There were 1 minute and 10 seconds left in the first half.
The score between Ryonan High School and Shohoku was 43:49, and the difference was still six points.
The ball was in the hands of Ryonan High School.
In order to guard against Shohoku's sudden full-court press, this time, Shinomiya Tano and Sendoh did not enter the frontcourt early, but instead supported Fujima and protected Fujima as he advanced towards Shohoku's frontcourt.
However, Xiangbei had no intention of seizing the last minute or so to press the whole court, because the Xiangbei players knew very well that facing a team like Ryonan, pressing the whole court would have little effect.
On the contrary, their own defense will become weaker because the players are spread out. The full-court press tactic is still okay against teams with weak point guards, but it is meaningless against a team like Ryonan that can play with multiple point guards.
Soon, Fujima dribbled the ball into the Shohoku half, and Shimoyama and Sendoh, who were supporting him on his left and right, also dispersed to both sides.
There was only a little over a minute left, and Fujima's pace remained neither fast nor slow. His mentality was stable, and he did not feel any urgency to catch up.
Although Fujima's physical fitness is not top-notch on this court, his mentality is a goal that everyone needs to learn.
Although Ryonan was behind, Fujima was still quite calm in handling the ball.
After testing Rukawa's defense with a series of crotch dribbles, Fujima realized that the risk of his single attack would be too great. He straightened his back, dribbled high, and stepped back to create some distance. At the same time, Fujima made a pick-and-roll gesture to his teammates.
Soon, Hanagata Toru was pulled out from the inside, and Sakuragi's defense was also pulled by Hanagata. When Hanagata left the inside, Sendoh ran towards Fujima at first, pretending to try to catch the ball, but when he saw Hanagata move up, he immediately ran back and went straight to the mid-range.
Fujima saw Sendoh cutting in, and when he passed Rukawa with the help of Hanagata's pick-and-roll, he quickly passed the ball to Sendoh. The latter took the ball, jumped directly with the ball, and made a drifting mid-range shot, easily avoiding the chasing Mitsui Shou and throwing the ball out.
"Um?!"
"The shot was very quick! Such a ball would not..."
Mitsui Shou, who jumped high, couldn't even reach Sendoh's drifting shot. Seeing Sendoh's shooting posture, Mitsui Shou quickly turned his head to look at the basket and made a judgment in his heart.
“Swish!”
However, the next second, a crisp sound of the net directly interrupted Mitsui Shou's thoughts and brought him back to reality.
"It went in. A ball like this actually went in?!"
Mitsui Shou looked a little stunned after landing. He didn't expect that Sendoh, who couldn't even keep his center of gravity, could still make a shot! Sendoh's shooting position was not under the basket, but in the mid-range near the free throw line, which was still quite a distance from the basket.
The fact that he could score a ball like this is enough to show how skilled Sendoh is in mid-range shooting.
With 1'03" left in the first half, Ryonan High School narrowed the gap to 4 points, with the score at 45:49, alternating between offense and defense.
After Xiangbei served the ball from the backcourt, Rukawa dribbled the ball into the frontcourt. Just like the way Ryonan High School had marched before, the Xiangbei players were also afraid that Ryonan would suddenly play a full-court press, so when Rukawa was advancing with the ball, Jinguji Takeshi and Mitsui Hisashi both supported Rukawa.
There was no chance for Ryonan to press the ball throughout the court.
After successfully dribbling the ball into the frontcourt, Mitsui gave Rukawa an off-ball screen.
However, after getting his screen, Rukawa did not accelerate the breakthrough immediately, but just moved two steps in the direction of the screen. Then, when Sendoh and Fujima finished switching defense, he pretended to pass the ball in front of Sendoh, apparently preparing to shoot a three-pointer.
Rukawa's action immediately alerted Sendoh, who rushed towards Rukawa. Sendoh had already grasped Rukawa's mentality, he knew that this first-year boy from Xiangbei really dared to shoot a three-pointer at this time!
Sendoh's timely defense made Rukawa lose the opportunity to shoot a three-pointer, but in fact, from the beginning, Rukawa had no intention of shooting a three-pointer.
His actions were simply to lure Sendoh into raising his center of gravity to defend.
Rukawa, who was already shooting a fake ball, slammed the basketball with his right hand, quickly changing the direction of the ball and breaking through directly to the right side of Sendoh. He instantly passed Sendoh, Fujima and others, entered the middle distance, and came behind Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Due to Sakuragi's position, Rukawa's route was actually very small, and after passing Sendoh and letting go, Rukawa actually had no route to move at all.
However, Sakuragi's position still did not affect Rukawa's offense. When he moved behind Sakuragi Hanamichi, Rukawa directly received the ball and made a quick stop jump shot.
Sakuragi, who stood in place, acted as a human wall to block Hanagata's replacement and successfully blocked Hanagata's replacement.
It was an open shot, and the basketball flew directly from the side to the basket and went into the net.
As Rukawa scored the goal again, the supporters of Xiangbei burst into amazing cheers at this moment.
The audience no longer has any prejudice against this freshman player from Xiangbei.
On the basketball court, the way to prove yourself is so simple. As long as you can score the ball, the audience will not care whether your play is reasonable or not.
Even if Rukawa Kaede is on the same team as Jinguji Budou, as long as he can demonstrate his value, no one will blame Rukawa Kaede for not giving the ball to Jinguji Budou.
Even if Rukawa's performance can continue, the audience would like to see more and better performances from him.
"Another goal!"
"Damn Rukawa Kaede, how dare you steal the limelight from this genius!"
"If he had passed the ball to me, a genius, I would have been able to score this kind of goal as well. Damn it!
”
Sakuragi Hanamichi, who is in the same grade as Rukawa, was burning with jealousy when he saw Rukawa's performance. Seeing Rukawa's performance was better than his own, it was more painful for Sakuragi than killing him.
However, Sakuragi Hanamichi's jealousy was useless. At this moment, Rukawa Kaede was undoubtedly the most dazzling guy in Shohoku High School.
The audience's cheers were all dedicated to Rukawa Kaede alone.
With 52 seconds left in the first half, the score between the two teams was 45:51, and the difference was still six points.
"Hey, hey, hey, Lingnan, are you kidding me?"
"Everyone, cheer up! What are you guys doing letting that first-year kid score a goal like that?!"
"Come on! Ryonan, come on!
”
As the players of Xiangbei High School began to return to defense, the cheers of the audience in the stands gradually became much quieter. As the cheers faded, the supporters of Ryonan also stood up from their seats and shouted towards the field.
Allowing the freshman from Xiangbei to score consecutively, it has to be said that Ryonan has big defensive problems.
On the court, Shimono turned his head to glance at the scoreboard, then turned back to look at Rukawa who was already running to the front court. He grabbed his jersey to wipe the sweat off his cheeks, then ran towards the front court.
Shimono no Tano really has no good solution for Rukawa's offensive. Fujima's weakness on the defensive end is inevitable. The best way now may be to shrink the defense line, but Shohoku's outside threat has not weakened.
Both Mitsui Hisahisa and Jinguji Budo are characters that require attention.
Although Rukawa is leading the offense of Xiangbei now, it does not mean that Rukawa is the only one who can attack in Xiangbei.
"First... stabilize the offense and maintain the score difference. We can deal with that freshman in the second half."
Shinomiya Tianye had a plan in mind and quickly entered the front court of Xiangbei. Not long after he entered the front court, Fujima Kenji quickly dribbled into the front court. At this time, his eyes looking at Rukawa Kaede were also very different from before. Fujima now truly felt that this freshman from Xiangbei would be their biggest hidden danger in Ryonan!
"I can't just lose to a first-year like you!"
"If I lose here, my teammates will be very distressed!"
Fujima thought to himself, and after quickly dribbling the ball close to the three-point line, he did not ask his teammates for a screen. He paused, and then directly dropped the ball to the left to accelerate the breakthrough.
Fujima is a left-handed player, and his most accustomed breakthrough direction is different from that of ordinary players.
Seeing the opponent speeding up to break through, Rukawa quickly slid to follow. The direction of Fujima's breakthrough was the most comfortable right side for Rukawa, so he slid very quickly and blocked Fujima directly.
But at the moment when Rukawa successfully followed up, Fujima actually changed direction in front of his body and changed the direction of his advance without slowing down. Rukawa, who was defending sideways, had no time to adjust his position and could only watch Fujima pass by him.
And at the moment when Fujima broke through, Jinguji Budo had already come behind Rukawa Kaede for some reason and directly reached out to touch the basketball in Fujima's hand.
"What?!
!”
Fujima, who successfully broke through, never expected that Jinguji Takeshi would appear in this position. Normally, even if Sakuragi changed positions, he should be wary of Shinomiya Tano on the outside and be ready to fill the vacancy of Sakuragi Hanamichi at any time!
You shouldn't be here at a time like this!
"Fujima, you really didn't disappoint me."
"I knew that you could break through Rukawa Kaede even if you relied on your own strength!"
Jinguji Budou passed directly in front of Fujima Kenji, and the basketball in Fujima's hand also fell into Jinguji Budou's hand. With the basketball in hand, Jinguji Budou rushed directly to the front court, and with a back dribble, he quickly passed Sendoh who tried to block him and directly crossed the three-point line in his own half.
“Ohhh!
Jinguji Martial Arts, Jinguji Martial Arts has broken through!"
"Go back to defense! Go back quickly and stop him!"
"Damn it, Fujima was actually intercepted. Why did Jinguji Budo appear there?!"
As Takeshi Jinguji dribbled the ball out of the Shohoku half, the stands suddenly became lively. The Shohoku supporters, who had not seen Takeshi Jinguji perform for a long time, cheered at this moment.
"whispering sound!"
“This guy!”
"Did you judge that Fujima wanted to attack the ball himself?! That's why he recklessly filled in the defensive position in advance!"
Shinomiya Tano followed closely behind Jinguji Takeshi, and entered the Ryonan half almost at the same time as Jinguji Takeshi.
Jinguji Takeshi, who was moving at high speed, seemed to have noticed the movement behind him. He slowed down slightly and looked back at Shinomiya Tano.
Then he grinned at Shinomiya Tano.
While moving, Takeshi Jinguji quickly crossed the three-point line of Ryonan. At the same time, the basketball in Takeshi Jinguji's hand quickly slipped out of his hands and hit the backboard directly. Takeshi Jinguji himself also increased his running speed by three points and quickly crossed the free throw line.
Wu Dao, who was originally closer to the basket, quickly distanced himself from Shinomiya Tano. In the blink of an eye, he jumped up, grabbed the rebounding basketball with one hand in mid-air, and quickly dunked the ball into the basket.
“Bang!”
The dunk by himself directly widened the gap between the two teams to 8 points. The score was 45:53, and there were 45 seconds left before the end of the first half.
Jinguji Budo let go of the basket and fell back to the ground. He smiled at Shinomiya Tano, then trotted past Shinomiya Tano and quickly returned to defense.
However, just as Jinguji Takeshi had crossed the Ryonan three-point line and was heading towards the center line, the basketball turned into a red light and flew directly past Takeshi's side.
A quick long pass was made, and the basketball flew directly to Fujima, who was running to the midline and preparing to return to the court to receive the ball. Fujima turned around with the ball and quickly rushed to the Xiangbei half court. When approaching the three-point line, he encountered Rukawa's defense. After a quick change of direction, he passed the ball directly to Sendoh on the side.
Rukawa Kaede was attracted by Fujima's pass. Taking advantage of this gap, Fujima cut directly into the inside. At the same time he cut in, Sendoh's pass also arrived. A ground pass, the basketball fell directly into Fujima's hands. Fujima took the ball and took two steps and sent the ball into the basket with a reverse layup.
From the time the basketball was sent out to the time it entered the net, Ryonan High School only took five seconds to complete this series of operations.
The scoreboard was ticking, the difference narrowed to 6 points, the score was 47:53, and there were 40 seconds left.
"It's true... We can't relax for even a moment!"
"Ryonan!"
Takeshi Jinguji had already run back to the backcourt when Ryonan High School was organizing an attack. When he saw Fujima's pass, he immediately rushed towards Sendoh, but the opponent did not give him a chance to double-team him and gave the ball to Fujima who was in a gap in advance.
Seeing Ryonan launch a round of attacks so smoothly, Wudao couldn't help but cover his head and sigh.
He turned around and ran towards Ryonan's half.
At this time, Shigong Tianye was already standing outside the three-point line waiting for his teammates to return to defense. Seeing Jinguji Budou return so quickly, he couldn't help but tease:
"You, are we going to organize an attack so soon?"
"Our Ryonan's counterattack was pretty good, wasn't it?"
Wu Dao glanced at Shigong Tianye indifferently without saying much. He just raised his hand and pointed at the scoreboard on the sidelines. The meaning was self-evident.
"It's just a small difference. We will be able to catch up soon."
"Speaking of which, I suddenly had an idea. If Sendoh were to play as our Ryonan's point guard, would your freshman not be so arrogant?"
"Anyway... Mitsui doesn't have the ball either."
As he said that, Shinomiya Tianye called out to Sendoh and Fujima who had already returned to the court, signaling them to switch positions. The two did not hesitate when they heard this, and when they were in defensive positions, Sendoh naturally landed at the top of the arc, while Fujima landed at the horn.
When Shinomiya Tianye saw his teammates finished taking their positions, he smiled at Wudao.
"Stupid choice. He is young, not stupid."
Budo scoffed at the adjustments made by Shinomiya Tano.
However, Rukawa's choice when he dribbled the ball into the frontcourt was beyond Wudao's expectations... This kid didn't seem satisfied with defeating Fujima!
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...