In the match between Xiangbei and Changcheng, Akagi Takenori showed an unprecedented desire to win. Budo had already surrendered almost all the ball rights in this match. Mitsui Shou, who was supposed to take over the offensive task, noticed Akagi's state and was thinking about how to mobilize Akagi.
On the court, with Mikoshiba's shot at a negative angle going out of bounds, Shohoku High School began a new round of offense.
It seemed that Miyagi Ryouta, who was holding the ball, was seen by Chang Cheng as a breakthrough point. When he was advancing with the ball, Chang Cheng briefly gave up chasing and defending Wudao and turned to double-team Miyagi.
Miyagi Ryouta, who was about to be double-teamed, subconsciously passed the ball to Jinguji Takeshi who was advancing towards the frontcourt.
The basketball fell, but Wu Dao just looked up, with no intention of catching the ball. When the basketball came to his head, he stretched out his right hand and slapped it directly. The basketball in the air suddenly changed its shape and flew over Mitsui Shou's head.
Mitsui jumped up to catch the ball, and after landing, he just made a simple feint in front of the defense, then quickly dropped the ball and broke through. In the blink of an eye, he broke through the defensive player and rushed towards the inside.
With Chang Cheng occupying the inside, Mikoshiba chose to defend Mitsui Shou at the first opportunity, but he was also consciously wary of Mitsui Shou passing the ball to Akagi.
Mitsui Hisashi's cutting speed was very fast, and he was at the basket in the blink of an eye. However, he didn't seem to have any intention of making a layup himself. After taking two steps with his hips, he actually looked at Akagi Takenori, and his hand was already making a gesture of passing the ball.
Seeing this scene, Mikoshiba didn't think twice and flashed in front of Akagi Takenori in an instant, blocking Mitsui's passing route, but at the same time, there was no obstacle in front of Mitsui.
But as soon as he made a move, Mitsui Shou quickly grabbed the ball, and then made a light layup and put the ball into the basket.
"Nice, Xiaosan."
Jinguji Budo clapped his hands and shouted when he saw Mitsui Shou pass the ball and score a layup. Off the court, the substitutes of Xiangbei cheered. It was just one goal, but these substitutes were very excited. The quality of the students of Xiangbei basketball team was actually very average. The players on the bench at this time had not experienced the national competition.
Seeing their teammates scoring points on stadiums across the country, they were very excited, and it was difficult for others to understand that feeling of pride.
"Hmph!" Mitsui Shou snorted lightly, looking very confident and arrogant.
"Cheer up, everyone!"
"This is Xiangbei's first game in the national competition. We absolutely cannot fail!"
"Today, we have to beat Chang Cheng by more than 20 points!"
Mitsui Shou shouted to the players on his way back to defense. His words really gave the players a lot of encouragement, especially when he said it after Mitsui Shou scored.
"good!
"Qianye, Miyagi and Akagi responded subconsciously. Even Jinguji Budou shouted at the top of his lungs and then quickened his pace to return to defense.
Mitsui's words inspired everyone in Xiangbei, but also angered Changcheng's players. Although Changcheng was also rated as a B-level team, the difference between them and Xiangbei was that as representatives of Shizuoka Prefecture, this was not the first time they had entered the national competition.
They cannot accept being at a disadvantage against a rookie team like Xiangbei in the national competition, or even having the possibility of losing the game!
"We must not lose to these guys!"
"Hai Zang, you are the one who organizes the team. We cannot allow them to continue to be so arrogant!"
Captain Chang Cheng, wearing the No. 4 jersey, came to the No. 5 player and gave instructions after serving.
"Yes, captain!" Hai Zang nodded in response, and as he spoke, the basketball had already been passed into his hands.
After receiving the ball, he looked towards Jinguji Budo in the front court with a determined gaze.
"Oh? The look in this person's eyes has changed!"
Kaizang entered the frontcourt with the ball, and Jinguji Takeshi defended him immediately. He blocked the opponent about one meter in front of the three-point line. Because he didn't know what kind of player the opponent was, Takeshi pushed the defense line to this position when defending.
In high school games, there are not many players who are capable of long three-point shots, so Wu Dao did not push the defense line outwards.
As soon as he arrived in front of Haizang, Wudao immediately noticed the change in the other party's eyes. Wudao was quite experienced in guessing his opponent's mentality.
"Are you serious about this? Are you planning to break through from me?!"
Wu Dao looked at the other person's determined eyes, and the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously.
"What is this guy laughing at?!"
"Are you looking down on me?!"
Hai Zang, who was standing in front of Wu Dao, saw the inexplicable smile on Wu Dao's face, and suddenly a nameless anger surged in his heart. He didn't know why he suddenly had such emotions, but when he saw Wu Dao laughing, he felt that he was being laughed at.
"Snap!" The basketball fell, and Haizang quickly broke through. He was good at breaking through from his right side because this was his strong side.
However, just as he made a move, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. Jinguji Budou did not shy away from the collision between the two of them. Haizang was caught off guard and directly collided with Budou, disrupting the rhythm of controlling the ball.
The next moment, Jinguji Budo's hand had already slapped the basketball.
Steal. After the confrontation, Wudao’s steal was unusually smooth and the basketball was directly knocked away by Wudao.
Without any hesitation, Jinguji Budou passed Kaizang, picked up the basketball on the ground, and quickly moved towards the front court.
At the moment the steal happened, the audience in the stands cheered. Wu Dao's move was so neat, and the instant he completed the steal made many people realize the gap in strength between Wu Dao and the opposing player.
"What a quick move. He is so tall, so he needs to keep his center of gravity very low to steal the ball from Chang Cheng No. 5."
"But after completing the steal, he was able to accelerate instantly, and the speed he displayed was far beyond the reach of his opponents."
"This Jinguji Budo is really strong!"
The layman watches the excitement, while the expert watches the details. Some spectators were only attracted by Jinguji Budou's clean and neat steals, but what attracted them was just Budou's chic moves.
However, Aiwa Academy coach Mingshan Muramasa, who was also watching the game in the stands, noticed something unusual about Wudao.
"Oh~ The moves are really clean, coach, is this the person you and Moroboshi told us to watch out for in our next match?"
All the players of Aiwa Academy were watching the match of Xiangbei today. Mingshan Muramasa and Moroboshi Dai had both been to Kanagawa Prefecture to watch Xiangbei's matches and knew about Jinguji Budo's abilities. Therefore, when they returned, they would inevitably mention Budo to their teammates.
However, hearing others talk about how the players play is not as intuitive as seeing it for yourself. At this time, Jinguji Budo's performance on the court immediately attracted their attention.
"Yes! Jinguji Budo, one of the so-called Kanagawa Twin Stars."
"Even if it's us Aiwa, only Moroboshi can handle him!"
Mingshan Muramasa said to the team members next to him, but Zhuxing, who he had high hopes for, was not as confident as him. Looking at Wudao who was holding the ball and fast breaking in the court, his expression was serious.
Stealing the ball and speeding up the attack, it was clearly a great scoring opportunity, but Wu Dao did not go in. He deliberately slowed down his pace to allow Akagi Takenori to follow up. After passing the three-pointer, Wu Dao looked back at Akagi's position, threw the basketball in his hand upwards, and then quickly turned a corner to clear the space under the basket.
Behind Budo, not only Akagi followed and prepared to enter the basket, but also Chang Cheng player was chasing and defending. Mikoshiba was originally chasing Budo, and he had already prepared to block the shot, but Budo's sudden throw caught him off guard.
Akagi in the back saw the position of the basketball and jumped up, grabbed the ball with both hands in the air and slammed it into the basket. Mikoshiba was unable to dodge and was directly hit by Akagi's huge body. He staggered and sat on the ground.
"roar!
!”
The referee on the sidelines did not say anything to the fallen Mikoshiba. After the dunk, Akagi hung up the rim and roared, venting his emotions.
"He actually passed the ball. This guy didn't do it himself."
"It seems like you're planning to let other players from Xiangbei play? Helping them score will boost their confidence."
Aiwa's coach Mingshan Muramasa was a little surprised that Budou actually gave up his chance to perform, but because of this, his expression became more serious. In his impression, Jinguji Budou was the kind of lone wolf ace, and sharing the ball should not happen to Budou.
Passing the ball to his teammates in wide open space was inconsistent with his impression of the Jinguji Budo's personality.
"Well done, Akagi."
"My assists were not wrong."
Wudao smiled and fist-bumped with Akagi Takenori to celebrate. Akagi was obviously very happy after the dunk. He nodded heavily and his steps back to defense were unusually firm.
The other players of Xiangbei were also inspired by Akagi's dunk, and their morale was high for a while.
Hai Zang, who was intercepted, lowered his head and apologized to his teammates, but Chang Cheng's teammates did not blame him. Their captain only told him to be more cautious and serious.
However, when it comes to basketball, no matter how careful or serious you are, when you are on the court, your attitude can only make up for part of the difference in strength.
The difference in strength between Jinguji Budo and Kaizo obviously cannot be made up by being cautious and serious!
As the game progressed, Hai Zang tried to break through Jinguji Budou's defense with the encouragement of his teammates, but what greeted him was a cruel reality. Hai Zang tried to hit three balls, one of which was neatly intercepted by Budou, and the second ball was prepared to play a quick stop and shoot in front of Budou, but he was directly blocked.
On the third ball, Hai Zang, who had broken through halfway, found that Wu Dao had not lost his position at all, and his spirit was gone, so he chose to pass the ball directly without continuing to try to break through. However, his pass was of very poor quality under the influence of Wu Dao, and Miyagi Ryouta seized the opportunity to steal the ball with his lateral pass.
The continuous mistakes made Chang Cheng lose several offensive opportunities, but Xiangbei seized every scoring opportunity. Akagi Takenori's dunk, Mitsui Shou picked up the ball from Budo's block and made a fast break three-pointer, and then Miyagi's single fast break layup.
Suddenly, the score difference between the two teams widened rapidly. Chang Cheng decisively changed his offensive method when he realized that Hai Zang had no chance to play. The basketball began to be frequently passed into the inside line, and Mikoshiba finished the game.
Akagi Takenori worked very hard on the defensive end. Although Mikoshiba's offensive ability was good, under Akagi's defense, his offensive efficiency could only be described as average. The probability of success in the inside attack was only about 60%. If it was a shot from the outside, this scoring rate was very strong, but for the inside, it was just average.
The rebounds were also controlled by Xiangbei High School in the few times when the offense failed. Xiangbei's offensive efficiency was much higher. After Mitsui Shou missed an open three-pointer at the beginning, he decisively changed his style of play and became a scoring method mainly based on breakthrough points. The Kaijo players defending him were no match for him at all. It was very easy for Mitsui Shou to pass him.
Mitsui Shou who broke into the inside line sometimes passed the ball, sometimes faked a shot, completely dispatching Mikoshiba and another Chang Cheng player. With the assists of Mitsui Shou, Chiba and Akagi also played well and scored frequently.
As the game progressed, the score between Changcheng and Xiangbei not only showed no signs of getting closer, but instead it got wider and wider.
15 minutes into the first half, the difference between the two teams had reached 13 points. When the difference was less than 10 points, Hai Chang had called a timeout and sent the defensive player who was supposed to defend Wu Dao to help defend Mitsui Shou. After the timeout, Hai Chang's scoring rate slowed down, but it was just slowing down, and the difference was still slowly widening.
On the court, Jinguji Takeshi received a pass from Miyagi at the top of the arc. His foot was already on the three-point line, but the defender in front of him was still about two meters away from him. The opponent's defense was not paying attention to Takeshi at all, but to Mitsui Shou who was running not far away and trying to cut into the inside.
Although it was clearly a great opportunity, Budo had no intention of shooting. Instead, he passed the ball to Akagi Takenori who was in position inside.
Budo's actions puzzled some members of Aiwa Academy, and they asked their coach:
"Coach, does this Jinguji Budo have no ability to shoot from long range?"
"He didn't take action when he had such a good opportunity. This has happened more than once or twice. Is this guy really as powerful as you say?"
Hearing the doubts of the team members, Mingshancunzheng shook his head and said:
"Although Jinguji Budou didn't participate much in scoring, Xiangbei has slowly started to widen the gap. He has made a great contribution to this!"
"Just because he doesn't attack doesn't mean he can't attack. I guess Xiangbei wants other players to perform well today."
"Although Xiangbei is not a team that plays with an ace in the traditional sense, in the previous county competition, Xiangbei relied heavily on the performance of its ace players."
"Shohoku did this today in the name of training."
"This also means that, like Chang Cheng, Xiangbei, who is rated B, feels that it has the ability to crush its opponents."
"Their confidence comes from Jinguji martial arts!"
"Didn't you notice the condition of the No. 5 player, Chang Cheng, who was facing Jinguji Budou?"
As Mingshan Muramasa finished speaking, the players of Aiwa Academy all looked towards the field. The game had only lasted for 15 minutes, and as a defender of Budo, who was not very offensive, Haizang was in a very bad state at this time.
His eyelids drooped. Although the weather was still cool today, Hai Zang's jersey was already soaked with sweat and stuck to his skin. The fatigue on his face was like a 175cm, 200-pound "strong man" who had just finished running a thousand meters.
"You look so tired... How could that be? Jinguji Budo didn't even sweat at all?"
Aiwa's players noticed something unusual and started to cry out in low voice.
"Although Jinguji Budo didn't attack, Kaijo's No. 5 was desperately trying to get into an open position!"
"Didn't you realize that No. 5 has been completely sealed off by Jinguji Budo?"
On the court, Hai Zang was breathing heavily, his eyes fixed on Wu Dao while he observed Mitsui Shou's position with his peripheral vision.
He is very tired now. If possible, he really wants to lie on the ground and rest.
He had a difficult match today. He felt as if a pair of big hands were tightly holding his body. No matter how he moved, Jinguji Budou on the opposite side would always appear in front of him at the right time.
Not only in attack, but even in defense, he could feel his own powerlessness. It was too easy for Jinguji Budou to pass the ball in front of him!
"Stop!" Just as Haizang was daydreaming, the basketball turned into a red light and flew past his ears and directly into the hands of Akagi in the inside.
Mikoshiba, who was defending Akagi, obviously didn't expect that Budo could pass the ball into the paint so easily. The rapid vertical pass caught him off guard, and he could only watch Akagi half-turn and score a layup.
Seeing Xiangbei score another point, Coach Anxi on the sidelines finally smiled and clapped softly.
"Although Xiangbei is rated B, if we really treat Xiangbei as a B-level team, we will probably suffer a great loss!"
Goro Domoto of Sanno Industrial folded his hands over his chest and pondered. Around him, the players of Sanno Industrial sat on the benches in different postures, watching the game.
"That's all. He just didn't run into our Sanwang."
Zebei Rongji leaned back in his seat, tilted his head slightly, looked down at the players on the field, and gave his evaluation.
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