With a long whistle from the referee's seat, the second half of the game between Xiangbei High School and Ryonan High School officially began.
The players of both teams began to walk towards the court, and when the audience noticed that the dazzling red-haired boy was missing from the Xiangbei team, they were all stunned.
"Huh? The red-haired kid from Xiangbei High School is gone?"
"Dismissed? Didn't that kid play pretty well? Was he replaced?"
"What a pity! I actually quite liked him."
In the stands, the discussions of the audience spread into the stadium and were heard by Koichirō Nango.
As a freshman, Nanxiang was immediately displeased when he heard that a fool like Sakuragi Hanamichi actually had fans. He walked into the field and raised his neck and shouted loudly:
"Listen to me carefully!
!”
"I'm Nango Kouichirou, a freshman at Shohoku High School!"
"I will lead Xiangbei High School to win the national championship!
”
Nango Koichiro's voice was quite loud, and he managed to suppress the discussion in the stands. The audience members who heard this were all stunned and looked down at the court.
"Hey, hey, hey, is this new player from Xiangbei a fool? What nonsense is he talking about?"
"Leading Shohoku to win the national championship? Although I am optimistic about Shohoku, even if they win the national championship, it is the credit of Jinguji Budou and the others, right? What does it have to do with this kid?"
"He's even more arrogant than that red-haired kid?! Is this kid strong?"
The audience looked at Nango Koichiro on the field and talked about it for a while. Nango saw that the audience's attention had shifted to him, and nodded with satisfaction. He turned his head and pointed at the Ryonan people who had just entered the court not far away, and said loudly:
"Lingnan, you still recognize me, right?"
"I will lead Xiangbei to defeat you."
However, not many people from Ryonan who entered the field turned to look at him. Only Yuzumi, who had a slight impression of Nanxiang, turned his head and replied:
"Oh! Then come on, Shohoku's... uh..." Yuzumi suddenly forgot Nango Koichirō's name and got stuck.
"Asshole...Asshole!
"When Nango Koichiro saw the thoughtful look on Uozumi Jun's face, he became furious and was about to lose his temper when Akagi Takenori walked past Nango from behind, grabbed the back of Nango's neck, and walked into the stadium.
"..." When the spectators in the stands saw Nango Koichirō being carried into the stadium by Akagi like a chicken, the expressions on their faces became more varied.
"Is it really okay to let such an idiot play? Xiangbei."
"This guy has the exact same personality as the red-haired one!"
Some supporters of Xiangbei couldn't help but worry about Xiangbei High School. There was no way because Nanxiang's behavior was really too stupid, which made everyone worry about Xiangbei.
Soon, players from both teams began to take their positions in the center circle, and the ones standing on the center line preparing for the jump ball were still Akagi Takenori and Uozumi Jun.
The rest of the players on the Xiangbei side began to take positions around the center circle. Rukawa Kaede still played the point guard position and stood in his own backcourt.
Coach Anzai established Rukawa's position as the team's main attacker during the halftime break, but he did not switch Rukawa to the role of a point guard or a small forward.
Rukawa is still responsible for playing as point guard.
Although the players of Xiangbei didn't know why Coach Anxi made such a decision, they still followed Coach Anxi's instructions and prepared for the next game.
Mitsui Shou could probably guess Coach Anzai's arrangement. He probably felt that a player like Rukawa who was good at holding the ball could only fully display his personal strength if he completely controlled the basketball.
Soon, the referee walked into the court with a basketball, and after a whistle, he threw the ball into the air.
On the center line, Akagi Takenori and Uozumi Jun both shouted loudly, then jumped into the air one after another and reached out to hit the basketball.
In this jump ball, there was an obvious difference between Yuzumi and Akagi in controlling the timing of the jump ball.
I don't know if it was because of nervousness or distraction, but Akagi's actual control was far less accurate than Yuzumi's. The basketball was touched by Yuzumi first and pushed towards the Ryonan backcourt.
In the second half, Ryonan High School took the lead.
"Start defending!"
Seeing this, Mitsui Shou immediately began to retreat, and at the same time shouted to his teammates. After the halftime break, the physical strength of the players from Xiangbei High School and Ryonan had recovered to a certain extent.
Therefore, the Xiangbei players' defensive actions were still quite agile, and in the blink of an eye, they had retreated back to their own half.
After returning to the court, Jinguji Takenori and Akagi Takenori went straight to the inside. On the outside, Nango Koichiro, Rukawa Kaede and Mitsui Hisashi were responsible for defense.
The point guard of Ryonan High School is still Kenji Fujima. When he noticed the defensive position of Shohoku, he looked at Koichiro Minamigo who was standing in front of Shinomiya Tano with some surprise. Then after dribbling into the frontcourt, he passed the ball sideways directly to Shinomiya Tano.
Fujima was quite curious about the defensive formation that Shohoku High School had deployed at this time.
He wanted to see how Xiangbei High School used a freshman to defend their trump card.
After getting the basketball, Sigong Tianye swept the ball to the right with a tentative step facing the basket. With a light touch, Sigong Tianye immediately retracted his feet, and then dropped the ball to the left side, starting a direct breakthrough.
The extremely fast movement made Nanxiang unable to react in time. By the time he came to his senses and turned around to chase, Shigong Tianye had already crossed the three-point line and entered the mid-range.
Looking at Jinguji Budo who was advancing under the basket, Shigong Tianye smiled and said to himself:
"Actually, my shooting skills are not bad!"
"Is this kind of defense very different from leaving it alone for me?"
Shimono Shimomiya made a sudden stop at mid-range and then shot directly. The basketball flew directly towards the basket and then dived into the net.
Shimono's shooting skills have never been weak, and his mid-range shooting percentage is even higher than Sendoh's.
But Shimota is so used to using violence that it seems that his shooting level is just average.
But in fact, apart from the difficult shooting movements such as fadeaway shots, Shimonoseki's hit rate is incredibly high for "open" shots like the one he's doing now.
Unless the defensive players put a lot of pressure on him, his shooting percentage will be affected. But if the defensive players are as easy to be passed as Koichiro Nango, there is no essential difference between letting Shimono Noboru make a mid-range shot and letting him make a layup.
Just 7 seconds into the second half, Ryonan High School scored first, and the score between the two teams was tied at 53:53.
The score difference was eliminated, and the Ryonan players on the sidelines suddenly burst into cheers. The anger that had been pent up for the entire first half finally came out at this moment.
The deafening cheers that filled the stadium boosted the morale of Ryonan High School to an unprecedented high.
"Tsk!" The cheers for Ryonan somewhat affected the mentality of the Shohoku players. Nango Koichirō, who watched Shinomiya Tano score a shot, curled his lips in dissatisfaction and spat lightly.
"It's our turn to attack. Don't let them overwhelm our morale!"
"Come on, run!"
Mitsui clapped his hands, shouted loudly, and then quickly ran to the frontcourt. In the backcourt, Jinguji Budou served the ball from the baseline and gave the ball to Rukawa, then quickly passed Rukawa and entered the frontcourt.
Rukawa dribbled the ball from the backcourt and quickly crossed the center line and advanced towards the frontcourt.
However, before he could get close to the three-point line, Fujima Kenji had already arrived in front of Rukawa and blocked Rukawa's way. At this time, Rukawa was still nearly two meters away from the three-point line.
"First grade, I won't let you play freely anymore!"
Fujima stood in front of Rukawa Kaede with his arms spread out, a faint smile on his handsome face.
Upon hearing this, Rukawa Kaede didn't waste any time. He started the dragging step, accelerated, and came directly in front of Fujima, and pressed his body directly on Fujima.
The huge force pushed Fujima back, but at this moment, the defending Fujima Kenji actually stuck to Rukawa and went around to the side of Rukawa, completely clearing the road in front of him, and reached out to directly intercept the basketball in Rukawa's hand.
The sudden steal was really beyond Rukawa's expectations. He didn't expect Fujima to let go of the road in front of him and steal the ball without any hesitation.
Rukawa had not expected Fujima's desperate defensive style at first.
"Bang!" In the blink of an eye, the basketball was knocked to the ground by Fujima. Fujima, who successfully stole the ball, did not give Rukawa any chance to make up for his mistake. He passed the ball directly to Shinomiya Tano who was already sprinting towards the frontcourt.
"Ahhh! Stinky fox! What are you doing?!"
On the sidelines, when Sakuragi Hanamichi saw Rukawa Kaede being intercepted, he immediately jumped up from his seat and cried out in pain.
"Eh?! That's not right..."
"Ryukawa Kaede's poor performance means he will be substituted out, right?!"
"This genius has the chance to appear on stage?!"
Sakuragi's eyes turned and his tone changed. He actually shouted directly to the field: "Ryukawa Kaede, good job! Keep it up!"
At this moment, Rukawa Kaede in the court had no time to pay attention to Sakuragi Hanamichi. At this moment, he was trying hard to chase after Shinomiya Tano and Jinguji Takeshi in the front court.
Shinomiya Tano's speed was so fast that the only one on Shohoku's side who reacted and was able to catch up with him was Jinguji Takeshi.
"Hey! Budo, one on one!"
After dribbling the ball across the center line, Shimonoseki looked back at Jinguji Takeshi who was following behind him and suddenly spoke. Upon hearing this, Takeshi's expression froze and he accelerated immediately, quickly rushing past Shimonoseki.
And Shinomiya Tano also slowed down slightly, and the moment Jinguji Budou passed him, he turned around and changed his direction.
As soon as Wudao turned towards Shigong Field, the opponent changed direction and passed through Wudao's defense line.
Then he quickly rushed to the basket, stood up and slammed the ball into the basket.
“1:0!”
After scoring the goal, Shimonoseki smiled and said to Jinguji Takeshi, then trotted towards his own backcourt.
Wu Dao glanced at Shigong Tianye speechlessly, and said when he passed by him:
"So the first half doesn't count, right?"
Shinomiya Tianye turned his head, pointed at the scoreboard, and said, "If it doesn't count as the first half, does it still matter?"
The score was 55:53, with Ryonan High School leading by two points.
As Shinomiya Tano said, it doesn’t matter whether the first half counts or not.
Between offense and defense, Xiangbei High School organized an attack again, and Rukawa once again carried the ball into the frontcourt, and this time, Fujima Kenji still advanced early and got into position to defend before Rukawa got close to the three-point line.
Moreover, Fujima's defense is very tough. He doesn't even consider whether his defense will be broken through by Rukawa. He just sticks to him and doesn't give Rukawa too much space.
"Don't you care about your physical strength? Fujima!"
Jinguji Budo sensed Fujima's defensive strength, and his heart sank. He then quickly rushed towards Rukawa Kaede, wanting to set a screen for him.
However, Rukawa, who was closely guarded by Fujima, forced himself to start, broke through Fujima's defense, and rushed towards the three-point line. At that moment, a blue figure quickly passed by Wudao's side and directly intercepted Rukawa.
"Shinomiya Tano!"
"Ryukawa, pass the ball!"
When Wu Dao noticed the figure of Shinomiya Tano, he immediately reminded Rukawa Kaede.
But his reminder was a little late after all, and Shimono was still blocking Rukawa.
At the same time, Rukawa, who was moving, also heard Wudao's reminder, and wanted to pass the ball to Jinguji Wudao. However, the next second after he shot the ball, Fujima suddenly jumped out and intercepted the ball with a slap.
"Your actions are completely within our expectations!"
"Ryukawa Kaede!"
Fujima intercepted the ball and threw it to the front court with his backhand. This time, the person who initiated the fast break on Ryonan's side became Sendoh.
Just as Wudao was about to chase, Fujima stepped in front of him and stopped him from speeding up. When Wudao successfully passed Fujima, Shinomiya Tano appeared in front of Wudao at the right time and delayed his pursuit together with Fujima.
At this time, Sendoh had already crossed the center line with the ball and was moving rapidly towards the Xiangbei half.
On the Xiangbei side, Mitsui Hisashi followed Sendoh closely, and when Sendoh was about to cross the three-point line, he surpassed Sendoh early and blocked him.
Facing Mitsui's defense, Sendoh just made a high-position quick stop jump shot and easily broke through Mitsui's defense.
"A fast break and a quick stop and jump shot?" Mitsui turned his head in surprise and happened to see the basketball fall steadily into the net with a slight sound.
As the basketball went into the net, cheers broke out from the stands.
After two consecutive balls were intercepted, Rukawa Kaede hurried back to the court and looked at the basketball falling from the net, a little dazed.
He never thought that the situation would develop like this in his hands.
Ryonan High School seemed to have studied his playing habits thoroughly, and his every move was within the expectations of the Ryonan players.
At the side of the court, Coach Tiangang looked at the somewhat distracted Rukawa Kaede, a smile appeared on his face, and he whispered:
"If you always wait until you have no other options before you pass the ball."
"Even a fool can defend against it!"
... ... ... ... ... ... ...