Van knew, realistically, that he was kidding himself if he thought he could out-sports Brendan. Brendan had the height and could shoot the ball right over Van's head. He had the reach with those long arms that were like coiled ropes, going on forever.
Van rarely felt as scrawny as he did when he came up against Brendan. That was how Brendan had been able to pull him off of Wendy, after all. Van chased that feeling, though. He subconsciously wanted to subvert it. He was kidding himself, but he was having fun doing it.
When Brendan faked out, Van foolishly went for it and had to correct his momentum to spin and chase Brendan, trying to get under the other boy's arms to stop the shot.