The timeout was very short. The time Goro Domoto used to arrange defensive tactics was actually quite short. More time was used to build up and provide psychological counseling to Eiji Sawakita.
Although their Sanno Industrial is not the kind of team that fights to the death with its ace, Zebei Rongji still plays a vital role in the team. What's more, Zebei is Goro Domoto's most promising student and the son of his good friend. He hopes that Zebei can undergo a real transformation through this game and lead their Sanno Industrial to defeat Ryonan.
Goro Domoto said a lot, but as for how much Sawakita Eiji actually listened to, only God knows.
However, Domoto discovered that Zebei Rongzhi was not paying attention to him as a coach. His eyes were fixed on a person in the rest area of Ryonan on the other side. Domoto Goro did not see any discouragement or despair in Zebei's eyes. Instead, he saw a strong excitement and fighting spirit.
"It seems that I was worrying too much!" When Goro Domoto realized this, he relaxed completely. The players' fighting spirit was still there. This game had just begun!
While Sanno Industrial was arranging its defensive tactics, the Ryonan rest area was quiet. During the timeout, Coach Takeo didn't even lift his butt from his seat. The starting players walked off the court one by one. Coach Takeo just smiled and asked the players to stand there and catch their breath. He did not make any adjustments to the tactics.
Fujima was surprised to see that Coach Tiangang didn't make any tactical arrangements, and couldn't help asking, "Coach, I think Sanwang will adjust their defensive tactics. Don't we need to change our offensive style?"
"Change tactics? Haha, there's no need for that!"
"No matter what changes Sanno makes, they don't have a player who can defend Tian Ye alone. The only changes that can be made on defense are to consolidate the zone defense in the interior, or to use the full-court press that Sanno is best at."
"Whether it's a zone defense or a full-court press, it's useless in front of this kid!"
As Coach Tanaoka spoke, his eyes swept over to Shinomiya Tano. His words were full of pride, and the source of this pride came from Shinomiya Tano.
To be frank, Ryonan High School's Shinomiya Tano is a superstar player in the entire high school basketball world. It would be a pipe dream for Sanno to block Shinomiya Tano's attack with those few misfits! He, Tanoka, is so confident!
Before long, the pause time was over.
The players of both teams walked onto the court again. Due to Zebei Rongzhi's offensive foul in the frontcourt, after the timeout, the ball was given to Ryonan High School.
Ryonan quickly passed the ball to Shinomiya Tano, and as soon as Shinomiya Tano got the basketball, the audience burst into amazing cheers. Shinomiya Tano's basketball skills attracted countless fans, and at this point in the game, many spectators in the stands had already turned to be his fans.
Shimono Shinomiya was not distracted by the cheers of the audience at all. At this moment, he was wandering around the three-point line with the ball, observing the defense of Sanno Industrial.
"The coach expected it. It's a zone defense, and it's a one-on-four zone defense that consolidates the interior to the greatest extent possible."
Shinomiya Tano glanced at Fujima and found that Kenji Fujima, who had the most stable three-point shooting ability in their team, was closely watched by Kazunari Fukatsu of Sannoh. Judging from the opponent's defensive posture, it would not be easy for Fujima to shoot a three-pointer, let alone catch the ball.
And Zebei Rongji, who had been defending closely, also deliberately distanced himself from Shinomiya Tano and positioned his defense near the free throw line.
"If we had encountered this kind of tactics before, I would have had to dribble the ball and break through, but now..."
Shinomiya Tianye withdrew his gaze from Fujima and then made a gesture. Sanwang was confused when he saw Shinomiya Tianye's gesture, but Ryonan changed immediately after Shinomiya Tianye made the gesture.
Yuzumi, Hanagata, Fujima, and Sendoh, who were originally standing on the same side, all started to move. Hanagata began to move towards the side close to Shinomiya, Yuzumi began to try to get under the basket, and Sendoh, who was at the bottom of the field, immediately moved up to a high position and provided a screen for Fujima, who decisively ran towards Shinomiya.
Soon, Shinomiya Tano passed the ball to Fujima who was running over, and at the same time, he set a screen to block Kazunari Fukatsu. Fujima, who was holding the ball, was close to the three-point line, and he didn't care about Kazunari Fukatsu who was following up, and he shot a three-pointer directly.
Kazunari Fukatsu was repeatedly screened by Sendoh and Shinomiya Tano, and he couldn't keep up with Fujima at all, let alone interfere with Fujima's shooting. He could only stick to Shinomiya Tano's body and watch the basketball fly out of Fujima's hands, and then fall into the net under the watchful eyes of everyone.
"Haha, the premise of one-on-four is to be able to keep watch. It might be a bit difficult for Fujima to play one-on-one, but with our help, he will always be open!"
Shinomiya Tianye watched Fujima shoot the ball into the net, turned his head and looked at Fukatsu Kazunari, grinning. The four-man defense method meant that the other four players of Sannoh could not be pulled too far outside, which also meant that Sannoh lost the mobility of switching defenses, and the opportunity appeared!
Since Fujima came to Ryonan, Coach Takeka has also developed new offensive tactics for Fujima.
Or maybe it was because of Fujima that Coach Tanaoka copied the single-player offensive tactics that Shohoku had designed for Mitsui Hisashi. This small-ball tactic was a dimensionality-reducing blow to Sanno Industrial.
"Three points! Ryonan High School's three-pointer! The score between the two teams has widened!"
"So strong, Ryonan High School is so strong, they have completely suppressed Sannoh."
"Even though Sanno had changed its defensive tactics, Ryonan still scored easily. What's the name of the guy who shot the three-pointer? He's so handsome!"
Waves of cheers flooded into the stadium. Shinomiya Tano, Sendoh, and Fujima high-fived to celebrate and began to defend with smiles on their faces. On the other hand, all the players of Sanwang Industrial fell into silence. Even Domoto Goro in the stadium was stunned.
Goro Domoto had a very shallow understanding of Ryonan High School. According to him, the most essential playing style of this team of Ryonan was to attack the trump card madly, and when in doubt, pass the ball to Shinomiya Tano. They thought that Ryonan would eventually let Shinomiya Tano hold the ball and force a breakthrough when facing their Sannoh's defensive tactics.
Unexpectedly, Ryonan actually used outside attack.
Fujima and Hanagata, who have newly joined Ryonan, made their first appearance in the national competition, and Ryonan played very casually in previous games, and it was hard to see the true abilities of Fujima and Hanagata. As for the tactics and strategies centered around Fujima, this was the first time that Ryonan displayed this to the audience.
Sannoh, led by Goro Domoto, was the first guinea pig for Ryonan to test its offensive tactics.
The single defense could not contain Shimoya Tano, and the zone defense was broken by Ryonan's continuous pick-and-roll tactics around the outside core. This time, Goro Domoto was really caught off guard by Shigekazu Tanabe.
“Hehehehe!
!”
"Sanwang, have you seen the strength of our Ryonan?!"
"Defeat the national overlord, today!"
"I, Tiangang, will finally establish our own Ryonan dynasty!
”
Coach Tiangang looked at the Ryonan players who were returning to defense, grinned and muttered. Yueyue and others nearby could not hear his mumbling clearly, but the gloomy aura emitted by Coach Tiangang at this moment made Yueyue and others subconsciously step back several steps.
"Sannoh changed its attack method against Ryonan, but Ryonan's response was also very fast."
"If Sanwang is not aware of Fujima Kenji's ability and still uses this defensive tactic, he will probably suffer a great loss."
"The gap between the two teams has begun to widen. If Sanwang can't quickly realize this and come up with a solution, this game may be in jeopardy."
Mitsui Hisashi cast his eyes on Fujima Kenji and analyzed.
"The gap in hard power cannot be made up so easily."
"I can't imagine Sanno Industrial defeating Ryonan in my mind. In this game, I'm afraid Ryonan High School will be the team that has the last laugh."
Takeshi Jinguji folded his hands in front of his chest and said solemnly that the addition of Fujima and Hanagata has brought real qualitative changes to Ryonan. This team no longer has any shortcomings. If there is a shortcoming, it is probably the depth of the bench. However, the players of Ryonan usually undergo a lot of training, so physical problems should not be seen in these people.
This year's Sanno Palace is also very strong, but the only point that can really crush Ryonan is Masashi Kawata at the center position. However, Ryonan uses a 23 zone defense, and Uozumi Jun has the help of Shinomiya Tano and Hanagata Toru, so it is not difficult to fight against Masashi Kawata.
As for other positions, whether it is Fujima or Sendoh, they are not much weaker than their opponents, and these two are not the kind of carry position in the offense. At best, they are just auxiliary to Shinomiya Tano's offense. And no one in Sanno Industrial can withstand the impact of Shinomiya Tano.
“It’s really strong!”
"The current Ryonan High School team is much stronger than any SD team I remember. It's no exaggeration to say that they are the Kanagawa All-Stars."
"Even a team like Sanno Industrial may not be able to surpass Ryonan. The outcome of this game is already decided!"
"Our biggest enemy in the future won't be Sannoh, but Ryonan."
"The match against Aihe must be decided quickly and cannot be dragged out for too long. Our players must advance to the semi-finals in the best possible manner, so that they have a chance to defeat their opponents in the semi-finals and advance to the finals."
The match between Ryonan High School and Sanno Industrial had only been going on for ten minutes, but from Jinguji Budo's point of view, the outcome of this match was already very clear.
As the game progressed, the situation on the field was not much different from what Wu Dao had expected.
Faced with Ryonan High School's change of formation, Sanno Industrial's reaction seemed a bit slow. After Fujima made three consecutive three-pointers, Sanno Industrial realized that continuing to play a one-on-four defensive tactic would not work.
Under the command of Kazunari Fukatsu, Sanno Industries decisively changed its formation again and revealed their last trump card - full-court press.
However, the full-court press that Sanno Industrial has always been proud of did not achieve the ideal effect when facing Ryonan High School.
Although Fujima Kenji couldn't break through the double-team of Sannoh in the backcourt, he could still pass the ball with his ability. And the presence of Shinomiya Tano is the most important point that Sannoh cannot ignore. When Sannoh meets players from ordinary teams, their full-court press can prevent the opponent from even receiving the ball.
However, under the pressure of Sanwang, Shinomiya Tano moved very freely and no one could defend against him. As for blocking his position, it was not so easy to do.
When facing a double-team in the backcourt, Fujima only needs to pass the ball to Shinomiya Tano, and leave the rest to Shinomiya Tano. With the same double-team, Sannoh can make him unable to break through, but facing Shinomiya Tano, it is not easy. With Shinomiya Tano's strength and speed, Sannoh's double-team can't limit Shinomiya Tano at all.
Moreover, once the full-court man-to-man defense starts to work, Sanno's defense will be disrupted by the attack of Shinomiya Tano. Such flaws will not be a big problem against a weak team, but against a team like Ryonan, even if it is just a minor flaw, it is enough to affect the victory or defeat of the entire team.
As the game progressed, Shimota was getting into better and better form, his offensive power with the ball became stronger and stronger, and his passing seemed to have been improved as well, and he was often able to pass the ball to other players in extremely poor offensive environments.
However, Sannoh was not willing to be outdone. Zebei Rongji repeatedly broke through Sendoh's defense. Although his offensive efficiency was not as high as Shinomiya Tano, it became increasingly difficult for Sendoh to defend against the opponent. Zebei Rongji quickly adapted to Sendoh's defensive intensity during the game and grew rapidly.
Moreover, Sannoh did not put all its hopes on Zebei Eiji. When Goro Domoto realized that Zebei was not as good as Shinomiya Tano, he secretly hinted to Kazunari Fukatsu to pass the ball to the inside.
As the second main attacker of Sannoh, Kawata Masashi showed an overwhelming advantage in the matchup with Uozumi Jun. Even with Hanagata's support, Uozumi Jun was completely beaten by Kawata Masashi. After Shinomiya Tano noticed something was wrong, he consciously stepped in to defend Uozumi, and after giving Kawata Masashi two blocks, Kawata also learned his lesson.
After getting the ball, he did not attack under the basket, but instead trained Yuzumi's defense in the mid-range. In this position, neither Shinomiya Tano nor Hanagata could make up for the defense in the first time, and Kawata Masashi also let Yuzumi Jun see what a center with mid-range shooting is.
Masashi Kawata's activeness slowed down the pace of Sanno's defeat, but it was only a slowdown. Being able to keep the score close was the best effort Sanno Industrial could make.
Under Ryonan's offensive, Sanno Industrial still couldn't narrow the score. The two teams maintained a difference of about 8 points and ended the first half of the game.
At the beginning of the second half, Shimono led the team to an 8:0 run to widen the gap to 16 points. Fortunately, Sendoh Eiji completed a difficult lob shot in front of Sendoh to stop the bleeding for Sannoh, otherwise, Sannoh would have completely collapsed within 5 minutes of the second half.
However, despite his increasingly outstanding performance, Sendo Eiji still failed to bring victory to Sanno. As the final whistle sounded, Sanno Industrial lost to Ryonan High School 83:92.
When the whistle sounded at the end of the game, the Xiangbei team was walking out of the player tunnel and heading towards the field. After the game between Ryonan and Sannoh, it was their game against Aiwa Academy.
"With this cheer, did Ryonan High School win?"
Led by Coach Anzai, the Xiangbei team walked out of the player tunnel. As soon as they walked out of the tunnel, thunderous cheers came towards them. Jinguji Budou glanced at the excited Ryonan substitutes and cast his eyes on the scoreboard.
83:92, Ryonan narrowly defeated Sannoh.
Wudao was not surprised by the result. What surprised him was that Sanwang surrendered so easily without any struggle. He thought Goro Domoto would come up with some trick to help Sanwang defeat Ryonan, but it turned out that Coach Domoto had no good solution when facing a team like Ryonan.
"Yes! Ryonan won, they beat Sannoh!"
"We, Shohoku, absolutely cannot lose to Aiwa! Otherwise, we, who both come from Kanagawa, will be looked down upon!"
Mitsui Shou murmured as he looked at the scoreboard. He felt tremendous pressure, and at the same time, an unprecedented motivation rose in his heart!
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