Offense and defense switched.
The basketball that had just been blocked fell into Akagi Takenori's hands.
Qing Junce immediately waved for the ball.
Akagi Takenori hesitated for a moment, but still passed it over.
After receiving the ball, Qing Junce didn't make any preparatory movement. He shot forward at once.
Damn...
Seeing this, Sendoh didn't dare waste a moment and immediately chased after him.
However, after running for a while, he realized that he couldn't catch up.
"How is that possible? Sendoh actually can't catch up with him." Ikegami Ryoji said, looking stunned.
"Kid, I won't let you score easily." Seeing Qing Junce charging over, Uozumi immediately set himself in a defensive stance beneath his own basket.
"Don't get so cocky, first-year." Koshino Hiroaki simultaneously blocked Qing Junce's path, standing shoulder to shoulder with Uozumi.
The instant Qing Junce stepped into Ryonan's paint, he suddenly came to a sharp stop and immediately leaped up with the ball.
At the same time.
Uozumi and Koshino Hiroaki jumped together, spreading their arms as they tried to block his shot.
They stopped him.
The people from Ryonan all breathed a sigh of relief.
But before they could continue celebrating, they suddenly realized that something was wrong.
What was that...
When Sendoh saw Qing Junce's movement, his pupils contracted.
Taoka Moichi shot up from his seat and exclaimed, "It's a Fadeaway Jumper!"
On the Shohoku side.
Ayako couldn't help exclaiming when she saw it. "He can actually make a sharp stop and fade away at that speed?"
Ho ho ho ho...
Seeing this, Anzai Mitsuyoshi couldn't help laughing.
His aged eyes shone brightly, filled with admiration for Qing Junce. "What incredible talent. Natural agility like that... this is the first time I've seen a player like him."
"He really is amazing. I never thought Qing Junce would be this fast—even Sendoh can't catch him." Kogure Kiminobu said excitedly.
"No, the agility I'm talking about isn't merely speed." Anzai Mitsuyoshi corrected him.
Ayako asked curiously, "Coach Anzai, then what do you mean by agility...?"
Anzai Mitsuyoshi explained, "In sports, speed doesn't merely refer to how fast one moves. The ability to accelerate from a standstill to top speed, as well as the ability to decelerate from top speed to a stop—that is agility. Qing Junce's agility is the best I've ever seen."
Whoosh...
On the court.
Qing Junce released the basketball in his hands.
At that moment, a palm flashed past the top of Qing Junce's head, but it failed to touch the ball.
The basketball soared high, passing over Uozumi and Koshino Hiroaki's fingertips before finally dropping into the basket behind them.
Swish...
The ball went through the net.
Shohoku 37, Ryonan 45.
Qing Junce landed and turned to look at Sendoh behind him.
Heh...
The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile that could hardly be called provocative, and then he ran back on defense.
"Damn it!" Koshino Hiroaki stared at Qing Junce's retreating back, feeling utterly frustrated.
Uozumi was furious as well.
He and Koshino Hiroaki had both failed to stop their opponent head-on.
Sendoh wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a quiet sigh. This isn't looking good.
The fact that he hadn't been able to catch Qing Junce just now already said enough.
After all, he had been chasing Qing Junce while Qing Junce was dribbling.
Even then, he had barely failed to catch him.
Taoka Moichi on the sidelines naturally noticed the problem as well.
His leg kept trembling against the floor.
It was clear that his mind had already begun to unravel.
The following events proved that his unease was justified.
Ryonan's offense began running into obstacles everywhere.
No matter where they passed the ball, Qing Junce would suddenly appear and block their shot when they attempted to score.
Shohoku regained possession.
Sure enough, the basketball once again reached Qing Junce's hands.
This time, only Uozumi was beneath Ryonan's basket.
He glared furiously and pushed off the floor with all his strength.
This time, he jumped higher than ever before.
His raised arm completely blocked Qing Junce's shooting path.
"Good job, Uozumi!" Taoka Moichi shouted excitedly.
But in the next second, his eyes widened.
Qing Junce's body began leaning farther and farther backward.
His body was almost parallel to the floor.
What?
Uozumi's eyes widened at the sight, filled with disbelief.
Even Sendoh's mouth fell open as he stared at Qing Junce as if he were looking at an alien.
Aida Kenichi pointed at Qing Junce on the court, but his lips trembled for a long while without producing a single word.
Aside from Shimizu Kanon, everyone on the Shohoku side wore nearly the same expression.
Ayako covered her mouth, her beautiful eyes opened wide.
Taoka Moichi and Anzai Mitsuyoshi both rose from their seats, their eyes fixed on Qing Junce on the court.
For a moment, the entire gym fell deathly silent.
Not a single person dared even breathe heavily.
Soon, Qing Junce finally released the basketball in his hands.
The ball flew out, passed over Uozumi's fingertips, and dropped precisely into the basket.
Swish...
The ball went through the net.
Shohoku 39, Ryonan 45.
Boom...
After the silence, the gym suddenly erupted with earth-shaking screams and cheers.
"Whoa! What was that...? That was amazing!"
"I've never seen a shot like that before!"
"That was so cool! So powerful!"
Akagi Haruko kept waving her arms and jumping up and down as she cheered for Qing Junce. "That was amazing! Absolutely amazing!"
As for Rukawa Kaede.
Who was Rukawa Kaede?
Was there such a person?
Fujii also flushed and exclaimed, "Yeah! What a shame he already has a girlfriend."
Matsui stared at the two of them with dead-fish eyes. "Two women who only have men in their eyes."
Time passed second by second.
The scales of victory also kept tilting toward Shohoku.
The people from Ryonan felt tremendous pressure.
All of that pressure came from Qing Junce alone.
As a result, they made several mistakes on offense.
Shohoku, on the other hand, kept scoring.
There was no other reason—it was simply because they couldn't defend against Qing Junce's shots.
Qing Junce had practically taken over all of Shohoku's offense.
They couldn't stop his attacks, and they couldn't stop his shots.
Whether he was defended by one player, helped against by two, or surrounded by three defenders.
Qing Junce always found a gap and scored successfully.
Before they knew it, the score had reached 60 to 50.
Shohoku had gone from trailing Ryonan by ten points in the first half to leading Ryonan by ten points now.
All of that credit belonged to Qing Junce alone.
Beep...
Ryonan called a timeout.
Taoka Moichi could no longer sit still and immediately called a timeout.
Huff... gasp... huff... gasp... huff... gasp...
The people from Ryonan breathed heavily.
Seeing his players in such a state, Taoka Moichi's brows drew tighter and tighter.
He never would have imagined that the game would turn out this way.
This had originally been the year he was most confident about reaching the National Tournament.
But Shohoku had ruthlessly extinguished that hope.
That guy was practically a monster.
He looked toward the Shohoku bench at Qing Junce, who still appeared as lazy as ever, and felt deeply troubled.
What should they do?
Not a single person on Ryonan could stop that guy—not even Sendoh.
He gritted his teeth, then looked at everyone and said, "Everyone understands the situation now. No one could have expected this. But this isn't the time to complain. The game isn't over yet, and we still have a chance to turn it around. Uozumi, Koshino, you two will double-team their number nine and buy Sendoh as much time as possible."
"Yes..." Uozumi and Koshino Hiroaki replied in unison.
Taoka Moichi turned to Sendoh again. "Sendoh, it's up to you from here. The others will do their best to hold off that number nine. You need to deal with Akagi and Rukawa Kaede by yourself."
In Taoka Moichi's mind, Qing Junce was now more dangerous than Akagi Takenori and Rukawa Kaede combined.
Sendoh nodded. "Understood."
Beep...
The whistle sounded.
The game resumed.
Hahahahaha...
The moment Ryonan's players stepped back onto the court, they heard arrogant laughter coming from the Shohoku side.
They looked up and saw that a red-haired player had appeared in Shohoku's lineup.
Sakuragi Hanamichi had been sent onto the court by Coach Anzai.
"Hahaha... It's finally time for this genius to play! Don't hold me back!" Sakuragi Hanamichi laughed wildly.
Bang...
Akagi Takenori mercilessly punched Sakuragi Hanamichi on the head and said irritably, "Be quiet. Don't hold us back."
Sakuragi Hanamichi covered his head, his face flushed with shame and anger. Damn Gorilla.
Sakuragi Hanamichi's appearance completely ruined Taoka Moichi's strategy.
Although Sakuragi Hanamichi contributed nothing on offense.
His defense caught Ryonan off guard.
It wasn't that Ryonan's offense was weak.
It was because Uozumi and Koshino Hiroaki were both double-teaming Qing Junce.
Facing the defense of Akagi Takenori and Rukawa Kaede, Sendoh was already struggling to cope.
Now there was also Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Sendoh, who had originally still been confident he could score over Akagi Takenori and Rukawa Kaede, was forced to greatly reduce his offensive output.
As time passed, the situation between the two sides continued to change.
65 to 52.
74 to 54.
80 to 57.
The game reached its final thirteen seconds.
At this point, the score had reached 98 to 68.
Shohoku 98, Ryonan 68.
Ryonan's defeat was already certain.
Taoka Moichi had given up on the game long ago.
Even so, they held out until the very end.
The last chance to attack belonged to Shohoku.
Sakuragi Hanamichi was responsible for the final offensive play.
That guy could only play on his own, always thinking about showing off.
If he hadn't hogged the ball so much, the score between the two sides might have been much farther apart by now.
"Watch this genius dunk..." Sakuragi Hanamichi leaped into the air with the ball, trying to slam it in one-handed.
But he had jumped from too far away. The basketball slammed straight into the rim, then bounced away.
Sakuragi Hanamichi's forward momentum didn't lessen. His head struck the backboard dead-on.
There was a resounding bang.
Sakuragi Hanamichi dropped straight down.
The Shohoku players didn't even care whether the shot would go in, and none of them went after the ball as it flew away.
"Honestly, this is exactly why you guys are no good!" Qing Junce suddenly appeared and scooped the ball out of the air with one hand. Then, with his back to the hoop and without even looking, he casually tossed it behind him before he landed.
Under everyone's dumbfounded gazes, the basketball dropped precisely into the hoop.
Swish...
The basketball went through the net.
Shohoku 100 to 68 Lingnan.
Beeeep...
The whistle sounded.
The game was over.
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