Ryota Kudo dribbled across half court. This time, it was no longer Tomoyuki Uekusa guarding him, but Akira Sendoh.
At 190 centimeters tall, Akira Sendoh stood considerably taller than Ryota Kudo.
Still, Ryota Kudo and Akira Sendoh were old acquaintances. They had faced each other often in the Tokyo region during junior high, and Kudo had plenty of experience dealing with him.
"It's been a long time since we went one-on-one like this, Sendoh-chan. Do you think you can stop me now?" Ryota Kudo was completely relaxed, verbally needling Akira Sendoh as he dribbled.
Knowing Ryota Kudo just as well, Akira Sendoh wisely declined to answer. All his attention was focused on Kudo's movements.
Suddenly, Ryota Kudo looked toward Hisashi Mitsui in the corner and made a motion to pass.
Aware of Ryota Kudo's passing ability, Akira Sendoh involuntarily glanced toward Hisashi Mitsui out of the corner of his eye.
In that single instant, Ryota Kudo had already risen for a pull-up jumper.
By the time Akira Sendoh tried to contest it, it was too late. He could only watch Ryota Kudo release the three-pointer in midair.
Still, the drawback of three-pointers was their inconsistency. Even Kanagawa's two three-point specialists, Soichiro Jin and Hisashi Mitsui, only shot a little over forty percent from beyond the arc.
That went doubly for a difficult pull-up three like this. Akira Sendoh looked toward the basket, hoping for a lucky break.
Swish! The ball dropped cleanly through the net. Sure enough, I still underestimated this freak, Ryota Kudo, Akira Sendoh thought.
Now their only hope lay in offense. Akira Sendoh slowed the pace and began dribbling across half court.
Unlike the Shohoku Team, which favored fast-paced basketball, the Ryonan Team relied mainly on half-court offense. The only players who could really play at a