At the referee's whistle, the players from Shohoku High School and Miuradai walked into the court.
As the players of both teams came on the field, there was a deafening cheer from the stands, but then the cheers quickly died down.
The audience thought they would be able to witness the performance of Takeshi Jinguji, one of the "Kanagawa Twin Stars", in today's game, but unexpectedly, Shohoku did not send Takeshi Jinguji to the field at all. Not only Takeshi Jinguji, but even senior players such as Mitsui Hisashi and Akagi Takenori did not play.
In their place are a group of new faces.
"Shohoku's Jinguji Budou didn't play? Did they send a bunch of substitutes to play?"
"Who are these people? I've never seen them before! Are they first-years at Xiangbei High School?"
"Oh! I know that person, he was a third-year student at Takeishi Junior High School, Rukawa Kaede! I didn't expect that he would go to Shohoku."
The audience in the stands were talking about the situation. Some expressed dissatisfaction with Xiangbei's lineup, while others were very interested in Xiangbei's newcomers.
Sakuragi Hanamichi walked into the court and listened to the discussions of the people around him, looking unhappy. However, this emotion did not last for a few seconds, and was dispelled by a soft voice of "Come on! Sakuragi!"
"Hehehe~ Haruko~" Sakuragi Hanamichi looked in the direction where the voice came from, and happened to see Haruko in the front row of the stands, waving at him. A perverted smile immediately appeared on his face.
"idiot."
Rukawa Kaede glanced at Sakuragi Hanamichi with disdain, walked into the center circle and took his position. He looked at the players of Miuradai.
The Miuradai team is well-known in the high school basketball circles of Kanagawa Prefecture. They are quite strong and can make it to the top 16 every year, and occasionally break through the top 16 and make it to the quarterfinals.
But they have never made it to the semi-finals.
In terms of team strength, it can be ranked fourth or third in Kanagawa Prefecture.
This year's Miuradai players all have good height requirements, with most players being around 185cm tall. Even the defender is over 180cm tall, which is quite acceptable for high school competitions within the county.
Rukawa simply glanced at the players of Miuradai and quietly took his position in the center circle.
"I'm finally having my first high school battle!"
"Let the audience in Kanagawa see how powerful I am!"
"Oh.....are you my opponent in this game?!"
Nango Koichirō put his hands on his hips and slowly stood on the center line, looking down at Miuradai's center with a look of disdain on his face.
The Miura Tai center who was facing Nan Xiang did not say anything, but just raised his head slightly and glanced at Nan Xiang with an ambiguous smile on his face.
As the players from both teams took their positions in the center circle, the referee walked into the court with the basketball.
“Beep!”
After a whistle, the basketball was thrown into the air.
"Ola~~"
The basketball went into the air. Nango Koichirō seized the opportunity, let out a strange cry and jumped up, easily pushing the ball to the backcourt. Kiyota Nobunaga caught the ball steadily in his hands and shouted excitedly:
"Quick attack!"
As soon as Kiyota Nobunaga finished speaking, the players of Xiangbei started running. However, Miuradai's defense speed was quite good. When Xiangbei entered the front court, they also quickly returned to their positions, leaving Xiangbei no chance to launch a surprise attack.
Seeing that the fast break failed, Qingtian slowed down his pace, began to adjust his rhythm, and prepared to take position.
"The speed of returning to defense is not bad."
"There was no chance for a fast break."
Kiyota Nobunaga whistled in a frivolous tone, not taking Miuratai's players seriously at all. After a brief observation of Miuratai's defensive formation, he planned to make a single breakthrough first to test the quality of Miuratai's point guard.
Miuradai used a man-to-man tactic. Since Sakuragi, Nango, and Oda Ryumasa were all positioned closer to the inside, the defensive force near the paint area was quite strong.
Kiyota Nobunaga obviously noticed this, and he slowly took the ball and led the defensive players along the three-point arc to the left corner (45° direction).
After a quick glance at the shot clock, Kiyota Nobunaga suddenly changed his rhythm, dropped his center of gravity, and broke through directly. The Miuratai point guard, who was keeping a high center of gravity, obviously did not expect Kiyota's breakthrough to be so sudden and so fast. He was not able to check and was directly slipped by Kiyota Nobunaga.
"So weak..." Kiyota Nobunaga easily passed through his opponent, and even after passing him, he looked back at him, moved to the middle distance, and made a direct shot.
It was a stress-free shot, and Kiyota Nobunaga's layup hit the basket steadily.
After successfully completing the first attack, Xiangbei High School began to retreat quickly. And Kiyota Nobunaga's performance also attracted cheers from the audience.
It's not that Kiyota Nobunaga's goal was so brilliant, it's just that most of the audience supported Xiangbei High School. They didn't hesitate to applaud Xiangbei.
"Not a bad start."
On the court, Mitsui saw his teammate score first, looked at Kiyota and said with a smile.
"Well, that's a good start."
"But if you get carried away, you'll suffer."
Wu Dao smiled when he heard this, stretched himself, and said casually.
When Mitsui Shou heard this, he nodded slightly and looked towards the court expectantly, wanting to see how these freshmen on his team would play.
The strength of the Miuradai team is indeed below average, but...
On the court, offense and defense switch.
After conceding a goal, Miuradai quickly brought the ball into the frontcourt and used a pick-and-roll to cover the defender for a breakthrough.
Originally, this level of pick-and-roll could not stop Kiyota Nobunaga who was well prepared, but the No. 4 who did the pick-and-roll secretly turned sideways during the pick-and-roll and tripped Kiyota Nobunaga. Although Kiyota Nobunaga relied on his excellent coordination to stand firm and did not fall, his pursuit speed also slowed down.
After a successful breakthrough, the Miuradai guard took a mid-range shot, but the basketball bounced out of the rim.
"Hahaha!
The rebound is mine!"
Nango Koichiro saw the rebound and shouted excitedly, easily occupying the best landing point. Just as he was about to jump up and grab the ball, the center of Miuratai hit Nango Koichiro's abdomen with a hidden elbow. Nango, who was holding his breath and accumulating strength, felt pain and his movements froze. The falling basketball was lightly touched by the center of Miuratai and put into the basket.
“That…..that bastard!
”
This was not the first day that Nango Koichiro had played basketball. When he noticed the opponent's little move, the smile on his face instantly disappeared. He stared at the departing Miuradai players with an angry look on his face.
He did not argue with the referee. After all, he was not a rookie, and he played the center position where physical confrontation was the most intense. Although he did not encounter such things very often, he had seen them before.
He just didn't expect to meet such a player in the first game of the high school county competition.
Unlike the hidden elbow from Nanxiang, Qingtian did not notice the problem with the opponent's pick-and-roll and just thought he had tripped accidentally.
"Hey, red-haired monkey, and that Xiaotian, that center forward has dirty hands and feet, be careful."
Nanxiang suffered a loss and reminded Sakuragi Hanamichi and Oda Ryumasa that both of them could be considered inside players and would inevitably have contact with Miuradai's center.
Although the rookie Sakuragi Hanamichi has played quite a bit of basketball, he has never encountered this kind of person during the team practice games. He didn't understand what Nanxiang meant by "dirty hands and feet" and looked confused.
"Dirty hands and feet..."
“Are those guys so unhygienic?”
Sakuragi Hanamichi narrowed his eyes in disdain. He was a very hygienic young man, and he would spend half an hour taking care of his hair before going out. He hated people who didn't pay attention to hygiene the most!
Kiyota Nobunaga looked at Sakuragi speechlessly. He also heard what Nanxiang said when he came to receive the ball. But he didn't mean to explain to Sakuragi. Sakuragi wouldn't have a direct feeling about this kind of thing just by hearing it. He would know when he encountered it later.
At the same time, Kiyota himself was also careful. After receiving Nango's serve, he increased his speed of advancement.
"You're not doing it right... Then speed up!"
Kiyota Nobunaga thought to himself and shouted to his teammates, "Speed up! Quick attack!"
Under the leadership of Kiyota Nobunaga, Shohoku High School began to speed up. Although Sakuragi was confused and didn't know what was happening, his running speed also increased.
In the blink of an eye, the Xiangbei team pushed forward into the frontcourt. The freshman team without Katsumi Ichiro did not play the triangle offense. Kiyota Nobunaga did not have any intention of playing any tactics. After entering the frontcourt, he directly broke through, singled out the opponent's point guard, and then shot from mid-range.
Kiyota Nobunaga's shooting accuracy was average, and the basketball slid around the rim and fell outward. However, just as the ball left the rim, it was dunked into the net by Sakuragi Hanamichi who rushed into the basket.
Under the basket, center Miura Tai used his old trick to elbow the opponent and thought he had secured the rebound, but he didn't expect Sakuragi Hanamichi to appear at this moment and he was directly dunked over by Sakuragi.
"Haha! The first goal of the high school competition!"
"I am the genius Sakuragi Hanamichi, remember this!
”
Sakuragi, who scored a slam dunk, shouted happily and introduced himself, completely unaware that the center from Miuradai had a face so gloomy that water could drip out of it.
Sakuragi's tip-in and dunk was indeed beautiful. While the audience was cheering, they also remembered this red-haired young man from Xiangbei High School.
"Sakuragi Hanamichi... Shohoku High School also has outstanding first-year students!"
In a corner of the stands, Hainan's tall coach opened the folding fan in his hand, looked at Sakuragi on the field, and chuckled.
"It looks good, but... still not as good as our first graders in Hainan!"
Shinichi Maki was sitting next to Coach Gaotou watching the game. While talking, he turned his head to look at the players sitting next to him with a look of satisfaction.
Sitting next to Maki Shinichi is a freshman who just joined Hainan High School this year. Coach Gaotou took great pains to recruit him to Hainan.
Mori Shigehiro.
A first-year high school student from Aichi Prefecture.
16 years old, height 199cm, weight 100kg, wingspan 218cm.
Standing reach is 259cm, and running reach is 363cm.
A young man with talent written all over him.
"Haha, Hiro, Shohoku High School is one of the best teams in Kanagawa Prefecture."
"We in Hainan only have two rivals in the county, and Xiangbei is one of them."
"It's a pity that their main players didn't play in today's game. You could have seen how the country's top scorers play."
"But it doesn't matter. You will meet him eventually. And I believe that as long as you and Amu work together, Hainan will definitely avenge our previous humiliation this year!"
“Hmph….Hmph!
”
As Coach Gaotou spoke, a smile appeared on his face, and his smile became more and more outrageous.
As Coach Gaotou was communicating with his players, the game on the field became more and more intense.
However, the fierceness mentioned here does not mean that the scores of the two teams are close and the game is fierce. It means that the actions of the players of the two teams are becoming more and more "intense".
Although the players of Miuradai are average and have big loopholes in defense, they make a lot of small moves when playing. And Sakuragi Hanamichi and the others are all young players. It is impossible to tolerate Sakuragi's violent temper, so they just play tit-for-tat.
However, this kid had no experience, and his movements were very large. In just a few minutes, Sakuragi had already committed two fouls. Fortunately, the referee did not call him a flagrant foul, otherwise Sakuragi would have been cleared from the court long ago.
Not only Sakuragi Hanamichi, but also Nango Koichiro and Kiyota Nobunaga had their personalities figured out by their opponents, and their anger was provoked, so each of them committed a foul.
Oda Ryumasa, who has a relatively calm personality, did not become Miuradai's target. Rukawa Kaede, who has a cold personality, is not easily provoked, and the opponent's little tricks have little effect on him.
When Rukawa Kaede wanted to attack, his opponents simply couldn't keep up with his rhythm, let alone make small moves on him, it was difficult to even touch him. Miuradai was not so rampant as to commit a blatant foul.
However, even so, Xiangbei's offensive efficiency has declined more or less. Sakuragi, Nango, and Kiyota were affected and could not concentrate on the game, and all the offensive pressure fell on Rukawa alone.
And because of this, Rukawa Kaede played an amazing performance in this game.
16 minutes into the game, the score between the two teams was 43:29. Shohoku High School had the ball, and Rukawa received the ball sideways at the right corner.
As the basketball entered Rukawa's hands, amazing cheers broke out from the surrounding stands.
Surrounded by cheers, Rukawa kept his expression unchanged, took a step, quickly swept the ball to the basket, and at the same time faked the ball with a triple threat. The Miuratai players who were defending Rukawa overreacted to every move of Rukawa.
Rukawa was just feinting with the ball, and his opponent slid in advance to block the road, so he was fooled by Rukawa and left a wide route for him to advance.
Rukawa Kaede got the ball without any hesitation. He broke through directly with his left hand and made a quick stop jump shot from mid-range.
His graceful shooting movements, handsome face and tall posture instantly attracted even more enthusiastic cheers from the female audience in the stands.
“Swish!”
The basketball went into the net and Rukawa scored his 24th point.
Miuradai's playing style has a great impact on Sakuragi Hanamichi and others, but it has no effect on Rukawa Kaede. Instead, it makes Rukawa Kaede's desire to attack even stronger.
"Ryukawa Kaede is doing really well!"
"After today's game, I'm afraid the number of fans will increase several times!"
Mitsui Shou looked at a corner of the stands and said with some emotion. There, there were three girls dressed in "gorgeous" clothes, screaming Rukawa Kaede's name. Next to the three girls, a flag with "Rukawa Kaede" written on it fluttered without wind. No one knew what kind of magic was cast on it.
Even though Mitsui Shou was knowledgeable and experienced, it was the first time he had seen such a "professional" cheerleading team.
"As a cold-faced scorer, it's normal for him to have many fans."
"He's handsome, plays basketball well, and like me, it's normal for him to be the center of attention."
Wudao said with a smile, completely ignoring Mitsui Shou's rolling eyes. At this point in the game, the suspense had actually been lost. A school of the level of Miuradai could not stop Rukawa Kaede who was firing on all cylinders.
But... it's not enough for Rukawa to just perform well.
...
“But… Damn it!
!”
“That stinky fox actually stole my limelight!
!”
"These bastards from Miuradai... How dare they look down on this genius!"
"Unforgivable! Unforgivable these bastards!"
"I'm going to kill you, bastard!"
Listening to the cheers of the audience around him, Sakuragi Hanamichi's handsome face flushed with anger. Seeing the Miuratai player who was facing him coming in front of him, his eyes were already red. He was obviously a young athlete, but at this moment, he exuded a majestic murderous aura~
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