The game between Shohoku High School and Sanno Industrial finally came to an end.
As strong as Sanno Industrial was, it still lost to Shohoku High School by 14 points. Throughout the game, Shohoku High School's ace Jinguji Budou scored 43 points alone, but in the eyes of the audience, in the first half of the game between Shohoku High School and Sanno, Jinguji Budou didn't have many shots.
But even so, when the statistics were compiled after the game, Takeshi Jinguji's score was still the highest among all other players in the game.
It is worth mentioning that Sakuragi Hanamichi, a freshman at Shohoku High School, grabbed 13 rebounds and scored 24 points in this game. Facing a strong team like Sanno Industrial, the freshman Sakuragi actually delivered star-level data.
Compared with him, the statistics of Rukawa Kaede, who fought hard in the first half, were not so impressive. Although his points were in double digits, they were only a dozen points. His brilliance was overshadowed by his peer Sakuragi Hanamichi.
After the game, Sakuragi Hanamichi proudly showed off to other players from the same class.
Kiyota Nobunaga, Nango and others could only be annoyed by Sakuragi's arrogant attitude, but they had to accept his achievements with a pinch of their lips.
There is no way, data is just too hard.
Moreover, the opponent was a super strong school like Sanno Industrial, and Sakuragi's opponents were national-level players like Nobe Masahiro and Kawata Masashi. In terms of scoring, Sakuragi might have picked up some missed opportunities, but the rebounds were grabbed by Sakuragi Hanamichi with his strength.
The player with the most rebounds in the whole game was Hanamichi Sakuragi. In this regard, even Masashi Kawata and Masahiro Nobe could not compare with Hanamichi Sakuragi.
As for Takenori Akagi, who only played half the game, his rebounding data was overwhelmingly dominated by Hanamichi Sakuragi. Just looking at the data, the two are not players of the same level at all.
It was precisely because of Sakuragi Hanamichi's active performance in this game that other participating teams in the tournament also began to pay attention to this freshman from Xiangbei.
Sakuragi Hanamichi's level of rebounding ability is enough to guide the direction of the game at critical moments, and it is impossible to ignore it.
After the game between Shohoku High School and Sannoh ended, the Sannoh players, led by Goro Domoto, entered the player tunnel and left the field.
Their national tournament journey had come to an end. The Sanwang players had missed the national tournament championship for two consecutive years, which made the champion players feel very sad, especially the seniors Masashi Kawata and Kazunari Fukatsu.
They participated in the national competition with the team in their freshman year, and that year, they came on as substitutes and successfully helped the team win the national championship.
However, since they became the starting lineup and the mainstay of Sannoh, the team failed in the national competition for two consecutive years, which made the young Kawata and Fukatsu Kazushin very uncomfortable.
They believed that the glory of Sanwang was destroyed by them, and this feeling of self-blame lingered in their minds. The two young players were under great pressure, and finally, after returning to their team's locker room, Fukatsu Kazunari finally couldn't hold it anymore and tears flowed uncontrollably.
His emotional collapse set off a chain reaction, and some of the players with strong self-esteem couldn't help but shed tears of disappointment. For a while, the locker room was filled with the sobbing of the Sanwang players.
Goro Domoto looked at the scene in front of him, raised his head slightly, and tried hard to control his emotions.
He could feel the sadness in the hearts of these players. For those third-year players, this year's IH was the last IH in their high school career. The once glorious Sanwang Industrial had actually started to go downhill in the past two years.
Even an adult like him could not bear such pressure for a while, let alone these young players.
The old fans of Sanno and the people of Akita Prefecture will not understand Sanno's failure just because its opponents are so strong. They only know that the glorious Sanno Industrial missed the national championship for two consecutive years when players like Sawakita Eiji and Kawata Masashi were in charge.
They couldn't even make it to the finals of the national tournament. Sannoh's decline started with this generation of players!
"You... still have a chance." Goro Domoto walked to the side of Sawakita Eiji, and looking at Kazunari Fukatsu and the others who were already crying, he could only offer weak words of comfort.
Upon hearing this, Zebei Rongzhi smiled bitterly, shook his head and remained silent.
...
After the game, Xiangbei High School returned to the locker room, quickly packed up their things, and went to the stands under the leadership of Coach Anxi.
After the match between Shohoku High School and Sanno Industrial, the next matches were those of the other teams in Group A.
Kumamoto Third, which defeated the Hojo Shisho and successfully advanced, played against Meiho Industry, which defeated Yokodama Industry and successfully advanced.
The winner of these two teams will be the opponent of Xiangbei High School in the next round. Therefore, after the game, the Xiangbei players quickly packed up their things and went to the stands.
They need to observe carefully their next opponents.
At this time, Takeshi Jinguji had changed his wet jersey into a clean white training shirt. He went to the stands with his teammates, sat on the bench, and looked at the court.
At this time, the players of Kumamoto Third and Meiho Industries had already entered the field, but the staff of the conference were still cleaning the field, so the players of these two teams were still standing on the sidelines and did not enter the field to warm up.
Meiho Industries captain Kijiro Hirabayashi stood on the sidelines, dribbling the ball casually, and began warming up early.
He did not pay attention to the opponents on the other side of the court, but looked around the stands, as if looking for someone. Soon, Zhu Xingda's eyes fell on a corner of the stands.
There, the Xiangbei players had just taken their seats.
"Shohoku..."
"After defeating Kumamoto Third, we will face Shohoku High School and Jinguji Budo... Can we really defeat such an opponent?!"
Hirabayashi Kijiro was dribbling the ball, thinking this in his heart. Before he even played against Jinguji Budo of Shohoku High School, Hirabayashi Kijiro already felt the heavy pressure.
His dribbling speed began to increase unconsciously, and he could no longer control his impatience.
"Kijiro, the game hasn't started yet, there's no need to warm up so vigorously, just relax."
"You've already seen the strength of Kumamoto No.3. Their strength is just like that. Don't worry about it."
The coach of Meipeng Industry is a little old man in his fifties, only a little over 160cm tall, thin and slightly hunched. At this time, Coach Meipeng rubbed the stubble on his chin, turned his head to look at Kijiro Hirabayashi of his team, and said with a smile.
"Sorry... Coach." Hirabayashi Kijiro retracted his gaze, said sorry to the coach, took the ball, tucked the ball between his waist, and cast his gaze towards his opponent on the other side of the court, Kumamoto Third.
Kumamoto Third is a team from Kumamoto Prefecture. Unlike basketball powerhouses like Kanagawa, Kumamoto only has one spot in the national tournament. Kumamoto Third has a pretty good overall team strength to win this spot.
In the ratings of basketball magazines, Kumamoto Third is rated as a B-level team.
It is considered to be in the middle among all participating teams.
However, Meipeng Industries, which is about to fight with them, is no weakling either.
Last year, Meiho entered the national competition, and they qualified from Aichi Prefecture, which is a well-known basketball powerhouse. The fact that they were able to make it from Aichi Prefecture already shows the strength of Meiho, and this year, Meiho was even rated as an A-level team.
Among all the participating teams, we are at the top.
Therefore, Meiho's captain Kijiro Hirabayashi did not take this game too seriously. In his eyes, Kumamoto Third, who came from a small county, could not pose any threat to an A-level team like them.
From the very beginning, Kijiro Hirabayashi had set his sights on competing against Shohoku High School.
In his opinion, only a strong team like Xiangbei High School can pose some threat to their Meipeng Industrial.
...
Soon, the cleaning staff finished cleaning the court. At the referee's signal, the coaches of both teams shook hands in front of the referee's seat, and the players also walked into the court and began pre-match warm-ups.
In the stands, the Xiangbei players who had just won the game began to comment and point fingers at the players from both teams who entered the field.
"A-class Meiho Industries versus B-class Kumamoto Third, just looking at the ratings of the two teams, you can tell who will win!"
Koichirō Nango was eating something and holding a magazine in his hand. On the magazine was the ratings of the teams participating in this year's national competition.
When he saw that this game was between the A-level team and the B-level team, Nango Koichirō lost some interest.
Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was standing next to him, heard what Nanxiang said and suddenly shook his head, saying with a look of regret:
"Ah! Your brain is really simple!"
"If the strength of a team is determined solely by its rating, then there is no need to play any games. I suggest that trophies be awarded directly based on the team's rating."
"Bleached monkey, can you use your monkey brain for a minute? Will Kumamoto definitely lose? I don't believe it, I think Kumamoto will win!"
It's worth mentioning that although Sakuragi Hanamichi's tone of voice was very irritating, his words were not without reason. Although Nango Koichiro felt that there was nothing wrong with Sakuragi's "strength and weakness theory", he was still very angry when Sakuragi called him a monkey brain, and he directly rebuked:
"Asshole! Who are you talking about, red-haired monkey?!"
"I don't believe that Kumamoto Third can win! Kumamoto Third is definitely no match for Meiho Industries!"
“I said it!
”
Nanxiang stretched his neck and howled. After that, Nanxiang Kouichiro seemed to be dissatisfied. He stood up from his seat and shouted to the field: "Meipeng Industry, come on! Don't lose!"
Seeing Nango Koichiro cheering for Meiho, Sakuragi Hanamichi was not to be outdone. He also stood up and shouted towards the field: "Asshole! Guys from Kumamoto Prefecture, don't lose to Meiho Industries! Fight well and win honor for this genius!"
"Don't let idiots look down on you!"
Two Xiangbei players rushed to cheer for two different teams on the field. This strange scene attracted the attention of the audience.
No one could understand why the players of Shohoku High School would cheer for Meiho Industries and Kumamoto Third. What was even more confusing was that the players of Shohoku were actually cheering for players from different teams. Others could not understand this operation.
At this time, Jinguji Takeshi was sitting between Sakuragi Hanamichi and Nango Koichiro. The two bastards were shouting and making Takeshi give him a headache.
Rubbing his head, Wu Dao couldn't stand the howling of the two men anymore. He couldn't help but reach out and grab the two men's clothes and pulled them back to their seats.
"Asshole! Stop disturbing me while I'm watching the game!"
"Be quiet!"
After being scolded by Wudao, Sakuragi and Nanxiang really quieted down. But the two of them were still restless in their seats, staring at each other, and then they simultaneously folded their hands and looked towards the field.
"Oh..."
"The captain of Meiho Industries is called Hirabayashi Kijiro. He is 191cm tall and plays as a small forward."
"The Meipeng team he led had a fierce battle with Aiwa students in the county competition before! They only lost to Aiwa by 12 points."
Sakuragi Hanamichi and Nango had just been quiet for a while when Mitsui Shou, who was sitting in front of Takeshi, picked up the magazine on the ground. After flipping through it briefly, he suddenly saw the introduction of Meiho in the magazine and said with a little interest.
In high school basketball, few teams have small forwards over 190cm tall. Many teams' centers may not even be able to reach such a height, let alone the small forward position.
From the personnel configuration of Meiho, Mitsui Hisashi could vaguely feel the strength of Meiho Industries. A team with a small forward of this height would not be weak.
Mitsui's words immediately attracted Nango Koichiro's attention. He leaned his head forward, rested his chin on Mitsui's shoulder, and carefully looked at the magazine in Mitsui's hand. He deliberately exaggerated and praised:
"Oh!
!”
"A small forward with a height of 191cm, so tall! He is almost as tall as a power forward!"
“How powerful is this!
Even a power forward might not be able to stop him! "
Nanxiang kept glancing at Sakuragi while he was talking. Sakuragi was annoyed by being stared at, so he snorted and turned his head away, ignoring Nanxiang. Seeing Sakuragi like this, Nanxiang suddenly became active, praising Meiho Industry non-stop, as if he had a very good relationship with Meiho.
The warm-up period passed quickly, and just as Sakuragi and Nanxiang were arguing, the referee had already blew the whistle to start the game.
Both teams take their positions in the center circle, ready for a jump ball.
After a long whistle, the basketball was thrown into the air.
The center of Mingpeng Industrial is No. 8, and his height is estimated to be around 195cm, while his opponent is a little shorter than him, maybe even less than 190cm. He jumped up and was directly caught by the center of Mingpeng, and quickly passed it to the backcourt defender.
The latter took the ball and went out, passing it to No. 4 Hirabayashi Kijiro. Hirabayashi Kijiro did not stop for a moment and quickly advanced with the ball. Then, in the surprised eyes of the audience, he quickly approached the three-point line and made an emergency stop and pulled up. He didn't even wait for him and his teammates to get into position and directly threw the ball out.
The basketball quickly crossed half court and went into the basket with a crisp sound.
The players of Shohoku team in the stands were all looking at the scene in amazement. After a while, they all turned their heads and all their eyes fell on Jinguji Budou.
Even Jinguji Budo was surprised when he saw this goal. He raised his eyebrows, somewhat unable to believe what was happening before his eyes.
Although it was only one goal, Hirabayashi Kijiro's playing style... was surprisingly familiar to Jinguji Budo!
... ... ... ... ... ... .