After Jinguji Budo scored a three-pointer, the Xiangbei players began to return to the court one after another. However, the cheers from the audience continued to roar and did not stop for a long time.
In the stands, Hainan's tall coach held his folding fan tightly with both hands, his mouth slightly open, and every wrinkle on his face was written with the word "surprise". Even Maki Shinichi, who was standing next to him, sat up straight and silently watched Hanagata Toru being pulled up by his teammates on the field.
If Wudao's previous goals only made the people of Hainan pay attention to him, then Wudao's goals now told the people of Hainan directly that he would be the most powerful enemy Hainan had ever encountered.
"With such a tall height, he broke through so quickly."
"And his coordination is also very good. His ability to connect with the ball doesn't seem to be something that someone of his height should have."
"The range, accuracy, and movement speed are all quite terrifying."
"There is no doubt that Xiangbei's No. 15 will be the best choice for the ace in any national strong team."
Coach Gaotou finally came back to his senses and murmured. He was judging the ability of Jinguji Budo and the threat that Jinguji Budo could pose to their Hainan.
In Coach Takato's opinion, it is impossible for the current Shoyo team to defeat Shohoku High School.
"Mu, and the rest of you, watch this game carefully and pay attention to number 15. If nothing unexpected happens, Xiangbei will be the biggest challenger for Hainan this year!"
As Coach Gaotou spoke, he glanced at the team manager not far away. The latter understood instantly and quickly took out a notebook and a pen from his bag and handed them to Coach Gaotou. After doing all this, he hurriedly left his seat and left the audience.
At this moment, Hainan has increased its attention to Shohoku High School, or to Jinguji Budo. This dynasty team that has dominated the throne of Kanagawa for more than ten years must study its opponent seriously.
On the court, after Fujima Kenji and his teammates pulled Hanagata up, they comforted Hanagata, said a few simple words of encouragement, and began to organize an attack.
However, Hanagata's mentality had obviously undergone subtle changes. Being knocked to the ground by Jinguji Budo in front of so many people, this teenage boy could not digest such an ugly incident so quickly.
Although the Xiangbei team on the court now has the support of Jinguji Budo on the offensive end, it is really full of loopholes on the defensive end.
Although first-year students Yasuharu Yasuda and Satoru Kakuda have undergone rigorous training since entering school, physical fitness and defensive awareness cannot be improved in such a short period of time. They are just ordinary people, not geniuses.
Therefore, when Shoyo attacked seriously, Yasuda and Kakuta could not keep up with Shoyo's offensive rhythm at all.
The people of Shoyo seemed to have noticed the problems of Shohoku on the defensive end. Several players performed continuous pick-and-roll screens around Fujima, allowing Fujima to easily break through Miyagi's defense and get a chance to play one-on-one with Kadota or Yasuda.
Facing players of the level of Kakuta and Yasuda, Fujima played quite easily and was able to launch attacks from the outside easily.
"Swish!" Fujima's shooting ability is quite excellent, and soon he helped the team take the lead again.
Faced with a two-point difference, Jinguji Budou quickly fought back. Facing Hanagata's defense, Budou also received the ball outside the three-point line, and then used his speed advantage to break through directly after a shot fake, and finished with a shot from mid-range.
Although Hanagata had no problem with his defensive attitude, the gap in hard power made him unable to defend against Budou's attack. Shoyo also tried to limit Budou's scoring by switching defense, but even if the defensive player was replaced by Shinji Koizumi, there was no way to defend against Budou's attack. Double-teaming also failed to limit Budou's shooting.
In the end, Xiangyang simply gave up and built an iron wall around the paint area. As for Wudao, they just let Hanagata interfere as much as possible. As for Wudao's shot, all they had to do was pray that Wudao didn't make it.
Although Jinguji Budo's attack power is quite terrifying, as the game progresses, Shohoku High School begins to fall into a disadvantage.
No matter how great Jinguji Takeshi's personal ability is, he can't hit the target every time during the game. Missed shots are inevitable. Takeshi's medium and long-range attacks mean that he rarely has the opportunity to rush into the inside to grab rebounds. Without Takeshi's rebounding support, the offensive rebounds are almost monopolized by Shoyo's Shinji Koizumi.
Chiba Oishi was no match for Shinji Koizumi and was completely defeated on the basketball board.
On the Shoyo side, after Fujima missed two shots from the outside, the attack point shifted to Shinji Koizumi in the inside. In the attack under the basket, Shinji Koizumi was quite sharp, and he directly hit Chiba in the middle, making Chiba a little lost.
Budou tried to switch defense with Chiba Daishi, with Chiba Daishi defending Hanagata and Budou defending Koizumi Shinji. However, Koizumi Shinji was a repeater and was quite cunning. After the switch on the Shohoku side, Koizumi would pass the ball to Hanagata, and at the same time distract Budou's defense and leave the inside, giving Hanagata the opportunity to play singles against Chiba Daishi.
Poor Chiba was no match for Shinji Koizumi, nor was he no match for Toru Hanagata. Second-year Hanagata had already mastered his shooting. Although his range was not as far as Budou's, he always received the ball close to the basket. Facing Chiba, who was much shorter than him, Hanagata would hardly miss a shot at such a close distance, and even if he missed, he could still grab the rebound.
Finally, Hanagata regained the face he lost to Wudao from Chiba Daishi.
14 minutes into the first half, the score between the two teams was 25:31, with Xiangbei High School trailing Shoyo by 6 points.
Jinguji Budo's personal score has reached a terrifying 20 points, but the situation is not optimistic for the team.
Shoyo has the ball. At this time, Hanagata once again receives a wonderful pass from Fujima in the interior. He heads back to Chiba Daishi, then turns sideways and shoots the ball with a small hook shot from close range.
Chiba defended very hard and predicted Hanagata's next offensive intention, but when it came to defending, he was limited by his height and arm span. He jumped up and slapped Hanagata on the forearm. Not only did he fail to intercept Hanagata's shot, he even received a foul.
As the referee blew the whistle, the basketball fell steadily into the net.
2+1, Huaxing was sent to the free throw line.
"Damn it!" Chiba Daishi cursed angrily, turned his head to look at Huaxing with a gloomy expression.
In this game, Chiba, like the first-year players like Yasuda and Kakuta, became the breakthrough point for Shoyo on the offensive end!
At this point, Coach Anxi, who had been silent for a long time, finally took action and made a substitution while Xiangyang was taking free throws.
"Ah~~ I've been holding it in for so long, and finally I can move around."
"Shoyo, get ready!"
When Mitsui Shou heard the coach Anzai's order to play, he shouted happily, then hurriedly took off his coat, stretched briefly, and ran directly to the field. Along with Mitsui Shou, Akagi Takenori and Mugure Kiminori were also substituted in.
Chiba Daiishi, Kakuda Satoru and Yasuda Yasuharu were substituted off the court.
"Shua!" As Hanagata Toru steadily put the ball into the net, the difference between the two teams finally reached 9 points. However, the momentum of Xiangbei did not weaken at all. On the contrary, with the appearance of Mitsui Hisashi, Akagi Takenori and Mugure Konobu, the atmosphere on the bench became more heated.
"Now is the time for Xiangbei to truly show its strength."
"There are still 6 minutes left in the first half. If Xiangyang can hold off during this period, then the outcome of the second half will be uncertain."
"If we can't stop them, Xiangyang's morale will be completely destroyed, and there will be no more chances!"
Coach Takeo saw it clearly. As Xiangbei made substitutions, Coach Takeo knew that the turning point of the game had arrived, and that Xiangbei High School had only now shown its true strength.
"Everyone cheer up and take the score back little by little!"
Mitsui Hisashi walked into the court and came to the baseline to serve the ball to Miyagi Ryouta. While serving the ball, he shouted to his teammates.
"good!"
Miyagi responded, slowly advancing to the front court with the ball, and began to slow down the offensive rhythm. Jinguji Budou and Akagi Takenori both ran to the front court early. Jinguji Budou, who had not received the ball in the mid-range or inside for a long time, did not stay outside the three-point line this time, and squeezed directly into the inside.
Noticing the change in Wudao's running position, Fujima winked at his teammates on both sides and immediately pressed forward when Miyagi just crossed the three-point line. Following his movement, several Shoyo players also tacitly surrounded Mitsui Hisashi and Kogure Mitsunobu and gave close defense when the two just crossed the center line.
"The defense is very strong! The game has been going on for more than ten minutes, and the defensive movements are still so agile. They are worthy of being a member of Xiangyang."
"But this alone is not enough."
Shoyo's defense was very strong, but Mitsui just smiled and didn't care. After speaking, Mitsui started to speed up and started running towards the three-point line with the defensive players. At the same time, Mitsui was also quickly approaching Miyagi who was holding the ball.
Miyagi's speed of advancement was very slow under the defense of Fujima Kenji. He was unable to pass the ball for a long time after passing the center line. Without Wudao's support from outside the three-point line, it became a little difficult for him to pass the ball.
However, just when Miyagi was struggling, Mitsui Hisashi's figure appeared in Miyagi's sight.
Mitsui and Miyagi looked at each other from a distance, and suddenly ran back, shaking off the defenders who were chasing them with all their might. At the same time, Miyagi also pretended to break through and passed the ball to Mitsui in the opposite direction of the breakthrough.
After receiving the ball, Mitsui Shou quickly turned around to face the basket. He saw the defensive player who rushed over again with his peripheral vision. With a simple bow, he tricked the opponent into flying to block the shot. The next second, Mitsui Shou rushed into the inside with the ball.
Mitsui's dribbling breakthrough made all the Shoyo players in the interior feel like they were facing a formidable enemy. Shoyo players were not unfamiliar with Mitsui. Last year, Mitsui led Xiangbei to appear in front of them and almost defeated them. Facing Mitsui, several Shoyo inside players quickly surrounded Mitsui.
And Budo, seeing Mitsui Shou break through, silently moved along the baseline from the middle distance towards the basket.
“Don’t even think about it!
”
Mitsui looked straight at the basket, as if he didn't see any other defenders, and after crossing the free throw line, he raised the ball and jumped. Seeing this, Hanagata and Koizumi Shinji shouted without thinking and rushed towards Mitsui, and at the same time, the basketball in Mitsui's hand also fell out of his hand.
The parabola of the basketball is very high, but in the eyes of Hanagata and Koizumi, the path of Mitsui's ball is greatly deviated and the ball cannot go in!
"Hey!" Mitsui Shou certainly knew that the path of his shot was seriously deviated, but at this moment, a smile of success appeared on his face.
"It's a pass!" Fujima on the outside saw it clearly. When the basketball flew towards the backboard, Jinguji Takeshi had quickly approached the basket without him knowing when, and Takeshi's running was very rhythmic, as if he was gathering strength.
"Ding!" After an undetectable light sound, Jinguji Takeshi broke into the inside, pushed off the ground with one foot, jumped up, and grabbed the ball firmly in his right hand in the air. The height he grabbed the ball was dozens of centimeters higher than the basket, which was not something an ordinary high school student could reach.
Although Hanagata and Koizumi had reacted by this time, they had no time to block the ball. Even if they were given time to defend, they could not reach Wudou's hand that grabbed the ball.
"Duang!
!
"Jinguji Budo fell quickly and dunked the ball directly into the basket with his right hand. With a loud bang, the entire basketball stand began to shake violently.
"Bang!" Jinguji Budou landed quickly after the slam dunk. When his feet touched the ground, the floor made a dull sound. And until Budou landed, the shaking of the basketball stand still did not stop, and it was still squeaking.
The Xiangbei bench had already been jubilant, and the cheers from the audience also spread to the field.
"Jinguji Takeshi has been completely liberated!" Shigeru Tanabe murmured when he saw Jinguji Takeshi's alley-oop slam dunk and then looked at Mitsui Hisashi who passed the ball.
Jinguji Takeshi's ball-handling offense is very good, and Coach Tanoka certainly knows that. However, if Takeshi is allowed to continue to attack from outside the three-point line throughout the entire court, not to mention whether Takeshi's physical fitness can support it, it is unrealistic to maintain that terrifying hit rate while taking into account defense.
Coach Tanaoka was certain that Jinguji Budo could not do this.
But things were different after Mitsui Hisashi and Akagi came on the court. Not only was Jinguji Takeshi's offensive distance shortened, but the defensive pressure also decreased sharply. Takeshi could even make off-ball cuts on the offensive end with his terrifying bounce. This off-ball style of play and the ball-holding style of play have completely different physical energy consumption.
Shinomiya Tianye is probably the one who can understand this the most.
Before Mitsui Hisashi and his teammates came on the court, Jinguji Budo's offense mainly relied on shooting, and dunks in the paint were rare.
After all, jumping with all your strength to slam dunk requires a lot of physical strength. An ordinary person would be out of breath after jumping with all his strength six or seven times. It was obvious that Jinguji Budou was saving his energy before, but now, Jinguji Budou obviously has no scruples.
“Phew! So cool!”
"Xiao San, good job!"
Jinguji Budo was in a good mood after the slam dunk, and he celebrated by fist bumping with Mitsui Shou with a smile.
Before Mitsui and the others came on the court, Wudao had been playing cautiously. While allocating his physical strength, he was also afraid that he would not handle the ball well and the score would be widened too much. Although he always had a calm look on his face, Wudao was under considerable psychological pressure.
But when Mitsui and Akagi came on the field, martial arts no longer had any scruples. If you are tired of fighting, you can just take a break for a while. Anyway, Mitsui can continue the firepower. After a good rest, continue to fight!
Jinguji Budo's slam dunk boosted the morale a lot, but it also dealt a heavy blow to Shoyo's momentum.
After the transition from offense to defense, Shoyo's offense became extremely difficult. Inside, Budo defended Koizumi Shinji, and Akagi defended Hanagata.
On the outside, although Miyagi was still defending Fujima, with Mitsui Shou watching closely nearby, Fujima's space to play was greatly compressed.
Even if he used the pick-and-roll, Fujima would face the same height as himself, the energetic Kogure Mitsunobu, or the Mitsui Hisashi, who was a head taller than him, had rich defensive experience, and excellent speed.
For a moment, Xiangyang's attack stagnated.
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