As Ryonan High School's counterattack was successful again, the rest area of Shohoku High School was already silent.
Coach Anxi frowned slightly and looked at the court with a serious expression. A star was already hanging in the balance.
The back line collapsed, how should we play this game
Coach Anzai played point guard when he was young, and he clearly knew that the current Xiangbei High School was facing a huge challenge. Jinguji Budou had few opportunities to receive the ball under the full defense of Shinomiya Tianye, and Miyagi Ryouta, who was defended by Fujima, obviously had no way to seize the fleeting passing opportunity.
This forced the connection between Takeshi Jinguji and Ryouta Miyagi to be interrupted, and when Shohoku High School lost a ball-holding offensive player like Takeshi Jinguji, their offense immediately became stumbling.
After the offense and defense switched, the ball came to Shohoku High School. Miyagi Ryouta himself knew that he could not pass the ball freely in front of Fujima. Similarly, Mitsui Hisashi, who had been focusing on the court, obviously noticed this.
He did not need any reminders from his teammates. During this round of attack, he did not choose to sink to the baseline, but quickly came to Fujima's side to cover Miyagi Ryouta.
With the support of his teammates, Miyagi successfully broke through Fujima Kenji's defense, but after the breakthrough, he rushed directly in front of Sendoh and was covered by Sendoh.
He couldn't even pass the ball smoothly in front of Fujima. Sendoh, who was taller than Fujima, was already a hurdle that Miyagi Ryouta could not overcome no matter what.
Without any hesitation, the moment Miyagi saw Sendoh, he immediately passed the ball back to Mitsui Hisashi and gave up the idea of continuing to break through.
“Bang!”
With the basketball in hand, Mitsui Shou bent over and calmed down, his eyes quickly passed over Fujima's face, and then looked at Jinguji Budou. Unfortunately, at this moment, Jinguji Budou was leading Shigong Tianye on the court.
Although Miyagi Ryouta tried to provide off-ball screen for Takeshi after passing the ball, his height and weight were not enough, and the quality of the screen was quite poor. It took no effort for Shinomiya Tano to break through such a screen, and there was no way to increase the distance between him and Takeshi for a while.
For Budo, it is much easier to break through the defense of Shigong Tianye with the ball than to shake off the opponent without the ball. Running without the ball depends a lot on the cooperation of teammates, while when playing with the ball, the opponent Shigong Tianye will never dare to stick so closely, because the opponent also needs to defend against his sudden stop jump shot.
"Xiao San, do it yourself!"
Jinguji Budou shouted as he led Shinomiya Tano's defense to the bottom corner on the opposite side of Mugure, and then he had no intention of moving further. Shinomiya Tano saw this and did not dare to relax his vigilance. He stared at Budou with his eyes fixed, and only used the corner of his eyes to observe the matchup situation on Mitsui Shou's side.
"Miyagi Ryouta went outside the three-point line and posed no threat at all!"
Sendoh and Fujima switched defense. At first, Sendoh followed Miyagi to the high position, but Miyagi saw that there was no chance for mid-range shots and decisively returned to the three-point line. However, Sendoh did not follow up. He made a judgment about Miyagi in his mind, and then focused his attention on Mitsui Hisashi who had the ball and Takeshi in the corner.
"Mitsui Shou, it's been a long time since we last met!"
Fujima Kenji opened his arms, looked at Mitsui Shou in front of him, and said softly. This was not the first time he and Mitsui Shou had played against each other. Last year, before the players of Jinguji Budo entered Xiangbei, they had played against each other in the county competition when they were in the first year of high school.
That time, Fujima was still in Shoyo, and the victory of that game also belonged to Shoyo.
Mitsui scored 30+ points in that game, but still failed to lead the weak Shohoku team to break through Shoyo's blockade and enter the national competition.
"You couldn't defend me that time, and you can't defend me this time either!"
Mitsui looked at Fujima in front of him, holding the ball and sweeping the ball with three threats, while speaking. Fujima was unmoved and had no intention of moving his body, and Fujima did not refute Mitsui's words. In his opinion, talking was meaningless.
"In one year, Mitsui has grown so much taller. If I want to defend him, I can only attack him when he is dribbling and wait for him to shoot. It is not easy to stop him with my height."
Fujima Kenji looked at Mitsui Shou who was bending over in front of him, thinking secretly in his heart. Suddenly, Mitsui Shou, who was holding the ball, pushed the ground with his right foot and started to break through to Fujima's left side. Fujima reacted quickly, and while moving his body sideways to block Mitsui Shou, he actually immediately made a steal, and the timing was very good, just when the basketball fell and began to rebound.
"Hmph!" Mitsui Hisashi snorted lightly and his center of gravity sank again. He quickly reached down with his right hand, grabbed the basketball and dribbled it behind his back. He quickly changed the direction of the attack and broke through to Fujima's right side. At the same time, while dribbling, Mitsui Hisashi's body stuck to Fujima, preventing Fujima from turning around and returning to defense in the first time.
At the first encounter, Mitsui Hisashi quickly broke through Fujima's defense and crossed the three-point line.
In terms of height and strength, Mitsui Shou is now much different from when he was in the first year of high school. Compared with Mitsui Shou's growth, Fujima's height and weight have not increased much this year. The gap between the two was reflected at this moment.
"Damn it!" Fujima cursed and quickly turned back to defend. At the same time, Sendoh, who had been focusing on this place, quickly made up for the defense and shouted:
"Switch defense!" Fujima was a little unwilling to receive the order, but he immediately changed direction and cut off the passing route between Mitsui and Miyagi. However, he was still very close to Mitsui. If Mitsui wanted to break through Sendoh, Fujima would have a chance to steal the ball from the side.
Mitsui saw the defensive changes of Ryonan. Although he broke through Fujima's blockade, Mitsui was still a little afraid of the opponent's stealing ability. Facing Sendoh's backup defense, he gave up the idea of continuing to break through.
A sudden stop, a pass, and a long jump shot. In less than a second, Mitsui Shou completed this series of actions, and the basketball flew directly from his hands and towards the basket.
"What a quick shot!" Mitsui used a flip shot and his shot was extremely fast. Although Sendoh realized that the opponent might be going to shoot, he was still a beat slow when he blocked it.
"Swish!" This time Mitsui's shot was very steady, and the basketball went directly into the net with a slight sound.
The long-awaited score made the Xiangbei substitutes off the court breathe a sigh of relief.
Mitsui's mid-range shot continued the firepower for Xiangbei High School and also set the tone for Xiangbei High School in the second half of the game.
The main attacking force of Xiangbei High School was replaced, and Mitsui Shou was a little different from Budo. Mitsui Shou, who did not attack much in the first half, was very energetic. Mitsui Shou also knew that Miyagi Ryouta had difficulty passing the ball in front of Fujima, so when Xiangbei was holding the ball during the offensive round, he protected Miyagi.
Shortly after entering the frontcourt, before Fujima and Sendoh come up to defend, Miyagi Ryouta will pass the ball to Mitsui Hisashi, and after passing the ball, he will take the initiative to block Sendoh's position, allowing Mitsui Hisashi to successfully dribble the ball closer to the three-point line.
For Mitsui Hisashi, attacking is an easy task as long as he is within the shooting range.
Nine minutes into the second half, the score between the two teams was 64:60, with Ryonan High School leading by 4 points and firmly dominating Shohoku.
In these nine minutes, Mitsui made 2 of 4 three-pointers and hit a mid-range shot, scoring 8 points. There was also a perfect cooperation between Jinguji Takeshi and Mitsui. With the assist of Mitsui, Takeshi also hit a mid-range shot and scored two points.
As the game entered the second half, Ryonan and Shohoku both strengthened their defense and slowed down their offensive tempo.
On the Ryonan side, relying on the outstanding performance of Fujima and Sendoh, they scored 16 points in the second half, of which Fujima scored 4 points, Sendoh scored 8 points, and Shinomiya Tano also scored two goals and scored 4 points.
Jinguji Budo, who had a brilliant performance in the first half, was silenced on the offensive end by Shigong Tano's full defense. Shigong Tano also put his energy on the defensive end and participated in very few offensive plays.
At this moment, the focus of the entire audience was on Mitsui Hisashi of Shohoku and Sendoh of Ryonan.
On the court, Xiangbei High School's offensive round.
Mitsui dribbled the ball slowly towards the three-point line. Far in front of him, Sendoh just slightly lowered his center of gravity and quickly approached.
Xiangbei High School's offense, led by Mitsui Shou, has been going on for a while, and Sendoh has already adapted to Mitsui Shou's style of play. Mitsui Shou is very good at rapid shooting, and his three-point shooting rate is also quite good. Facing Mitsui Shou, Sendoh Akira did not dare to lower his center of gravity too low, and did not dare to give Mitsui Shou a chance to shoot.
However, while being wary of Mitsui's shooting, Sendoh did not dare to get too close, because Mitsui's breakthrough speed was also not slow.
"With such a tall body, how can he prevent Sendoh from breaking through?" Jinguji Takeshi glanced at Mitsui Shou while running and looking at Sendoh who had a high center of gravity, whispered in his heart, and quickly sank to the bottom line with Shinomiya Tano. He knew that Mitsui Shou was about to break through.
Sure enough, Mitsui, who was close to the three-point line, quickly dropped the ball and rushed forward. In the blink of an eye, he was already level with Sendoh. Sendoh, who had a high center of gravity, turned around to defend, but was a beat slower than Mitsui.
"It's not that he is fast, it's that I am slow in chasing!" Sendoh began to speed up, but just when he came to the side of Mitsui Shou and was about to catch up with him, Mitsui Shou suddenly stopped and looked at the basket.
Sendoh didn't care whether it was a fake shot or not, because he knew that if he didn't make any defensive moves, the fake shot would turn into a real shot. Sendoh followed Mitsui Shou and stopped, raising one hand high.
However, just as Sendoh stopped, Mitsui Shou passed the ball to him. After passing the ball, Mitsui Shou took a side step, put less than half a meter away from Sendoh, and made a direct shot.
The sudden stop and side step combined with the dribbling shot made Mitsui's shot very fast. Although Sendoh was prepared, his feet felt like they were filled with lead after the sudden stop, and he had no way to stop Mitsui.
The basketball went straight across the court and landed accurately into the net.
As Mitsui Hisashi scored another goal, cheers broke out from the stands and the score on the scoreboard became 64:62.
"I never thought that Xiangbei High School could fight Ryonan High School so fiercely."
"After Jinguji Budo was silenced, Xiangbei High School still had players who were able to step up and continue the offensive firepower."
"This Mitsui Shou didn't even get the ball a few times in the first half. I didn't expect him to be such a great player."
Mitsui Shou did not have much performance on the national competition stage, and many viewers were not familiar with Mitsui Shou. It was not until the game with a strong team like Ryonan that the audience realized that Shohoku High School actually had a player like Mitsui Shou.
"Mitsui Shou... This player has a pretty good foundation, and his shooting style is unique. His shooting speed is very fast, coupled with a quick stop fake move, and that terrifying hit rate, making his offense very sharp."
"Zebei, if you were facing such an opponent, what would you do?"
In the stands, Goro Domoto looked at Mitsui Hisashi who was scoring consecutively, turned his head and asked Zebei.
"Just defend like this. Sendoh actually did a good job in this regard. He couldn't defend not because of poor skills or defensive misjudgment, but simply because his body couldn't keep up with Mitsui's movements."
"As an attacker, Mitsui has an advantage over the defender, and his height and speed are not much different from Sendoh, which makes the attacker's advantage crucial."
"Mitsui's advantage is outside shooting. Facing such a player, if the opponent has already started shooting, unless the defensive player's hard power exceeds that of the opponent by a large margin, it is impossible to defend against him."
"Mitsui is in hot form right now. Unless Ryonan sends a player who is taller, stronger, more flexible, faster, more reactive, and has better skills than Mitsui to defend him, there's no way they can stop him."
"Or, send more players to defend him."
In response to Goro Domoto's question, Sawakita Eiji spread his hands helplessly. His own offensive style was very similar to Mitsui's, but his shooting range was not as far as Mitsui's. At the same time, his speed and strength were stronger than Mitsui's.
It is normal that Sendoh cannot stop Mitsui Shou who has already started to attack.
"A player who can crush Mitsui Shou in all aspects should be sent to defend him... Although Ryonan High School has such a player, he can't get away at the moment."
Goro Domoto muttered, looking towards the court.
Ryonan High School advanced, and Shinomiya Tano ran at the end of the team, with slow steps and heavy breathing. He was using Ryonan's advance to recover his physical strength.
On the Xiangbei side, Jinguji Budo had already taken his position, with his hands on his knees, supporting his torso with his hands, his face full of fatigue. Sweat oozed from his skin, flowing down his cheeks, gathering above his chin, and dripping onto the floor.
"Fortunately, Xiao San had enough physical strength to play with the ball, otherwise, Xiangbei would have been defeated."
"That bastard... He kept clinging to me. His energy hasn't been completely depleted yet!"
Wu Dao looked at Shigong Tianye who was slowly entering the front court, wiped the sweat off his face with one hand, and quickly walked towards Shigong Tianye. He had already switched defense with Mugure Gongyan. Wu Dao knew that Mugure could not stop Shigong Tianye, and even facing Mugure, Shigong Tianye could not spend much effort on the offensive end.
In order to wear down Shigong Tianye's physical strength, Wudao had to defend himself. Shigong Tianye consumed a lot of physical strength when facing him.
In front of him, Shinomiya Tano approached the three-point line, looking at Jinguji Budou in front of him, feeling a little depressed.
"This guy attacked so fiercely in the first half and moved around so hard in the second half. Why does he still have the energy now? With my defense, shouldn't he have gone down to rest long ago?"
"I just don't believe that I can't drag you down, you bastard!"
Shigong Tianye was secretly furious. The confrontation between him and martial arts had changed from real swords and guns on the court to a competition of background and basics.
The confrontation between the two has returned to the most original form of sports competition, a contest of physical fitness!
The two players on the court were evenly matched and it was hard to tell who would win. Now, it all depended on who would be the first to give up under such a high-intensity match!
The focus of the stadium in the second half was indeed on Mitsui Hisashi, Sendoh and others, but both Jinguji Takeshi and Shinomiya Tano were very clear that if they fell first, the team might face defeat.
The winner of the game actually lies in the hands of these two people.
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