Mitsui made another three-pointer, but this time, the audience did not cheer. Instead, they all held their breath and looked at Mitsui on the court.
When Mitsui Hisashi made a three-pointer when Jinguji Takeshi fell to the ground, most of the audience did not take it seriously. However, when Mitsui Hisashi stole the ball, made a counterattack, and scored a three-pointer on a fast break after Takeshi left the court, he had already become the focus of the whole audience.
And when Mitsui Hisashi scored another three-pointer despite the defense of Sendoh and Fujima, all the spectators realized that the player from Shohoku High School, who had been silent for who knows how long, seemed to be creating a miracle!
As Mitsui Shou made a three-pointer, the score was tied to 88:92. The Ryonan players, who had been relatively calm until now, began to panic unconsciously.
Jun Yuzumi stood under the basket, watching the basketball rolling to the ground. For a moment, he did not pick up the ball and go to the baseline to serve. His eyes were a little dull. At this stage of the game, the physical energy consumption was already very great. Facing the violent fast break of Xiangbei High School, Yuzumi's psychological defense line was being broken by himself.
"4 points... The lead is less than four points. With just two goals, Xiangbei can turn the tables!"
"We might lose in Lingnan, and Tian Ye is not on the court..."
At this moment, Jun Yuzumi's mind was full of distracting thoughts. He had only been playing for a year and did not have enough experience in major competitions. At this time, his mentality had begun to affect his body's movements.
"Ryonan, serve quickly!"
The referee kindly reminded him, and only then did Uozumi Jun's Tong Kong slowly come into focus. As the side being chased, the pressure faced by the Ryonan High School players was actually much greater than that of Xiangbei.
It's not just Jun Yuzumi. The young Guan Ping was originally a substitute. The fact that Ryonan was chased by Shohoku made him feel that it was his coming on the court that caused this situation, and his self-confidence suffered a huge blow.
However, Hanagata and Fujima maintained a good mentality. They were excellent players trained by the old and strong team Shoyo for more than a year and had rich experience in major competitions. As for Sendoh, he also felt some pressure, but such pressure could not crush him.
The basketball was sent out from the baseline, and Fujima, who received the ball, was still thinking about pushing for time. But at this point, how could Shohoku High School let him succeed
Under the command of Mitsui Hisashi, Xiangbei High School began to press the whole court. The team used a man-to-man defense and pressed the defense line to the Ryonan half. Fujima, who was holding the ball, soon encountered the close defense of Miyagi Ryouta. Under Miyagi's defense, Fujima's dribbling was indeed much more difficult.
but... .
“Bang!”
With a simple crotch kick, Fujima changed direction while moving, his body intertwined with Miyagi, and he easily passed Miyagi's defense. When Miyagi Ryouta turned around and quickly caught up with Fujima, Fujima Kenji stopped and started quickly, using the change of rhythm to once again pass Miyagi Ryouta.
At this stage, Miyagi has a clear gap in skills compared to Fujima. Miyagi's defense, which was arranged to press the entire court, gave people a feeling of overexerting himself, and he was repeatedly toyed with and evaded by Fujima.
Miyagi's defense couldn't put too much pressure on Fujima, but Fujima's advancement speed was indeed suppressed by Miyagi. However, this round of offense and defense gave the audience the feeling that Miyagi did not suppress Fujima's advancement speed through his own efforts.
Instead, under Miyagi's defense, Fujima was not only able to dribble freely, but also to deliberately control the speed of advancement.
"Miyagi's ability is still far behind Fujima's."
"If it were any other point guard from Ryonan High School, they would probably make mistakes under this kind of pressure, but if it were Fujima, he would never let Xiangbei have a chance!"
Coach Tianoka folded his hands across his chest with a calm look on his face. He himself did not notice that all the muscles in his body were tense at this moment. Although he looked calm on the surface, Coach Tianoka was actually very nervous.
"Sendoh!" Not long after Fujima dribbled the ball across the center line, Mitsui Hisashi realized that Miyagi Ryouta had no way to fight against Fujima, and immediately ran over here, wanting to double-team Fujima together with Miyagi, not wanting to waste time like this.
Fujima, who noticed Mitsui's movements, shouted and looked at Sendoh. Miyagi, who was defending him, was also attracted by the shout and subconsciously moved his body to block the line of sight between Fujima and Sendoh.
But as soon as Miyagi moved his body, Fujima Kenji lowered his body and broke through with the ball.
"What?!" Miyagi Ryouta turned around in surprise, only to find that Fujima, who had broken through, had no intention of shooting. After cutting in, he attracted Chiba's attention, then changed direction, took the ball in a small arc, and went to the small empty space near the bottom corner.
Miyagi saw this and rushed over. Before Fujima could get to him, he threw the ball to Hanagata. Hanagata raised the ball high and shot it. After the ball landed, he turned around and faced the basket. Chiba Daishi thought the opponent would continue to shoot inside, but Hanagata threw the ball with both hands and passed it back to Sendoh on the outside.
At this time, 16 seconds had passed.
"Go! Goal first!"
Sendoh grabbed the ball with both hands, held it in front of his chest with one hand, raised a finger with the other hand, and shouted to his players. He was not in a hurry at all, and even felt that time was going a little slowly.
Facing Sendoh who had the ball, Mitsui didn't dare to get too close. Mitsui was well aware of Sendoh's breakthrough speed. If he got too close, he would be broken through instantly by Sendoh.
Sendoh was not in a hurry. After the ball landed, he still maintained a distance of about half a meter between him and Mitsui Shou.
“10 seconds!”
“9!”
“8!”
When there were 10 seconds left in the attack time, Ryonan's substitute players began to shout loudly, counting down for Sendoh. As these players shouted one by one, Mitsui's expression became more and more serious.
Finally, when the players on the field shouted 6 on the timer, Sendoh, who was holding the ball, finally moved. He changed direction in front of his body, followed by a disguised inducement. The continuous swings of his body immediately deceived Mitsui Hisashi, who was already nervous, and his defense showed obvious flaws.
Sendoh seized this tiny flaw and quickly broke through from the right side of Mitsui. Sendoh's figure suddenly passed Mitsui. Just when Sendoh successfully broke through Mitsui and was about to attack the basket, a short red voice suddenly entered Sendoh's sight from the blind spot of his vision.
"Snap!" With a slight sound, Sendoh felt his hands empty, and the basketball was actually intercepted from the side.
Sendoh looked down and saw that Miyagi Ryouta had appeared beside him at some point and intercepted the basketball.
There were 33 seconds left in the game, but at this moment, the offense and defense were reversed!
“Quick attack!
!
"Miyagi Ryouta shouted, and the basketball hit the ground and passed to the front court. He didn't need to remind him at all, because at this moment, Mitsui Shou had already quickly run to the front court, grabbed the basketball and started to speed up.
"Back to defense! Back to defense!"
At this moment, Coach Tanaoka finally lost his composure and jumped up from his seat, roaring. And on the court, only Sendoh could catch up with Mitsui's fast break.
One in front and one behind, one red and one basket, two figures are chasing each other on the court.
Not long after, the red figure quickly approached the three-point line of Lingnanfang, and then stopped and looked directly at the basket.
Mitsui Shou stopped suddenly, looked at the basket, raised the ball and shot, but the next second, a blue figure quickly appeared from behind him and slapped the basketball in Mitsui Shou's hand. However, Sendoh's pursuit was quite hasty. Although he expected Mitsui Shou to chase with a three-pointer, his position was very bad. He wanted to block the shot but slapped Mitsui Shou on the forearm.
The huge force caused Mitsui Shou to tilt his body, and he fell to the ground with the ball, making a dull "bang" sound.
The basketball rolled out of the court and the referee's sharp whistle sounded, and the time froze at 26 seconds.
As expected, Sendoh committed a defensive foul and Mitsui got three free throws.
“Ouch… That hurts!”
"Damn it! He caught up with us so quickly!"
Mitsui Shou sat up and rubbed his left arm. The pain in his arm made him frown. He looked up at Sendoh beside him and couldn't help cursing in his heart.
However, the three free throws are also a rare opportunity for Xiangbei. For Mitsui Shou, this is the key to narrowing the score!
After sitting on the ground for a while, Mitsui felt the pain in his body eased a little, and then he slowly got up from the ground and walked to the free throw line.
The players from Xiangbei and Ryonan had already arrived at the Ryonan half. Fujima Kenji patted Sendoh on the shoulder, and instead of blaming Sendoh, he praised Sendoh in a low voice:
"Well done, Sendoh! This Mitsui Shou is in hot form. Instead of letting him shoot three-pointers, why not let him take three free throws?"
"The time spent on these three free throws can affect his touch to some extent."
When Sendoh heard this, he just hummed perfunctorily. In fact, he didn't think about these things at all when he was chasing and defending. Just now, there was only one thought in his mind, and that was to stop Mitsui Shou from scoring!
It's just a pity that he failed.
"Swish!" Without giving Sendoh time to think, Mitsui Shou took his first free throw quickly. Mitsui Shou did not make too many adjustments, nor did he deliberately delay time to give himself time to rest and breathe. His touch was hot and he didn't want the free throws to affect his feel.
“Swish!”
A few seconds later, the basketball returned to Mitsui's hands through the referee's hands. Mitsui didn't even dribble the ball. He just paused for a second and then quickly shot.
As the basketball went into the net, cheers and exclamations broke out from the stands.
"Wooooo! This guy from Xiangbei is so confident in his shooting that he doesn't even need to make adjustments!"
"Hey, hey, hey, is this true? Did the impact just now have no effect on him? He voted so soon?"
As the score between the two teams reached 90:92, Jinguji Budo finally recovered and looked towards the field.
"Two points, one free throw opportunity, and 26 seconds left. If we defend the next ball, we should have a chance to counterattack!"
"Xiao San, you must win!"
Jinguji Budo took off the sweat towel covering his head and watched the situation in the field intently.
On the court, Mitsui once again received the basketball passed by the referee. This time, Mitsui dribbled the ball, then grabbed the ball with both hands and quickly raised it above his head. However, at this moment, Mitsui hesitated and glanced at the scoreboard out of the corner of his eye.
"26 seconds... Given Fujima's ball control skills and the level of the other players in Ryonan, it would be easy to drag it out for 26 seconds."
"The ball must be in the hands of our Xiangbei team!"
Mitsui Hisahito's eyes shrank as he recalled Jinguji Budo's actions during the practice match.
"Huh..." Mitsui Shou let out a long sigh of relief, dribbled the ball again, and then raised the ball above his head. His movements were smooth and gentle, but the next second, Mitsui Shou suddenly exerted force with both hands, and the basketball went straight into the basket without any arc.
"Ding!" With a light sound, the basketball hit the front of the basket at a high speed and bounced straight back into Mitsui's hands. This sudden change startled Yuzumi, Hanagata and Akagi Takenori who were preparing to grab the rebound under the basket, and they all looked towards Mitsui.
The referee who saw this scene widened his eyes slightly and held the whistle in his mouth, but did not make any further response.
Compliant!
Bang!
"Quick, defend! Defend!"
The basketball bounced back to Mitsui's hands. After a brief moment of shock, coach Tanaoka shouted to his players. At this time, Mitsui had already walked out of the three-point line with the ball, and Sendoh and Fujima, who were waiting outside the three-point line, didn't even look at the other members of Xiangbei, and went straight to Mitsui.
Facing the double-team, Mitsui knew clearly that it was impossible for him to dribble the ball for 26 seconds under the defense of these two people. He quickly passed the ball to Miyagi before Sendoh and Fujima completed the encirclement.
Miyagi got the ball, Sendoh and Fujima had no intention of chasing, and they just stayed beside Mitsui. They both knew that this attack of Xiangbei High School would definitely be carried out by Mitsui. From the time Jinguji Budou left the court until now, Mitsui has created too many miracles.
“Xiao San!
Mistress!
!
"In the stands, De Nan watched the sudden change on the field, shouting and waving the flag in his hand. Coach Anxi in the rest area also clenched his hands. Mitsui's choice was really beyond his expectations, and Mitsui's series of actions also gave him hope that Xiangbei could turn defeat into victory.
With Miyagi Ryouta holding the ball, Ryonan High School's Uozumi, Hanagata, and Kanpei quickly established a triangle defense line around the paint area. Sendoh and Fujima simply ignored Miyagi Ryouta, Chiba Daiishi, and Kakuta Satoru, and focused all their attention on Mitsui Hisashi.
They were not worried about Miyagi Ryouta's three-pointer. Miyagi might not dare to take such a crucial shot. If it was just a hasty two-point shot, Sendoh and Fujima would not panic at all. They were confident that they, Ryonan, could quickly counterattack.
Sure enough, as they expected, Miyagi hesitated when he got the ball. Mitsui was guarded by two people and had no chance to receive the ball at all. Miyagi himself did not dare to shoot. As for passing the ball to Chiba and Kakuta, forget it. Miyagi did not trust either of them very much.
Time passed by minute by minute, and Mitsui Shou didn't seem to be in a hurry. He just stood quietly outside the three-point line, within the protection range of Sendoh and Fujima.
"Pick and roll!"
Time flew by, and when the number displayed on the stopwatch on the scoreboard turned into 8, Mitsui Shou let out a low roar and quickly cut into the inside.
Sendoh and Fujima did not dare to relax and followed up immediately. Hearing Mitsui's call, Akagi Takenori and Chiba Daiishi responded instantly and hurriedly came up to do off-ball screen.
Although Sendoh and Fujima had anticipated this, when the pick-and-roll came, Fujima was blocked by Chiba Daiishi due to his smaller stature, while Sendoh was only slightly delayed.
Mitsui Shou ran from one side of the court to the inside line on the other side of the court with 3 seconds left. At the same time, the basketball flew out of Miyagi's hands and accurately into Mitsui Shou's hands.
Mitsui Shou, who had the ball, stood outside the three-point line and turned quickly, holding the ball. The next second, Sendoh's figure flew into the air, and his raised arms directly blocked all of Mitsui Shou's shooting routes.
"!"
However, Mitsui's action in the next second made Sendoh sweat. Mitsui quickly received the ball, dribbled to his side, and then raised the basketball again.
"Fake move!"
“Oh no!”
Sendoh's body suddenly shook, and the next second, the basketball flew out of Mitsui's hands. At the moment the basketball was shot, a confident smile appeared on Mitsui's face.
"Got it!" An excellent shooter can know whether his shot can go in the instant the basketball is shot, and Mitsui Hisashi is that kind of excellent shooter!
“Motor motor!
!
"A loud shout rang out.
Mitsui's smile froze on his face. Two blue figures suddenly appeared in front of him, one on the left and one on the right. The blue jerseys covered Mitsui's entire vision.
"Hanagata?! Fujima?!"
"All--"
“Peng!
!
”
The final bell rang, and at the same time, a muffled sound exploded in Mitsui Shou's ears. A red column whizzed past Mitsui Shou's ears and hit the floor behind him with a bang.
Mitsui Shou turned his head blankly and saw a basketball hit the wall at the side of the court, bounced back quickly, and then slowly rolled to his feet, hit Mitsui Shou's sneakers, and stopped.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..