The finals had slapped everyone hard across the face.
In that game, Sendoh matched up directly against Sawakita Eiji. Not only had he not been blown away, he had gone toe-to-toe with him. In several possessions, he had even used his trademark changes of pace and feints to score over Sawakita Eiji.
He had proven through his actions that not only could he contain Sawakita Eiji's offense for short stretches, but he could also deliver lethal responses on the offensive end.
Although Sawakita Eiji had still put up a high score, the dominance and ability to contend that Sendoh displayed in that short time were enough to make every opponent tremble.
Being able to go head-to-head with Eiji Sawakita without falling behind—looking across the entire national high school basketball scene, there was almost no second person besides Sendoh with that kind of strength.
This meant that Sendoh had firmly established himself as one of the nation's top aces. Any team wanting to challenge Ryonan had to first consider whether its defense could withstand Sendoh's drives and whether its own ace could stop Sendoh's offense.
For a time, Lingnan High School was unmatched in the spotlight.
If Ryonan had once been obscure, with only a small number of people having heard of someone named Sendoh, then now Ryonan had become, in everyone's eyes, a terrifying battleship armed with two trump cards.
Chi Tong and Sendoh.
One was the strongest point guard in the nation, while the other was an all-around ace who could go fifty-fifty with Eiji Sawakita for short stretches. The combination of these two was simply every opponent's nightmare.
When the basketball clubs of various schools studied the game footage and watched these two work together, their heads throbbed.
Their opponents within Kanagawa were even more despairing. They had