Chapter Thirty-Six: The Key Player Who Controls the Game
"Wh-what?!!"
"Murasakibara got posterized?!!"
Everyone on Yosen's bench shot to their feet, unable to believe what they'd just witnessed.
"WOAHHH!!!"
"YAGAMI—!"
Ryonan's bench players also stood, but they were cheering for Yagami Sorato.
Sendoh Akira ran past Yagami laughing. "That was way too flashy, even for you!"
"Can't help it." Yagami spread his hands helplessly. "He insisted on standing under the basket."
Offensive transition. Yosen's ball.
Fukui Kensuke had spent the entire previous possession chasing Aida Hikoichi around the court. He hadn't even seen what happened in the paint before hearing waves of shocked exclamations from the sideline.
When he finally looked back, Murasakibara had been posterized by an opposing first-year!
"Damn it!" Fukui pushed the ball forward irritably. "What the hell is with that guy?"
"Atsushi! Return the favor!" Fukui lobbed the ball toward the paint.
However, Murasakibara still appeared dazed from the shock of being dunked on. His catching motion was noticeably slower.
"Not good!"
Fukuda Kicchou fronted the defense, his long arm darting out.
"Smack!"
He stole the ball cleanly!
"Fukuda! Nice!"
Almost the instant the steal happened, Sendoh Akira and Yagami Sorato burst forward like arrows released from bowstrings, immediately turning and leaking out in transition!
Yosen's Liu Wei and Himuro Tatsuya hadn't anticipated Murasakibara getting stripped on the catch. Their reactions were a full beat slow before they realized and sprinted back on defense.
Fukuda knew his long passes weren't reliable enough, so he pushed it directly to Yagami receiving near halfcourt.
Yagami caught the ball without breaking stride. Reading Sendoh's cutting lane perfectly, he delivered the pass to just the right spot in front of the rim!
"This guy makes passes feel so comfortable."
Sendoh understood immediately, taking one step before elevating. He caught the lob comfortably in the air, extending his body and throwing down a two-handed dunk!
"Boom!"
Ryonan 33 - Yosen 32
Another explosive alley-oop!
In a flash, Ryonan scored two more points on a spectacular defensive conversion, successfully taking the lead!
"You guys are really annoying!" Murasakibara's expression darkened. "You're all nobodies—why are you so troublesome!"
"I'm going to completely crush you!"
Yosen's offense.
Murasakibara charged straight into the paint. Fukui understood immediately, immediately lobbing the ball high toward the rim.
"Seriously? That height?"
"Fukuda! Get out of the way!"
Fukuda Kicchou gritted his teeth, planting his feet in position.
The next second, Murasakibara jumped at full strength, catching the basketball with both hands in mid-air and hammering it through the rim!
"BOOM!!"
Fukuda at the basket was knocked flying out of bounds.
"Fukuda!"
"Fukuda!"
"Fukuda-senpai!"
"Tweet!" The referee immediately blew the whistle, stopping play.
Ryonan's players all rushed over anxiously, surrounding Fukuda. "You okay?!"
"Still a little hurt." Fukuda lay on the floor, taking several seconds before answering.
For that instant he'd felt like he'd been hit head-on by a truck. The worst part wasn't hitting the floor—it was that bone-jarring impact when he'd been struck.
"Idiot, didn't we tell you to move?!" Uozumi roared angrily.
"I positioned myself in the restricted area beforehand," Fukuda said seriously. "Thought I could draw a foul."
"..." Uozumi took a deep breath, patting his shoulder. "We absolutely won't lose this game!"
"Yosen number 9, charging foul."
The referee finally made the call.
Logically speaking, if two similarly sized players collided, this would absolutely qualify as a clean poster dunk. But Murasakibara's frame was significantly larger than Fukuda's, and he'd obviously charged with emotion, nearly causing injury.
Regardless of circumstances, this kind of potentially dangerous behavior was never encouraged.
"I'm fine, let's continue!" Fukuda said.
However, just like with Yagami earlier, Coach Taoka firmly substituted him out.
Before leaving the court, Fukuda insisted on shooting his free throws himself.
His motion was clearly still affected by pain. He made one of two.
Ryonan 34 - Yosen 32
Ryonan's possession.
"Number 5 Ikegami Ryoji in, number 13 Fukuda Kicchou out."
Uozumi pulled Ikegami aside for a brief word. The whistle blew and play resumed.
Yagami brought the ball across halfcourt.
After getting position, Aida Hikoichi still had Fukui chasing him frantically. Ikegami began looking for opportunities in the mid-range.
The biggest change was in the interior battle. Uozumi Jun and Murasakibara fought for advantageous position with arms tangled, their physical contact visibly escalating a level in intensity. Every box-out was accompanied by the dull thud of colliding muscles.
Yagami calmly observed the situation, dribbling toward the wing to draw defensive attention to his side.
The instant Sendoh shook Liu Wei with a reverse cut, Yagami's left hand flicked the ball out. A precise bounce pass immediately found Sendoh's hands.
Sendoh caught it without hesitation, accelerating straight to the basket!
Seeing this, Murasakibara immediately tried sliding over to help, but just as he exploded, Uozumi and Ikegami attacked from left and right simultaneously, pinning him in place.
An invisible wall rose, shielding the high threat for Sendoh.
"Swish!!"
Sendoh rose easily, his wrist flicking gently as the basketball spun through the net.
Ryonan 36 - Yosen 32
"Was Ryonan this difficult last year?"
Coach Araki folded her arms, her knuckles unconsciously tapping her forearm as she watched the tense battle with a grave expression.
Before accepting this practice game, she'd naturally done thorough homework on this Kanagawa team.
Last year's Ryonan had essentially been a team carried alone by first-year prodigy Sendoh Akira. Interior player Uozumi Jun was decent within the prefecture, but on the national stage he'd appear thoroughly ordinary.
The other players were even more pedestrian. The team's overall strength, in her assessment, was roughly on par with last year's Yosen.
But this year's Yosen had transformed completely. Not only had they welcomed Generation of Miracles member Murasakibara Atsushi, but also elite scorer Himuro Tatsuya returning from America.
Their goal this year was national domination!
This should have been an easy practice game. Who could have expected they'd be trailing most of the time!
Araki's gaze swept the court, finally locking onto the number 10 figure handling the ball.
If there was one biggest change in Ryonan compared to last year, it was this first-year player—Yagami Sorato.
This unfamiliar name had become the key factor controlling the game.
He possessed powerful and diverse offensive firepower, could effectively limit Himuro's production on defense, and could orchestrate the entire team effortlessly while completely unleashing Sendoh's offensive threat...
"Damn it," Coach Araki practically ground out the words through her teeth. "Just one person's addition has transformed this team from prefecture top-four level into something this troublesome!"
On court, Ryonan seemed to have found their method for handling Murasakibara offensively.
With Uozumi and Ikegami double-teaming to box him out, Murasakibara's range of motion was restricted. He could no longer dominate the paint freely and unobstructed like at the opening.
On the other hand, though Sendoh also faced double-teams from Liu Wei and Okamura, with Yagami organizing the offense, he could still score consecutively at extremely high efficiency.
Defensively, Ryonan remained helpless against Murasakibara's low-post attacks. His power game was still an unsolvable problem.
However, Murasakibara's stamina was visibly declining. Yosen occasionally had Himuro or Liu Wei take isolations, but facing Yagami and Sendoh's defense, their success rate wasn't high—only around one-third.
Fortunately, Yosen could often rely on the absolute rebounding advantage Murasakibara and Okamura constructed in the paint, maintaining the score through offensive putbacks.
"Tweet!"
The second quarter ending buzzer sounded.
Ryonan 52 - Yosen 48
Halftime concluded with Ryonan maintaining a slim lead.
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