The referee tossed the ball high into the air!
Hanamichi Sakuragi shot up like a rocket, roaring as he poured all his frustration and fighting spirit into that leap!
Opposite him, Shuichi Todo had the height advantage, but his explosive leap and timing actually fell slightly short!
Sakuragi's fingertips reached the basketball first, swatting it hard toward Ryota Miyagi!
"Yes!" Cheers erupted from the Shohoku bench!
But Hakata Shodai reacted with astonishing speed.
Their No. 4 point guard, Yuki Nishiguchi, seemed to have anticipated the outcome of the tip-off.
Almost as soon as the ball flew toward Miyagi, he was already moving-not to steal it, but to cut off the ideal route for Miyagi's first step with pinpoint precision.
The instant Miyagi caught the ball, Yuki Nishiguchi stuck to him like a shadow, his footwork steady and his arms spread wide, giving Miyagi no chance at all to use his speed to drive past.
"Tch!" Miyagi clicked his tongue. The pressure from this defense was completely different from that of their previous opponents, as though he had fallen into an invisible yet unyielding net.
"Settle down, Miyagi!" Akagi shouted from the sidelines, leaning on his crutches.
Miyagi steadied the tempo and surveyed the frontcourt.
Ryota Kudo and Kaede Rukawa were both tightly marked, while Tetsuya Takao followed Hisashi Mitsui at every step. Hakata Commercial switched defenders with seamless coordination, making almost no communication errors.
"Keep moving! Keep moving!" Hakata Commercial's captain, Tetsuya Takao, calmly directed his teammates' positioning while defending.
Miyagi tried to pass to Kaede Rukawa as he cut in off Sakuragi's screen, but the moment the ball left his hands, Hakata Commercial's No. 6 small forward, Haruhiko Kitajima, appeared in the passing lane like a ghost, his fingertips nearly touching the basketball!
Although he ultimately failed to steal