The outcome of the game between Shohoku High School and Shoyo High School did not go beyond Jinguji Budo's expectations.
Just as Budo had expected, the careless Sakuragi Hanamichi and his team were soon defeated by Shoyo. With an average height of over 185cm, Shoyo High School did a great job on defense.
Nobunaga Kiyota did not strictly implement the triangle offense tactics arranged by Coach Anzai. He missed a three-pointer while holding the ball. Then he relied on his excellent speed to force two breakthroughs, but was blocked by Shoyo's inside players.
The quality of Shoyo players is far from comparable to that of a team of Miuradai's level. Kiyota Nobunaga treated his opponents as small fry like Miuradai, so it was inevitable that he would suffer a defeat.
However, after several rounds of failures, the players of Xiangbei did not seem to learn their lessons. Sakuragi Hanamichi felt that he was better than Kiyota Nobunaga, and launched a one-man attack after grabbing a backcourt rebound. Unfortunately, his one-man fast break was destroyed by the Xiangyang players who returned to defense in time.
After several consecutive defeats, Xiangbei did not score a single point.
On the contrary, Xiangyang performed quite steadily on the offensive end, making full use of the height of the players and creating short open shooting opportunities with the help of pick-and-roll.
Five minutes into the game, Shoyo High School was leading 12:0, effectively shutting out Shohoku High School.
On the court, it was Xiangbei's offensive round.
Kiyota Nobunaga looked at the scoreboard at 12:0 and was sweating profusely. He no longer dared to look at the expressions of Coach Anzai and Jinguji Budo.
The score difference widened to double digits, and even Shohoku was still shut out. Even if Kiyota Nobunaga was slow-witted, he realized that these first-year students had gone too far.
"Something bad is happening!"
"The score difference is already double digits, and we haven't been able to make even one attack yet."
"Although I don't know how Coach Anxi will react right now, I can imagine that he probably wants to kill us now."
"Akagi-senpai and Mitsui-senpai, who have been in my sight all this time, haven't said a word... This is the scariest thing!"
"This goal must be scored no matter what."
Kiyota Nobunaga slowly carried the ball into the frontcourt, and after a quick glance at the scoreboard, he immediately observed Shoyo's defense, not daring to look at Coach Anzai's expression.
Although Coach Anzai has not scolded them so far, and even the captain Mitsui Hisashi has not said much, Kiyota Nobunaga knows that the less Mitsui Hisashi and the others speak, the more terrifying the anger accumulated in their hearts will be.
The situation must be restored in order to calm the anger of the coach and seniors!
"Ryukawa Kaede!"
Kiyota Nobunaga rarely called out Rukawa's name, and finally passed the ball to Rukawa after entering the frontcourt. After the basketball was shot, Kiyota Nobunaga quickly penetrated into the inside line, and Shoyo also reacted quickly when they saw this, and the defense line shrank. Realizing that there was no chance, Kiyota Nobunaga quickly left the inside line and went to the left bottom corner.
At the same time, Sakuragi Hanamichi also moved to the left free throw line. With his back against the defender, he reached out to Rukawa Kaede for the ball.
Unlike Kiyota who had an idea in his mind, Sakuragi Hanamichi... had no idea at all.
However, although Sakuragi could not recognize himself, Rukawa Kaede was one of the calmest people in this Xiangbei High School team. In the previous round of attack, he and Katsumi Ichiro were both excluded from the offensive sequence, and the inside attacks of Sakuragi, Kiyota, and Nanxiang were all interfered and intercepted by Xiangyang.
Rukawa Kaede firmly believes that he is the only one who can break this deadlock!
"After playing for so long, Rukawa finally has a chance to get the ball."
"I don't know how Xiangbei arranged their offensive tactics. The ball was only given to Rukawa Kaede now."
"If we let those first-years keep messing around, Xiangbei might not even be able to surpass Xiangyang."
In the stands, Yuzumi, who was watching the game, saw Rukawa holding the ball and said in a muffled voice. He was really worried about Xiangbei. According to the previous Xiangbei's style of play, Xiangbei might not be present in this year's national competition.
"Haha, Xiangbei just has a few more troublemakers."
"Shoyo can't possibly be a match for Shohoku. Someone will clean up their mess. No matter how much trouble those first-years make, they won't lose to Shoyo."
"In my opinion, Xiangyang may not be a match for those first-year students."
Kenji Fujima, who came from Shoyo, did not have deep feelings for the Shoyo team, so he directly expressed his thoughts.
As soon as he finished speaking, Rukawa Kaede on the field quickly took action.
Opposite Rukawa is Shoyo's captain, who is 190cm tall and weighs 81kg. Although he is not as explosive as Rukawa, his physique is also quite outstanding.
Rukawa Kaede, who was holding the ball on the outside, dribbled the ball at a slow pace and with a high center. Just ten seconds after the attack time, Rukawa Kaede suddenly started, lowered his body, and accelerated to break through directly from the right side.
Rukawa's breakthrough came suddenly, but Hasegawa's reaction was also quite quick. He moved sideways and caught up with Rukawa's footsteps. Rukawa's advance was disrupted, and he leaned sideways against Hasegawa's chest, slowing down his speed.
Realizing that he couldn't get past his opponent in one step, Rukawa simply stopped suddenly, dribbled the ball between his legs quickly, and changed the direction of attack. After causing Hasegawa to let go, he suddenly dribbled the ball in the opposite direction, successfully passed Hasegawa in a series of disguised moves, and rushed directly into the inside.
"Motor motor~~"
However, Rukawa, who had just broken through Hasegawa, heard a loud shout from behind him. At the same time, the Shoyo players guarding the inside also moved up to double-team him. For a moment, Rukawa's shooting space was drastically compressed.
"Hmph!" Rukawa glanced to his side and saw that Hasegawa had not caught up yet, and the inside defender was still some distance away from him, so he made a decisive shot.
While dribbling, he lifted the basketball towards the basket in a "fishing for the moon in the bottom of the sea" posture.
"Um?!"
"Is it a pass?!"
The basketball was released, and everyone in Shoyo was stunned when they saw it, and turned their heads to look at the basket. They guessed that Rukawa Kaede's release posture should be a pass. At the same time, the Shoyo inside player who had originally stepped forward to make up for the defense changed direction and quickly ran towards the basket.
“Bang!”
“Swish!”
However, a slight sound of the basketball hitting the backboard and the crisp sound of the basketball hitting the net brought everyone back to reality.
Rukawa's passing posture is actually a shot!
"What?!"
"Shooting?! With that posture? And it went in?"
The basketball went into the net, and everyone in the Shoyo field was stunned for a moment. Then, they came to their senses and looked at Rukawa in disbelief.
Rukawa Kaede, who successfully scored a goal, had a calm look on his face. After confirming that the basketball had entered the net, he turned around silently and returned to the court to defend, as if he was accustomed to such goals.
"Score! Xiangbei scored!
!”
There was cheering in the stands after Rukawa scored, but the cheering was not enthusiastic. Most of the audience were not satisfied with the performance of Shohoku High School in this game. Many people called for Jinguji Takeshi, Mitsui Hisashi and others to play in the game.
In the eyes of the audience in Kanagawa Prefecture, Shohoku is one of the top teams in the country and, like Ryonan, is the business card of their Kanagawa Prefecture high school basketball.
They would not allow Shohoku to play such an ugly game and tarnish the reputation of Kanagawa Prefecture.
The fact that Xiangbei was trailing Shoyo by double digits had already angered the audience, and Rukawa Kaede's goal could only change the views of a small number of the audience.
"Huh... finally scored..."
"Hopefully we can secure victory in the first half. If not, Budo, we have to make some preparations."
After Rukawa scored a goal, Mitsui looked at the time and said in a deep voice.
"Well, of course. If they can establish victory, that would be the best. If not, let's wait until we have established victory before letting them play."
Wu Dao nodded upon hearing this. He and Mitsui had the same idea. In fact, when the score difference just reached double digits, Wu Dao wanted Coach Anxi to replace the starters. In the round-robin tournament, if two teams have the same number of wins, they will compare the net points.
Although Wudao is full of confidence in the current strength of Xiangbei, he does not want to take too many risks.
However, Coach Anzai suppressed them and planned to let Sakuragi and the others continue playing.
Wudao, Mitsui Shou and others had no choice but to accept Coach Anzai's decision.
Rukawa's goal did not bring a "morale boost" to Sakuragi and the others. Even though they were behind by more than ten points, their morale was still high. In the final analysis, the problem of Sakuragi and the others was not that they had no morale, but that their morale was too high, so that they became arrogant.
The ten-point deficit only woke up Kiyota, but Sakuragi and Nango's concepts have not yet completely changed.
During the transition between offense and defense, Shoyo made a strong mid-range shot after several passes. Nagano, who was shooting, overcame the defense of Kiyota Nobunaga and sent the ball into the basket.
Soon, the ball was in Xiangbei's hands again.
This time, Kiyota Nobunaga chose to give the ball to Rukawa Kaede, and used the same trick again, moving around to distract the Shoyo defense.
Getting the ball again, Rukawa gave up the high-post single play and instead passed the ball to Koichiro Nango who was in position under the basket.
"Pass the ball?!"
"He just scored a goal on his own, and now he's passing it?!"
Rukawa's passing surprised the audience in the stands. In their opinion, Rukawa was one of the most reliable players of the Shohoku team on the field. His high-post singles was much more stable than that of Nango Koichiro in the interior.
After Rukawa passed the ball, even Nango Koichirō himself was stunned. Although he was trying to get in position, he never thought that Rukawa would pass the ball. His main purpose was just to tie down Shoyo's inside line.
After a brief moment of surprise, Nan Xiang quickly gathered his attention and backed up to the ball in the low post.
Shoyo's inside player, third-year player Shoichi Takano, is 193cm tall and weighs 85kg, and is not inferior to first-year player Koichiro Minamigo at all.
Although Nanxiang is 192cm tall and weighs 89kg, which makes him heavier than Takano Akiichi, his bones are not fully developed as he is in the first year of high school, so he is only on par with Takano Akiichi in confrontation.
After two consecutive back-to-backs, Nanxiang did not get any advantage. Realizing this, he suddenly turned around with the ball, trying to break through the blockade of Takano Shoichi. However, his move was expected by the opponent, who moved sideways with his arms raised high, directly blocking Nanxiang.
Nanxiang turned around to face the basket and saw that his move was predicted by the opponent. Thinking of the several close-to-the-basket shots that were interfered with by the opponent before, he glanced at the scoreboard on the sidelines. His heart began to beat fast when he saw the score difference. He glanced at Katsume Ichiro who was in a small open space in the corner and chose to pass the ball.
"fool!
”
Seeing this, Akagi Takenori couldn't help but curse, feeling a little disappointed. He saw the concerns in Nanxiang's heart. What if he was predicted to break through the defense? ! Nanxiang's explosive power is stronger than the opponent's. He can just make a strong start after continuous fake moves. Why does he need to pass the ball? !
What can such a timid inside player do? !
"It's not bad. At least the view is good, right?"
Wudao said with a smile. Just as he finished speaking, Katsume Ichiro received the ball in the corner and shot a three-pointer cleanly. The Shoyo players defending him didn't expect that Katsume Ichiro had already shot the ball just by not paying attention, and it seemed that his shooting ability was quite good.
14:5.
The score difference was finally narrowed to single digits, and the Xiangbei substitutes on the sidelines finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Just now when Xiangbei was trailing by double digits, the low pressure emanating from seniors like Akagi and Mitsui made everyone hold their breath. At this moment, the atmosphere finally eased a little.
However, the expressions of Mitsui Shou and others were still not good.
"It seems like they have finally put aside their contempt and are..." Before Mitsui Shou finished his words, Sakuragi Hanamichi lost his concentration while defending, allowing Shoyo to successfully counterattack.
The reason for his distraction was very simple, it was just because of Haruko's voice from the sidelines, "Come on, Sakuragi!"
God knows what's going on in Sakuragi Hanamichi's mind. He could be distracted even in such a situation.
After Sakuragi realized his mistake, he was eager to get back on track. When Xiangbei was attacking, he actually stole the pass from Rukawa Kaede to Nanxiang... and forced a mid-range shot himself.
The result was of course not as expected. Sakuragi's shot was indeed a little bit accurate, but only a little bit. Under the interference of a tall man like Xiangyang, his shot was not accurate at all. If Sakuragi was clear-headed and in an open position, he might still be able to make a mid-range shot, but...
"Ding~" With the sound of iron hitting the target, Xiangyang took the rebound ball into his arms and quickly launched a counterattack.
Although Shoyo scored a fast break layup, the counterattack horn that Shohoku had just sounded came to an abrupt end.
"Idiot, why did you steal my ball!"
"Fool, you wasted a great offensive opportunity."
After serving the ball from the backcourt, Nanxiang quickly entered the frontcourt, chattering non-stop as he passed Sakuragi.
Sakuragi was like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water. Although he knew it was his own fault, his ears strangely closed by themselves and he could not hear Nanxiang's words at all. His eyes were firmly fixed on Kiyota who was carrying the ball into the front court. He did not give up and reached out for the ball, and even murmured to himself to hypnotize himself:
"I'm a genius! I'm a genius!"
"I am the future ace of Xiangbei!"
Sakuragi's attitude made Akagi on the sidelines unable to bear it anymore, and he said to Coach Anzai:
"Coach, I think... we need to wake that Sakuragi up."
Upon hearing this, Coach Anxi just laughed and did not make any substitutions.
Jinguji Budo looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi in the field, touched his chin, thought for a moment, raised his eyebrows, stood up from his seat, and shouted to Sakuragi in the field:
"Sakuragi!
”
“Come on!”
"Girls love to watch exciting slam dunks. Come and dunk one!"
Sure enough, Sakuragi Hanamichi, who had originally closed his ears, suddenly opened them, and a perverted smile suddenly appeared on his handsome face. Although the smile disappeared instantly, Wudao knew that the boy must have heard it.
Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was originally in position, suddenly turned around without the ball, and in the blink of an eye, he passed the defensive player. His movements were smooth and swift, catching people off guard.
"Beautiful!" Sendoh, who was watching the game in the stands, saw Sakuragi turn around, his eyes lit up and he whispered in his heart.
Kiyota Nobunaga on the court didn't want to pay attention to Sakuragi Hanamichi at first, but when he saw Sakuragi turn around and cut without the ball, his body moved unconsciously and he threw the ball towards the basket.
Aerial relay.
Sakuragi Hanamichi successfully invaded the basket, jumped up, grabbed the ball with one hand in the air, and dunked the ball into the net.
The violent slam dunk directly bounced off Takano Shoichi who was trying to block it. The basketball hoop shook violently under Sakuragi's huge force, making a squeaking sound as it could not bear the weight.
The audience in the stands, who had originally not paid any attention to Budo's words, were now staring blankly at Sakuragi Hanamichi on the field.
Some reporters who had seen Sakuragi play were the first to react. They exclaimed and pressed the shutter of their cameras.
"Very good, let's just go... past Shoyo."
Jinguji Budou smiled knowingly, walked back to his seat silently, sat down, and held his head with both hands, looking very comfortable, as if the game of Xiangbei had nothing to do with him, the regular player of Xiangbei.
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