The game between Ryonan High School and Luoan only started with a round of offense and defense, and Izumi Asao was carried off the court under the gaze of the spectators and players.
This sudden change caught everyone off guard.
Shinomiya Tano originally thought that the opponent would at most be carried off the court to rest for a while, but unexpectedly, the opponent was actually carried directly out of the court. It seemed that he was being rushed to the hospital.
The culprit who caused all this, Shimoya Tano, also had a dull look in his eyes. He really couldn't understand how the opponent could be so fragile that he fell down after being hit, and after falling down, he was directly carried out of the court.
"Hey, Tian Ye, this move of yours directly helped us Lingnan win the game!"
Sendoh Akira was also staring blankly at Izumi Asao who was being carried out of the stadium by the crowd, and couldn't help but say something sarcastic to Shinomiya Tano beside him.
“... ..”
"It's too fragile. I didn't even use any strength!"
"It's just a layup. This level of physical confrontation shouldn't count, right?"
Shigong Tianye retracted his gaze and said helplessly. His attack was just a normal layup. God knows, he didn't even mean to collide with the opponent intentionally, and it was the opponent who took the initiative to meet him. He was injured and left the court like this, which was unexpected by Shigong Tianye.
Izumi Asao's injury was indeed beyond everyone's expectations. The Luoan players saw their teammate being carried off the court and stared at Shigong Tianye in anger. Shigong Tianye noticed the Luoan players' gaze and also looked embarrassed.
After the referee confirmed that Izumi Asao could no longer play, he urged Luoan's coach to send substitute players to the court. At the same time, the timer on the sidelines entered the one-minute countdown, giving Luoan only one minute to arrange the substitute players.
The one-minute countdown passed quickly, and soon, the players from both teams returned to the court.
The substitute center that Luoan replaced was only 190cm tall. Although in the high school basketball arena, a center of this height is already enough to crush the center players of many schools.
But this is the third round of the national competition after all, and a center of this height is not very eye-catching among the many qualifying teams.
Moreover, compared with the 212cm starting center of Luoan High School, Izumi Asao, he seems a little weak.
The injury time ended and Luoan served the ball from the backcourt.
Luoan's defender received the ball in the backcourt and slowly moved forward. At the same time, other players of Luoan also quickly entered the frontcourt and quickly took position in Lingnan's half.
Luoan's backup center followed his teammates and quickly entered the basket, standing in front of Yuzumi Jun, sinking to the midline with his back to the basket. Yuzumi lowered his head slightly, glanced at the center in front of him who was ten centimeters shorter and thinner than him, and shook his head slightly.
Too... weak!
Yuzumi Jun just leaned towards Luoan's backup center with his body, and in just a few breaths, Yuzumi Jun used his huge strength to push his opponent away from the basket. Luoan's backup center was not at the same level of strength as Yuzumi Jun.
"hateful!"
Luoan's team seemed to have long been accustomed to playing around the big center. The tactical system these players know also seems to be executed around the center.
At this time, Izumi Asao was injured and the substitute center was unable to occupy a good position in the interior. It seemed that Luoan's players suddenly couldn't play.
The Luoan defender who entered the frontcourt with the ball saw that the "big center" was squeezed out of the inside, and suddenly lost his initiative. He dribbled the ball but was slow to pass it, causing Luoan's offense to slow down.
Seeing that his opponent was sticking to the ball for a long time, Uekusa Tomoyuki immediately stuck to him. At this moment, Sendoh, who was not far away, also took action and quickly rushed towards Luoan's point guard, and immediately formed a double team with Uekusa Tomoyuki.
Under the defensive pressure of Sendoh Akira and Uekusa Tomoyuki, Luoan's point guard passed the ball in a hurry, and this pass allowed the Ryonan players to seize the opportunity.
Shimono Shima simply stretched out his hand and easily intercepted the opponent's pass, and then rushed towards Luoan's basket with the ball.
The muscular Sigong Tianye's speed in dribbling the ball was also quite terrifying. In the blink of an eye, he had already passed many Luoan players on the field with the ball.
The pass was intercepted, and Luoan's players hurriedly ran back to try to stop Sigong Tianye's fast break, but their pursuit speed was simply not enough in front of Sigong Tianye.
“Bang!”
The Luoan players who were returning to defense had just run to the three-point line when Shigong Tianye had already dribbled the ball to the basket, jumped up with the ball, and dunked the ball into the basket with one hand.
The terrifying force caused the entire basketball hoop to shake violently.
The Luoan team members who were chasing Sigong Tianye were also staring blankly at Sigong Tianye who was holding the basket with one hand. None of them had expected that this muscular Sigong Tianye could have such a terrifying speed. They were obviously chasing him in time, but they were still left several meters behind by Sigong Tianye.
This kind of terrifying athletic ability was beyond the expectations of the Luoan team members.
Amid the enthusiastic cheers of the audience, Shigong Tianye released his right hand from the basket and landed steadily on the ground. The basketball stand was still shaking until he landed.
Shigong Tianye raised his eyes and glanced at the Luoan players not far away, and said with a smile: "I didn't expect your center to be injured."
"I didn't mean to do that. I play very cleanly."
"Don't worry about it. Just focus on the game and do your best to defend."
After saying that, Shigong Tianye raised his feet and ran slowly towards the front court. He thought that the opponent did not chase him because he was concerned about his strength and did not dare to come up to defend him.
However, the fact is that the speed of Luoan's team members simply cannot keep up with him.
Shimoya Tano has long been accustomed to facing strong opponents, and these players of Luoan are not on the same level as him.
This fast break by Ryonan High School also officially showed the audience the gap in hard power between Luoan High School and Ryonan High School. Luoan couldn't even keep up with the fast break by Shigong Tianye, let alone resist it.
When this huge gap in individual strength is put into the game, it quickly becomes a huge gap in strength between teams.
This difference in strength was soon reflected in the score.
At the end of the first half, the difference between the two teams was 55:16, a terrifying 39 points.
After the first half, Coach Takeo replaced Shimonoseki, Sendoh and inside player Jun Uozumi with a group of substitute players.
When the second half started, the players of Ryonan were the sophomore center, Guan Ping, the sophomore guard, Tomoyuki Uekusa, the third-year power forward, Ryoji Ikegami, the sophomore small forward, Yoshitaka Fukuda, and the shooting guard, Kenji Fujima.
Coach Takeo did not replace all the ace players. After replacing the two scorers, Shimoya Tano and Sendoh, he replaced them with Fujima and Fukuda.
After Ryonan High School replaced two scoring stalwarts, Shimoya Tano and Sendoh, the offensive momentum in the second half was not much weaker, but the defense of Ryonan High School was much weaker than in the first half.
Such defensive intensity also made Luoan's players feel relieved.
In the second half, Ryonan and Luoan played back and forth. Compared with the crushing situation in the first half, the second half of the game was more exciting.
However, the advantage that Ryonan, led by Shimoya Tano, established in the first half was too huge. Even if Luoan's players tried their best in the second half, they could not make up such a huge gap.
At the end of the game, Ryonan High School won the game with 98:60, with a score difference of 38 points.
In the stands, after watching the game of Ryonan High School, Xiangbei High School did not stay in the stadium to watch other teams' games.
For Shohoku, the team they need to pay most attention to in this national competition is Ryonan, which is also from Kanagawa Prefecture. The strength of other teams is meaningless to Shohoku.
The Xiangbei players who returned to the hotel early were not idle. They took out the video of the previous Urayasu Commercial Game, analyzed the opponent of the next game, and then watched the video of several games of Ryonan High School in this national competition together.
Although the Shohoku players watched the Ryonan game, there is still a difference between watching it live and analyzing the game video.
However, despite this, Ryonan High School has not yet fully demonstrated their full strength in the national competition. These game videos are of little use to Xiangbei.
In the evening, after dinner, the Xiangbei team members studied the race route for a while and then went to bed early.
Sufficient rest and sleep can allow the Xiangbei players to recover quickly. They still attach great importance to tomorrow's top 8 match!
...
The next day.
In the Hiroshima Arena.
The Xiangbei players arrived at the venue early in the morning and began to warm up in the gym. Their opponent was Urayasu Commercial.
One is the favorite to win the national tournament, and the other is an A-level team that is struggling to qualify.
Normally, this would be a game without any suspense, after all, the gap between the two teams is too big. However, Xiangbei's lineup today was a group of young first-year players.
This made the game, which originally had no suspense, become interesting.
Among the first-year players of Xiangbei, the ace scorer is undoubtedly Rukawa Kaede, and Xiangbei's own players all think so.
But when the actual game started, Kiyota Nobunaga, as the point guard, didn't pass the ball to Rukawa Kaede at all. He either broke through and forced a layup, or attracted a double-team and passed the ball to Ichiro Kusami in the open space.
More often than not, he treated the game as a stage to perform, making various breakthrough shots.
Kiyota Nobunaga's offensive efficiency was not very high and he missed many shots, which gave Sakuragi Hanamichi and Nango Koichiro the opportunity to shine.
For a while, all four players of Xiangbei team performed well, but Rukawa, the small forward, often took a long time to touch the basketball, and no one passed the ball to him.
"Really....beating around..."
The offense of Xiangbei High School was completely disorganized. The offensive tactics such as splits and bull horn attacks that the freshmen had learned were not used at all in this game.
Some only have singles... singles... and singles.
Mitsui Shou was looking at the first-years playing in a nonsensical way, with a frown on his face.
However, the situation of the game did not get out of control due to the chaotic attack of Xiangbei High School.
Although the players of Urayasu Commercial cooperated well and their defensive rotations were quite timely, facing the talented players of Xiangbei, Urayasu Commercial was unable to stop Xiangbei's offense... .
At the same time, although Sakuragi Hanamichi and others were competing to perform on the offensive end, they played their own games.
But when it comes to defense, these five people become very tacitly integrated. There is no need for verbal communication when rotating on defense. Often, they understand each other's intentions with just a glance and switch defenses.
To some extent, Sakuragi Hanamichi, Rukawa Kaede and the other five can be said to have a tacit understanding... .
The freshmen of Xiangbei had the advantage on both offense and defense, and the balance of victory tilted towards Xiangbei High School.
When the final whistle sounded, Xiangbei won the game with 83:66.
The first-year students who won the victory also cheered loudly with pride. With their own efforts, they "led" Xiangbei to successfully enter the semi-finals!
"Hahaha, I am indeed a genius. Under the leadership of this genius, Xiangbei has created the best results in history!"
"Thanks to my performance, Xiangbei was able to win. I am the biggest contributor to the victory!"
"Tsk, wild monkey, what nonsense are you talking about?! The credit belongs to this genius!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi and Kiyota Nobunaga were arguing over credits. Wudao looked at these noisy guys and covered his head with his hands in pain.
At this point, Xiangbei High School successfully won the first place in Group A, obtained a place in the top four, and advanced to the semi-finals!
In the match against Urayasu, the Xiangbei players played very easily. In tomorrow's match, everyone will be in the best condition!
After the match between Shohoku and Urayasu Commercial, the next match will be between Ryonan High School and Houguan High School. The winning side will become the first in Group B and obtain a place in the semi-finals. At that time, the winning side will face Shohoku High School, which is the first in Group A.
Houguan High School was not very strong. They were just a team that had benefited from the grouping bonus and was rated as Class B. In the match against Ryonan High School, they surrendered in less than half the game.
Ryonan, who easily defeated the last gate, also advanced to the semi-finals, and their players were not too exhausted. It can be predicted that after a day of rest, Ryonan's players will be able to recover to their heyday.
After the morning game ended, both Shohoku and Ryonan knew who their next opponent would be, so they did not go to watch the afternoon game and returned to the hotel early.
In the afternoon when Ryonan and Shohoku were absent, Hakata University of Commerce Affiliated High School in Group C and Aiwa Gakuin in Group D won the final victory in their respective groups and successfully advanced to the semi-finals.
Tomorrow's matches will be between Shohoku in Group A and Ryonan in Group B; and Hakata University of Commerce Affiliated School in Group C and Aiwa Gakuin in Group D.
The national competition has officially entered its most intense stage.
...
Early this morning.
Media from all over the country arrived at the venue early, set up their equipment, and prepared to witness the upcoming semi-finals and finals.
In the stands, the crowd surged. The spectators sat down early and looked at the court excitedly. There was even a blond foreign friend who walked to the front row, took a quick look at the stadium, looked at the players' tunnel, and said to himself:
"I don't know how Wu's team is doing."
"If you don't play well at Oak Hill Academy, what's the point of coming to a place like this to play in the high school league?"
"Today I want to see if Neon has any rivals that are worthy of Wu's attention."
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .