understand that one result does not make a team's legacy. We understood that message to the core...but could we wake up and bounce back?

Back to The Lion's Den in Fiston and this time, we were facing Britonisea and you could certainly understand that the need for a win was palpable within our roster. We needed things to go right badly and happily for us, they did. It certainly wasn't easy, Britonisea had some weapons at the disposal and were certainly up for a fight, but that didn't matter - all we needed was this win. Mohammad Alawi and Jimena Siena were the big drivers in what ended up being an 85-75 victory for us...and just like that, we were 3-2 and back to 3rd.

Things seem to be going back to normal again, but we still have three more games to navigate. Kamijiro will be up next, 4-2 in this group, before the final break of this group stage. GO HOOPS-JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group 5, all games @The Lion's Den, Fiston, Ranoria)
MD1: vs Drawkland (11) L 71-73 (5th/0-1)
MD2: vs Delata (UR) W 84-70 (4th/1-1)
MD3: vs United States of Nova Calania (64) W 99-70 (2nd/2-1)
----------------Break----------------
MD4: vs East Lithuania (UR) L 68-73 (3rd/2-2)
MD5: BYE (5th/2-2)
----------------Break----------------
MD6: vs Britonisea (18) W 85-75 (3rd/3-2)
MD7: vs Kamijiro (32)
----------------Break----------------
MD8: vs Kronbia (25)
MD9: vs Safiloa (UR)

[Valentine Z]

Part 4 – Chocolate Day, Gwen’s Angels win once more, and they got a little cheat day before the Stars match. Eveline further explores the cave.

Chief Aviator Eveline Gwen Tracer Hepburn “Fate of Existence and the Omniverse” Ellen Trixie Caitlin Foxworthy Avril Verlene Celinda Sammy Doris T-Rev Oxton Arielle Lindall Leslie Vitesse Allison: Ahh, yes, it was Chocolate Cake day on that day! A great break for Gwen’s Angels that was followed by us not being in the games. All good stuff, of course! The Angels ate a lot of cake and yes, literally just cake, please do not have any dirty or bad ideas with the words. Chocolate cake made up most of the meals for that day, and then thankfully there was that BYE for us – the one to get all that extra calories, sugar, and what-have-you out of your system and go back to the exercises and the practices. Joshua told me that the team has been doing their best even with the cheat day, and I believe him. We have been winning all of these matches so far, but it can always change, ain’t it? Especially with us having the match against Sarzonia’s Stars, ahh let’s not try to jinx that. I genuinely do have faith in my team, they will be able to pull this off. They also deserved that cake just like everyone else, and hey, I told them genuinely that they can also order some Lhotse Love if they would like to. No one can resist a little bit of fast food, and I believe that is a good motivator for them before things go down in a rather epic match. Stars vs. Angels, part 4… I think. Lost count.

In the meantime, where was I? Oh yes, at the cave. I went down the cave, right? Yes, slowly, surely, I descended using the night-vision goggles to let me see. I only need to use the lowest power setting, which is good. I don’t need to broadcast myself. The slope down was gentle and unassuming, and this is here that the ambience got even creepier. The lack of the animal sounds outside was still compensated by the trees rustling. Here, it was absolutely a lot more oppressive. No wind, no rustling, not even water sounds or any kind of trickling. The only sound present was the rocks shifting around and dropping here and there thanks to me being there. Oppressive and eerie, great stuff, I will say. At some point, looking at the altimeter (with reference to the mouth of the cave) indicated that I’m 300 meters below at that moment. There was nothing once again as I walked down this duration; it was just me and my thoughts. Things finally make a change when I found myself on the level ground and a passageway. 341 meters, the calibrated altimeter reads. The ground also does not go any deeper so this is very likely the end of the cave in terms of the depth. That natural passageway, of course, I walked into it. The walk only thankfully took a little bit before I reach an end, and that was when I started discovering stuff. Yeah, it’s always at the end of the way.

A door. A metal one with rusty hinges, knobs, and a keyhole. It was locked when I gave it a gentle tug, which means it’s time to cut through it. An easy task, what with the door being really weak. It is a little surprising to find one, because maybe I was hoping on the fact that it was just a human-less world but well, here we are. The door opened, which I have to slightly crouch down in order to go through it. The ceiling was thankfully taller, but only enough that my hair was nearly brushing with it. The room itself didn’t have anything too significant – a small chair, cabinet with next to nothing on it. Whoever that lived in there clearly lived to see it all through the end, given the lack of rubbish and expired whatever. There is a small box which I believe is made out of wood, but there is nothing too particularly interesting about it. Hell, there’s not even a calendar to keep track of things. With nothing else to look at in the living room, I decided to look into the next rooms. There is no bathroom – no showers and toilets, which leads me to believe that they simply do their thing in the forest above. I will have to watch my footing more carefully.

The bedroom has a bed that is also not out of the ordinary, perhaps except for the fact that yes, it’s smaller than what I typically see. There is a makeshift cupboard which also has nothing inside, not even one piece of clothing. I can very well reverse time and see its previous occupants, but that really is no fun. For curiosity sake and hoping to find a trapdoor, I decided to flip the mattress over to see the bottom of the bed. Nothing on the floor, but hidden underneath the mattress is a laptop. At least, it looks like one with its form factor. It’s unusually thin, with no physical keyboard on it and just two screens attached with a hinge. So the input is most likely a touch screen as well. Naturally, there is no power on it, but that is not a problem for me. I can charge it using the railgun, or even bringing it back to Valentine Z and see if the guys back home can figure it out. However, as we typically do, we check the items from other dimensions a bit more carefully because you will never know what kind of pathogens you are unknowingly carrying with you. Securing it into my hyperspace backpack after wrapping a container around it, it is time for me to leave the place. Well, I was about to, but I was stopped by this sudden sound. It sounded like a scream, except not really. A metallic screech followed by a loud bang. Something was in the living room. Ahh, bugger.

[Sarzonia]

TALE OF THE TAPE

The two Group 2 juggernauts, No. 2 Valentine Z and No. 7 Sarzonia will tip off tonight in Ranoria City in a showdown that will likely determine which of the two teams will claim the group title.

Records: Sarzonia: 6-0; Valentine Z: 5-0
No real advantage here. Valentine Z are coming off a bye, so they've played one fewer match than Sarzonia have.

Points Scored Per Match: Valentine Z: 94.0; Sarzonia: 85.8
Valentine Z have an extremely high-powered offence, ranking second in points per match behind No. 1 Quebec and Shingoryeo. Sarzonia are no slouches with the ball in their possession, ranking fourth in the IBC in points per match, but the advantage here goes to Valentine Z.
Points Conceded Per Match: Sarzonia: 58.3; Valentine Z: 67.8
Both teams are fairly solid defensively, but Sarzonia have the stingiest defence in the tournament thus far. Their points conceded total is comparable to several teams that have only played five of a possible six matches. Valentine Z are strong in this area, but Sarzonia get the advantage here.
Widest Margin of Victory: Valentine Z: 52 points (110-58 on Matchday 2 v. Natkr); Sarzonia: 46 points (103-57 on Matchday 5 v. No. 28 Southwest Eastnorth)
Valentine Z have the gaudier figure, but not by much. Sarzonia's dominant showing came against a ranked team. Narrow edge to Sarzonia.
Closest Margin of Victory: Sarzonia: 16 points (77-61 on Matchday 4 v. The 189); Valentine Z: three points (84-81 on Matchday 3 v. The 189)
It's interesting to note that The 189 proved to be the toughest opponent for both these teams. Sarzonia still won their match fairly comfortably, while Valentine Z squeaked by with a one-possession result. On the surface, it looks like it favours Sarzonia, but if this contest is close late, that might prove to be the Stars' downfall. Edge: Valentine Z.
Intangibles: Valentine Z are one of those teams with championship pedigree now. Sarzonia are a long-ago powerhouse in the sport, but a combination of now-former manager Joy Knight and current boss Kyle Trenton have got the Stars knocking on the door. Edge: Valentine Z.

Valentine Z will likely try to take advantage of their otherworldly size advantage as the shortest person on their roster is just over 7-feet. Sarzonia, meanwhile has only one 7-footer on their entire roster. Valentine Z are coming off a bye. Sarzonia will head into their bye after the scheduled day off following this match.
Managers: Valentine Z: Joshua Kelley (OOC: I know he's listed as a coach, but this is in keeping with Sarzonian nomenclature); Sarzonia: Kyle Trenton. Trenton is in his first IBC as manager after spending years as an assistant.
Prediction: Valentine Z 89, Sarzonia 84

[New Umoja]

Today's news highlights from New Umoja:

• The Scary Face Bilbos defeated Cardenao 92-74 in a major upset to move closer to qualifying for the finals of the International Basketball Championship. Trevon Jamison had 20 points and Makalo Thandeka 18 points and 7 rebounds; Kentrell Blackwell struggled offensively against the dominant Blue and Gold center, Tom Parliamance, and spent most of the game distracted by how weird his surname was, shooting 0-for-6, but still made an important contribution on defense with 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Parliamance led Cardenao with 21 points but the Blue and Golds struggled with their three-point shooting and proper pluralization. Omari Ndiaye was inactive with a minor knee injury but is expected to be fit for the crucial game against runaway group C leaders, Valanora.
  
• Secretary of Health and Social Wellness Jamal Langston, Senator Tiana Whitaker, and Fifth Lady of the United States Elina Väisänen opened the new Nia Health Pavilion in King City. The state of the art medical facility will treat patients who have got absolutely dunked on, with specialist treatment wings for those who have just got absolutely posterized. Secretary Langston, Senator Whitaker and Ms. Väisänen met with some doctors, nurses and administrators at the new hospital before a visit to patients, including young man who had just got completely bodied in the paint. "Thanks to New Umoja's commitment to leading edge clinical medical research combined with President Jackson-Banks's universal health care plan, there's a new ray of hope bursting through the clouds for those who just got a fuckin' wicked dunk jammed in their face," said Secretary Langston.