Takeshi Jinguji made a mid-range shot from behind the backboard. This difficult goal brought the atmosphere in the stadium to a climax.
The score between the two teams was tied at 85:85, and there were only about 7 minutes left until the end of the game.
Between offense and defense, all the players of Ryonan High School, led by Kenji Fujima, entered the Shohoku half.
The score between the two teams was very close. Judging from the score and the situation alone, it was impossible to tell who was stronger and who was weaker. At this time, Fujima was also extremely cautious when organizing the attack.
He knew very well that any mistake at this time would be fatal to the team.
For a point guard, being cautious is a very commendable attitude, but on the court, excessive caution will often allow opportunities that could have been utilized to slip away from your hands.
As Kenji Fujima dribbled the ball into the frontcourt, Akira Sendoh began to run around. Although Ryonan High School was still in a singles offensive stance, Akira Sendoh felt that if they continued to use this offensive method, the team's offensive efficiency might not be comparable to that of Shohoku High School.
Although he believed in Shimono's offensive ability, Sendoh felt a little unsure after seeing the goal scored by Jinguji Takeshi just now.
Sendoh knew that no one in Shohoku High School could stop Shinomiya Tano, but Sendoh also knew that if the game developed into a confrontation between the two teams' aces, Jinguji Takeshi's hot hand would have more advantages than Shinomiya Tano.
The reason is very simple, because Jinguji Budo's three-pointer is his regular offensive method, but Shinomiya Tano's three-pointer is only used occasionally to steal the ball.
Sendoh felt that he needed to contribute his strength on the offensive end, even if his role was only to attract the opponent's attention, that would be enough.
Sendoh left the horn and sank into the left corner, then quickly penetrated from the inside and moved along the baseline toward the right side of the court.
Fujima saw that Sendoh had a brief chance to catch the ball while running, but Fujima took into account that the pass was a bit far away and Mitsui Hisashi, who was chasing Sendoh, might speed up to grab the ball.
Fujima, who had some concerns, did not choose to pass the ball to Sendoh, but passed the ball to Shimonoseki at the corner outside the right three-point line.
When the basketball was in hand, Shimoyama obviously frowned. He also noticed Sendoh's opportunity just now, but Fujima did not pass the ball and missed a good opportunity.
After glancing at Sendoh Akira in the corner on the same side, Shinomiya Tano started to break through with the ball.
The opponent, Jinguji Budou, was tall and strong. When attacking, Shinomiya Tano tried his best to shake Jinguji Budou's defensive position by changing the direction of his crotch.
After continuous attempts, Takeshi Jinguji controlled his defensive distance very well, and Shinomiya Tano did not find any obvious flaws in Takeshi Jinguji's defense.
For Shimotsuna, this position outside the three-point line is not his most comfortable receiving position.
Unable to find any obvious flaws, Shinomiya Tano passed the ball back to Fujima. After the shot, Shinomiya Tano tried to pass Jinguji Takeshi and enter the inside, but under Takeshi's pursuit, Shinomiya Tano did not have many good offensive opportunities.
Realizing that this style of play was not working, Sigong Tianye gave up all those fancy ideas and adopted the most direct method.
Crossing the three-point line, Shinomiya Tano quickly ran back and got out of the air under Budo's pursuit.
Fujima seized the opportunity and passed the ball.
Seeing the pass coming, Shinomiya immediately received the ball with his back to the basket, held the ball in his left hand, put his right hand on Jinguji Budou's waist, and turned his head to look at the basket.
At this time, Shimoya Tano was one meter inside the three-point line, and here, his offensive means became more diverse.
"Bang!" After a back-to-the-basket shot, Shimoya quickly grabbed the ball with one hand, turned around, and shot a fadeaway jump shot.
Using his physical strength and fadeaway jump shot technique, Shinomiya Tano was able to gain enough space for shooting.
Jinguji Budo's defense couldn't even stop Shinomiya Tano's shot.
“Swish!”
The basketball hit the backboard at an angle and went into the net, making a crisp sound.
As Shimono scored the goal, cheers rang out from the Ryonan bench.
But their cheers just stopped for a short while as Xiangbei's baseline shot quickly stopped.
Sakuragi Hanamichi quickly ran to the baseline and did not pass the ball to Rukawa who ran back to the inside to receive the ball, but passed it directly to Jinguji Takeshi who was running towards the frontcourt.
"Brother Budo, quick attack!"
When the basketball was passed, Sakuragi Hanamichi reminded Takeshi loudly. Hearing this, Jinguji Takeshi subconsciously turned his head to look at Sakuragi, and then happened to see the basketball flying towards him quickly.
If he hadn't turned around in time, Sakuragi Hanamichi's pass would have definitely hit him on the back of the head.
“Bang!”
With a slight sound, Jinguji Takeshi caught the ball with both hands, rolled his eyes at Sakuragi in the distance, quickly dribbled the ball across the center line, and approached Ryonan's half.
As Jinguji's martial arts accelerated, the people from Ryonan, who were originally running back to the field slowly, quickened their pace.
After noticing that Takeshi Jinguji had the ball, Shimono Yama rushed directly towards Takeshi Jinguji, not wanting to give Takeshi Jinguji a chance to make a fast break.
However, facing the pressing of Shinomiya Tano, Jinguji Takeshi had no intention of dribbling the ball through the defense line by himself. With a simple back pass, he gave the ball directly to Mitsui Hisashi who was coordinating the attack from the side.
After the basketball was shot, Wu Dao also quickly passed Shinomiya Tianye.
Mitsui Hisashi, who was not far away, also noticed the opportunity on Wudao's side. He didn't even take the ball, but slapped the basketball with his palm and quickly passed the ball back to Wudao.
Two-on-one pass in the frontcourt.
The basketball was in his hands again, and Takeshi Jinguji accelerated directly into the three-point line of Ryonan, and then with the help of Sendoh Akira and Hanagata, he made a quick stop and jump shot from mid-range.
The basketball flew directly over the heads of Hanagata and Sendoh and went straight into the basket.
With a slight sound, the score came to 87:87, and the two teams were tied again.
"Strengthen your defense! Don't let Ryonan score easily!"
After scoring the goal, Xiangbei began to retreat quickly.
Mitsui clapped his hands and shouted to the players. As the Xiangbei players responded loudly, Fujima Kenji quickly dribbled the ball into the front court.
Then he quickly passed the ball to Sigong Tianye on the side.
This time, Shimoya didn't play any "one-on-one full-court" tricks. He raised his left hand and made a pick-and-roll gesture.
Seeing Shigong Tianye's signal, everyone in Ryonan showed surprise on their faces. Sendoh was the fastest to react, and he went straight into the inside line, and then quickly moved up to provide cover for Shigong Tianye.
When Budou saw Shinomiya Tano's hand gesture, he was paying attention to the positions of other people in Ryonan, and he also noticed Sendoh's actions.
When Sendoh's pick-and-roll arrived, Jinguji Takeshi retreated to the paint area, bypassed Sendoh's defense, and went deep into his own inside line to guard against the opponent's breakthrough.
However, seeing that Wudao was a little far away, Shigong Tianye did not choose to accelerate the breakthrough, but instead directly shot from a high position.
“Ding~”
The fatigue accumulated from the high-intensity game was also very obvious to Shimoya Tsuneno. Although his shooting posture was still standard, his control over strength had obviously declined.
“Ding~”
With a crisp sound of iron hitting the target, Shimoya Tano's high-position shot went straight out of the rim.
"rebound!"
“Rebound!”
No one expected that Shimono Shimomiya's shot would miss. Sendoh and Fujima shouted at the same time, reminding the Ryonan players under the basket.
At this time, the basket has turned into a battlefield, with the inside players of Xiangbei and Ryonan wrestling with each other, both wanting to occupy the best rebounding position.
The basketball began to fall from the left side of the basket. Sakuragi Hanamichi gained the advantage in the fight with Hanagata and occupied the most advantageous position.
As Sakuragi's voice rose into the air, the rebound ball was directly caught by Sakuragi.
“Pass the ball!”
And at the moment when Sakuragi Hanamichi grabbed the rebound, Rukawa rushed to the frontcourt and shouted loudly to Sakuragi.
At this time, Ryonan's Sendoh and Shinomiya Tano were still inside the Shohoku three-point line. Both of them were attracted by the rebound and did not notice that Rukawa had already started a fast break.
Sakuragi Hanamichi held the ball with one hand and was about to pass it, but when he saw that it was Rukawa Kaede who wanted the ball, he hesitated for a moment.
But during the moment when Sakuragi Hanamichi hesitated, Shinomiya Tano and Sendoh Akira directly surrounded Sakuragi from two directions, and together with Hanagata, they sealed Sakuragi Hanamichi tightly.
Sakuragi held the ball in his arms, trying to protect it, but Shinomiya Tano put one hand directly into Sakuragi's arms, clamped the basketball with his wrist, and forcibly took the ball out of Sakuragi's arms.
After getting the basketball, Shimono Noboru made a small hook shot and sent the ball directly into the basket.
The referee didn't blow the whistle, but the scoreboard on the sidelines started jumping as the basketball went into the net.
Rukawa, who had been running for half a day, saw Sakuragi lose the ball. He looked at Sakuragi with deep resentment and was speechless.
“But… Damn it!
!
”
"Referee, wasn't that ball just now a foul?!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi watched the basketball that he had just grabbed being snatched away. He was so angry that he had no place to vent and could only blame the referee.
But the referee didn't tolerate Sakuragi. He glanced at Sakuragi indifferently and ignored the boy.
Seeing that the referee was indifferent, Sakuragi wanted to argue with him, but Akagi grabbed his ear and dragged him to the front court.
Mitsui Shou served the ball from the baseline, looked at Sakuragi who was taken away, shook his head speechlessly, gave the ball to Rukawa Kaede, clapped his hands and organized:
"Don't be anxious, take it slow and steady, there's plenty of time."
"When you get the ball, don't just hold it by yourself like an idiot. Pass it more!"
Although Mitsui's last words were directed to all the team members, the directionality of these words was too strong.
Sakuragi Hanamichi pursed his lips and quickly entered the Ryonan half. As he passed by Shinomiya Tano, he muttered unconvincedly:
"Just wait, I will definitely teach you a lesson!"
Shinomiya Tano turned his head slightly and smiled at Sakuragi Hanamichi, then turned around and looked at Jinguji Takeshi who had entered the front court at this time, and his expression became a little serious.
"That shot just now was just good luck."
"I can't be affected by Jinguji Budo's terrifying scoring efficiency."
"When attacking, you can't hesitate like you did just now. When the opportunity arises, you have to charge straight in."
"With my ability, Xiangbei can't stop me."
Shinomiya Tano reflected in his mind on the slight mistakes that occurred in his previous attack, watched Jinguji Budou approach the front court little by little, and then quickly stuck to him.
Jinguji Budou had no intention of tangling with Shinomiya Tano, and did not continue to stay on the outside. He went straight to the inside, and then ran back to ask for the ball from a mid-range position, exactly the same as what Shinomiya Tano had done before.
Rukawa Kaede seized the opportunity to pass the ball, and the basketball fell directly into the hands of Jinguji Budou. Budou grabbed the ball with one hand and quickly swept the ball and turned around. He tilted his body back, made a fake shot, and then dropped the ball and accelerated forward. When Shinomiya Tano was chasing him, he stopped and shot directly.
The amazing speed and terrifying fluency of his attacks were unstoppable even if his opponent was Shinomiya Tano.
The basketball flew directly over Shimonoseki's head and then plunged into the net with a crisp sound.
"Good throw! Budo."
"Beautiful, Jinguji-senpai!"
As Jinguji Budou scored the shot, the Shohoku bench suddenly erupted in warm cheers.
Everyone in Ryonan felt a lot of pressure when they saw Jinguji Budo returning to defend.
Basketball is like this. In a point-by-point battle, once the team with a slight lead is narrowed by the opponent, the psychological pressure on the players will increase exponentially.
In the first half, the side that was under pressure was Shohoku High School, but in the second half, it was Ryonan that was under pressure.
The closer we get to the end of the game, the greater the pressure becomes.
Under this kind of pressure, the players of Ryonan are depleting their physical energy much faster than usual.
Soon, Ryonan launched a counterattack.
Although the Ryonan players are under a lot of pressure, it doesn't show on their faces at all.
Fujima's expression was still enthusiastic and calm, and he was focused on the game. The other players did not appear to be overly nervous either.
The basketball was quickly passed to Shimokatsu. Shimokatsu got the ball again and raised his hand to call for a pick-and-roll. Then, under the cover of his teammates, he quickly broke into the inside of Xiangbei.
Jinguji Takenori, who was in pursuit, and Akagi Takenori, who was in defense, quickly surrounded Shinomiya Tano, one in front and one behind.
As Shinomiya Tano's ball flew into the air, Wudao and Akagi both jumped up and blocked the basketball in Shinomiya Tano's hand.
"Bang!" Shinomiya Tano's body hit Akagi Takenori directly in mid-air, and the basketball in his hand dodged in the air and hooked towards the basket.
However, at the moment when Shimonoseki shot the basketball, Jinguji Budo's palm stretched out from behind Shimonoseki and slapped the basketball.
"Shinomiya Tano, your performance ends here!"
"I've seen through your attack!" Jinguji Budou slapped the basketball steadily and knocked the ball down.
After Shigong Taneno landed, the voice of Jinguji Budo also reached Shigong Taneno's ears.
Turning around, Shinomiya Tano looked at Jinguji Budo with a heavy look on his face.
Wu Dao looked at Shigong Tianye in front of him, put his right hand on his chest, and said with a smile:
"Have you ever seen a one-on-one fight between planes?"
"The plane at the back has the advantage!"
"In an air battle, I won't lose to you, Shinomiya Tano!"
… … …