After a round of offense and defense, neither Ryonan High School nor Hainan scored, but the ball possession was transferred to Ryonan High School.
The person dribbling the ball was Ryonan High School's guard Tomoyuki Uekusa, a freshman who was about 170cm tall but had very strong muscles. Although his dribbling speed was not fast, he seemed very steady, giving people a feeling of maturity and steadiness.
While Tomoyuki Uekusa was pushing forward, Akira Sendoh, Shinomiya Tano and other Ryonan players ran into the frontcourt. Sendoh and Jun Uozumi found a suitable opportunity and squeezed into the inside, while Shinomiya Tano received the ball from Tomoyuki Uekusa at the top of the arc.
Although the first-year Uekusa has a solid foundation in dribbling, when he entered the frontcourt, the defenders of Hainan pressed towards him. Under the defense of Hainan, Uekusa was a little bit struggling. The gap was so big that it was not easy for his teammates to deal with it. Shigong Tianye glanced at Maki Shinichi who was blocking him and quickly ran towards Uekusa.
"Pass the ball!" Shinomiya shouted while keeping an eye on Maki Shinichi's position. Uekusa Tomoyuki heard Shinomiya's shout and immediately distanced himself from the defender. After a simple fake move, he passed the ball to Shinomiya.
The position where Shinomiya received the ball was two or three meters away from the three-point line. Generally speaking, the position of receiving the ball was not comfortable. However, the players on the Ryonan side did not seem to notice this. After Shinomiya received the ball, whether it was Uekusa and others on the outside or Yuzumi and Sendoh on the inside, they all gathered on the left side of the court.
Shimono Shimotsuna himself slowly walked towards the right side of the court with the ball, and did not approach the three-point line immediately.
"Huh? What happened to the Ryonan people? They gave up such a long half court?!" Sakuragi Hanamichi was surprised to see that the Ryonan people had completely given up 1/4 of the court. He was not completely new to the game now. At least after watching the previous game between Xiangbei and Takezono, Sakuragi Hanamichi roughly knew how the offensive team should attack.
At the very least, in the game just now, the players of Xiangbei were almost evenly distributed in the half court when attacking, and there would be no formation like Ryonan.
After seeing this, Hainan's defensive players did not dare to leave Ryonan's players open, and they followed their respective players and left the half court.
For a moment, the entire right side of Hainan's half was left with only Shinomiya Tano and Maki Shinichi on the outside, and Takasago Kazuma who was standing under the basket guarding the rebound.
"Hmm? Interesting, are you going to single me out?!"
Maki Shinichi had a very good field of vision, and he noticed when the Ryonan and Kainan players left the right half of the court. He also guessed Ryonan's intention, and then smiled and said to Shinomiya Tano.
Shinichi Maki is a sophomore at Kainan. In the past year, the entire Kanagawa high school basketball world has not had a decent opponent. When he was a freshman, some people compared him with Fujima from Shoyo, but he and Fujima had played against each other. Although the two were similar in fame, there was a big gap in their strength.
As for Mitsui Shou of Xiangbei High School, I'm sorry, he couldn't even break through Xiangyang, and Xiangbei, which couldn't make it to the semi-finals, didn't even have the qualifications to be taken seriously by him. Although I heard that Xiangyang was almost defeated by Xiangbei, in the end, they didn't defeat him.
At this time, the Sigong Tianye in front of Maki Shenyi was the first person in the defender position to challenge him in this way.
"interesting?!"
"Your words sound like a compliment, but I don't feel any joy when I hear you say this."
"People who say this often naturally put themselves in a superior position, as if the strong are accepting the challenge of the weak and praising the weak."
"But you have to understand one thing. Between you and me, I am the stronger one!"
"And you have no right to say this to me!"
Shinomiya Tano straightened his back and dribbled the ball with a very high center of gravity. At the same time, while talking, he moved closer and closer to the three-point line.
Maki Shinichi leaned forward slightly, and slowly retreated as Shinomiya Tanno moved forward. When they were near the three-point line, Shinomiya Tanno finished speaking. Maki Shinichi stopped retreating, and smiled when he heard it. The next second his expression became serious. Seeing that Shinomiya Tanno had such a high center of gravity when dribbling, he quickly made a shot to test.
"Hmph!" Maki Shinichi made a steal, and Shigong Tianye seemed to have expected it. He gathered the ball behind him with his right hand, dribbled the basketball to the left, and at the same time, he stepped forward with his right foot, lowered his center of gravity, and broke through directly. His right hand, as a ball protector, directly touched Maki Shinichi's waist.
"So fast!" Shigong Tianye's breakthrough speed was very fast. He took a step forward and was directly on the same level as Maki Shenyi. The next second, he followed up with his left foot, slammed the basketball with his left hand, and his whole body passed over Maki Shenyi, stepped into the three-point line, and completed the breakthrough.
Mu Shen's eyes widened slightly, and after a low cry of surprise in his heart, he quickly took action, following Shigong Tanye and reaching out from behind Shigong Tanye to grab the basketball.
However, Shinomiya Tano seemed to have eyes behind him. He seemed to have seen Maki Shinichi's movements. Although he had a smooth route after passing Maki Shinichi, he cut the ball to the right while dribbling, perfectly avoiding Maki Shinichi's steal. At the same time, because of the steal, Maki Shinichi completely lost the possibility of keeping up with Shinomiya Tano.
After completing the breakthrough, Shimoya Tsunayoshi had no idea of taking an open shot. He went straight to the inside. When he was about two meters away from the basket, he jumped with all his strength, grabbed the ball with one arm, and glided towards the basket.
"Ohhhh!
"Kazuma Takasago, who was guarding the basket, had no intention of retreating in the face of the imposing Shinomiya Tano. He jumped up with a roar, raised his hands high, and pressed towards the basketball.
The bodies of Shinomiya Tano and Kazuma Takasago collided in the air. To everyone's surprise, Hainan, the tall and muscular center, was completely unable to stop Shinomiya Tano who was speeding up to attack the basket.
“Bang!”
After the two collided, Shinomiya Tianye continued to charge, approached the basket, swung his right arm, and dunked the ball into the basket despite Takasago Kazuma's defense. However, Takasago Kazuma, who stood firmly and jumped to intercept, lost his balance in the air, staggered two steps after falling back to the ground, and sat down on the ground.
"this... ... "
“ohhhhh!
!
”
After a brief moment of surprise, the audience in the stands burst into exclamations. No one expected that Ryonan High School's No. 8 player could actually dunk over Hainan's starting inside player. For a moment, the entire stadium was boiling.
Shigong Tianye grabbed the basket with one arm, looking down at Takasago Kazuma on the ground. After hanging for a few seconds, Shigong Tianye let go and fell back to the ground. Then he looked directly at a certain place in the stands, without even looking at Maki Shinichi.
"This guy... is so strong."
Even though he was sitting in the stands, Jinguji Budo could still feel the impact of Shinomiya Tano's dunk just now.
With such a long distance of accumulation and acceleration, Jinguji Budo thought that if it were him, he would be able to use his jumping advantage to dunk over Takasago.
But after the dunk, it is absolutely impossible for Budou to grab the rim like Shinomiya Tano, because the collision with Kazuma Takasago in the air would disperse the force of the dunk and affect the balance of the body. In that situation, Budou would definitely not have the spare energy to grab the rim.
After dunking over Takasago, Shinomiya Tano was still able to grab the basket with one arm, which means that Shinomiya Tano was much stronger than Takasago. The person who had physical contact with Takasago probably had no impression of Shinomiya Tano's rhythm and strength at all.
With just one ball, Wu Dao was able to sense the difference in strength between himself and his opponent.
And looking at the relaxed look on Shinomiya Tano's face, Jinguji Budo knew that this slam dunk was probably not his full strength.
"This guy, Asian James, a yellow-skinned gorilla... Why is he so strong?"
Takeshi Jinguji looked at the Ryonan people who started to return to defense and couldn't help but feel a little jealous. The strength displayed by Shinomiya Tano was even stronger than when he had encountered it before. Takeshi didn't know if he would be able to stop the opponent if Shohoku and Ryonan fought.
Thinking of this, Wudao turned his head and looked at his teammates from Xiangbei, Miyagi Ryouta who was less than 1.7 meters tall, Akagi Takenori who had loose steps, Mitsui Hisashi and Chiba Daishi who couldn't even dunk... and then shook his head.
"We have to think of a way, otherwise it will be difficult for us to meet Ryonan." Wudao looked at the game on the field, feeling more worried, and his expression while watching the game became unusually serious.
The battle-hardened Hainan High School players were far better at adjusting their mentality than Wu Yuan could match. Although Sigong Tianye's dunk was indeed shocking, it was far from enough to make the Hainan players lose their fighting spirit. On the contrary, Sigong Tianye's block and dunk not only failed to wear down Hainan's fighting spirit, but instead made this powerful team that occupied the throne begin to wake up.
On the offensive end, the Hainan players had a tacit understanding in passing the ball, and the basketball was quickly passed between the players. While the ball was being passed, Maki Shinichi ran across the court with Shinomiya Tano's defense, but he just didn't catch the ball.
Finally, the basketball was handed to Daiki Maekawa. The third-year center from Hainan just received the ball and threw a small sideways hook shot, and the basketball hit the backboard and went into the net. The defending player Jun Yuzumi didn't even have time to react.
"The speed of this attack is so fast." Yuzumi Jun looked at Maekawa Daiki in surprise, as if he didn't expect that the other party could actually perform such a move.
"Hey, you wild man from Lingnan, what are you doing standing there like an idiot? Pay attention to your defense!"
Maekawa Daiki was also a chatterbox. Not only did he score the goal, he also laughed and mocked. Then, ignoring the angry face of Uozumi Jun, he raised his chin provocatively towards Shinomiya Tano on the outside.
"Damn it, this bastard! How dare he..." The young Jun Uozumi was a player with a hot temper and was easily provoked. After hearing what Maekawa Daiki said, veins on his forehead bulged and his face was full of anger.
"Hey, Yuzumi, don't pay attention to his provocation, just fight back on the court."
Sendoh was closer to Yuzumi, and after comforting Yuzumi, he looked towards Shinomiya Field and said something with his eyes.
Shimono Shimomiya and Sendoh had a good understanding. Seeing Sendoh's expression, he hesitated a little, glanced at Coach Takeo on the sidelines, and shook his head at Sendoh.
Shinomiya Tano knew what Sendoh was thinking. He hoped to let Yuzumi speak with the ball. After he personally hit back at the opponent's hand, Yuzumi Jun's mentality naturally adjusted.
But Shigong Tianye was hesitant. It wasn't that he looked down on Yuzumi, he felt that it would be difficult for Yuzumi to regain his position against the Kainan inside player. Yuzumi's mentality was just a little unstable, but it was not fatal. If Yuzumi went to the opponent and was taught a lesson by the opponent, Ryonan's inside strength might collapse.
This is something that Shinomiya Tano cannot allow, and similarly, Coach Tanoka will never allow it.
Seeing Shinomiya Tano shaking his head, Sendoh patted Yuzumi's shoulder and told him not to take it to heart, then went to the baseline to serve the ball to Uekusa. After passing the ball, Sendoh noticed that after the Hainan defensive players returned to the court, only two inside players were in position, and the other three, together with Maki Shinichi, were near the center line, as if waiting for something.
Noticing this, Xiandao did not move quickly. He kept a distance between himself and Uesugi and protected Uesugi as he advanced.
On the contrary, Shimoya Tano seemed to be unaware of Hainan's defensive changes. He crossed the center line and waited for his teammates near the three-point line.
Sure enough, as soon as Uekusa approached the midline with the ball, some of the Hainan players wanted to press forward, and Sendoh approached Uekusa, who stopped sticking to the ball and quickly passed it to Sendoh. The person who was originally defending Uekusa turned around and ran in front of Sendoh.
The one defending Sendoh was Hainan's captain, who wore the No. 4 jersey and was about 188cm tall, similar to Sendoh.
Just as Sendoh was about to pass the ball to Shimonoseki, he suddenly discovered that Maki Shinichi and another Hainan player wearing the No. 6 jersey were surrounding Shimonoseki and were trying to prevent him from catching the ball.
"What a quick response... As expected of Hainan High School!"
"Gaotou, you have taught these Hainan players very well. Even without the coach's instructions, the players themselves have strong initiative."
"But... we, Ryonan, are not a one-man team!"
“Hehehe…”
In the rest area of Ryonan High School, Coach Tiangang was a little surprised to see this scene on the court, but after a brief moment of surprise, Coach Tiangang curled his lips and laughed sinisterly. The surrounding Ryonan players heard this creepy laughter and subconsciously moved away from Coach Tiangang.
"Hey, it's not that I don't want to pass it on to you, Tian Ye!"
Sendoh was a little surprised to see Hainan's defense, then he laughed and approached the three-point line with the ball. Hainan's No. 4 obviously didn't know why Sendoh was laughing, and seeing Sendoh's obvious intention to pass the ball, he felt a little relaxed in his defense.
Suddenly, Sendoh, who was still looking at the position of his teammates, suddenly lowered his body and broke through directly. In the blink of an eye, Sendoh actually passed the defender and rushed towards the inside.
The Hainan players obviously did not expect that their captain would be broken through so easily. Maekawa Daiki in the inside rushed towards the breaking through Sendoh without thinking.
Facing the backup defense, Sendoh made a sudden stop, looked up and looked directly at the basket, but his hand slapped the basketball, knocked the ball to the ground, and passed it to the inside. Sendoh's fake shot completely missed the backup defense of Maekawa, who rushed over the moment Sendoh stopped and looked at the basket, and only realized that something was wrong when he saw a red light flashing by his feet.
However, at this time, Jun Yuzumi in the inside had already caught the ball with both hands, turned around and slammed the ball into the basket with both hands.
Sendō made a wonderful pass to Yuzumi, which was greeted with cheers from the Ryonan bench. Although Shinomiya Tano did not receive the ball, he also smiled happily when he saw Sendō score.
Sendoh Akira helped Yuzumi regain his face in his own way. Sendoh's wonderful pass aroused Yuzumi's fighting spirit, and Yuzumi's two-handed dunk also aroused the fighting spirit of other players in Ryonan.
"Well done, Sendoh!"
Shigong Tianye came to Sendoh and high-fived him. Shigong Tianye had a feeling that the current Ryonan High School was unbeatable!
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