No team had ever done what Ryonan had: stayed level with Sannoh for ten full minutes, even matching their offensive and defensive tempo in a perfect run-and-gun shootout.
On Sannoh's bench, Domoto Goro sat upright in the coach's seat, his calm gaze sweeping across the court.
When he saw Ryonan still matching Sannoh's run-and-gun offense under their full pressure, refusing to give an inch through several possessions, a trace of gravity finally entered his perpetually unruffled eyes. He was surprised, too, though not greatly.
He had already studied all of Ryonan's game footage carefully, watching every match repeatedly, from the prefectural tournament to the National Tournament.
He had long since formed his own assessment of Ryonan's strength.
With a top-tier player like Sendoh and an anchor in the paint like Yu Zhu, this team's arrival in the finals was no accident. Still, actually seeing Ryonan meet Sannoh head-on and fight them to a standstill in a high-speed shootout surprised him somewhat.
As Sannoh Industrial High School's head coach, he knew his own team's strength better than anyone.
From the opening tip to Fukatsu's playmaking, Sawakita Eiji's drives, and Masashi Kawata's powerful attacks inside, every Sannoh player had given one hundred percent. None of them had held back.
Yet Ryonan had still managed to stay level with a Sannoh team taking them this seriously. Domoto Goro's gaze swept precisely over each Ryonan player.
Fukuda Kicchou's drives packed a punch, but he was struggling against Nobe Masahiro's defense. Yu Zhu had solid strength, yet still fell a little short of Masashi Kawata's explosiveness.
Xiangtian Yanyi moved nimbly off the ball, but Fukatsu's positioning had severely limited her defensive contribution. He could see it clearly: aside from Chi Tong and Sendoh, Ryonan's other players were considerably weaker than Sannoh's.
Yet this team, with