Sendoh exploded in this game, scoring 43 points and 11 assists, becoming the first player in Ryonan's history to achieve 40+10 in the national tournament. Kaede Rukawa was relatively low-key today, scoring 32 points and 5 assists—5 assists! This directly broke his career high for assists in a single game.
For Ryonan, Sendoh's outburst was expected, since everyone knew he had the ability; it was just a matter of whether he wanted to unleash it. But Kaede Rukawa's five assists were an absolute surprise, even more delightful than making it to the quarterfinals.
On Daiei's side, Atsushi Tsuchiya's performance was commendable despite the defeat, delivering a career-defining performance. He played the full 40 minutes, scoring 41 points and dishing out 14 assists, contributing to two-thirds of the team's points, thus completely proving himself.
Even after the game, he remained calm, as if nothing could affect him. He briefly greeted Uozumi and then led his teammates back to the locker room, leaving the reporters at the scene disappointed—this five-star high school student's personality was truly unfathomable.
"Captain! I just heard that Shohoku won! Shirasawa put on an incredible performance and completely defeated Dai Moroboshi!" Hikoichi Aida excitedly ran onto the court.
"Hmph, Shohoku is not bad at all. The day we meet is getting closer and closer." Uozumi's words were full of confidence.
With three wins in three days, Ryonan is riding high. The next quarterfinal match is the last of their grueling schedule, and a victory would mean a day of rest. As for their opponent, it was decided long ago— Iwashimizu High School, whose overall strength is considerably weaker than Ryonan's, but a normal performance should guarantee a win. Before the match even started, it was said that a win would guarantee a spot in the semifinals, showing how bright Ryonan's prospects are.
However, Ryonan's path ends at the semifinals, as they will eventually face Sannoh Industrial High School in the right half of the bracket. Ryonan's primary task now is to maintain their momentum and advance to the semifinals to challenge Sannoh! In any case, Uozumi brimming with confidence right now.
The Round of 16 has concluded, and eight more teams have ended their Hiroshima journey. The most regrettable result is for the Aiwa Academy – if they hadn't faced Shohoku, given Dai Moroboshi's strength this year, they would likely have reached the semifinals for the third consecutive year. However, more exciting than the regret is the performance of today's matches: two dark horses have emerged from the national tournament, Shohoku and Ryonan, both making their debut in the competition and reaching the quarterfinals, and even coming from the same prefecture – a rare occurrence indeed.
Looking at the individual stats, it's the same group of people from yesterday, delivering another explosive performance. Shirasawa's 60+15+5+5+5 is truly astonishing.
He's the best of the day.
Although the National Tournament has its daily highlights, today's battle report caused an uproar throughout Hiroshima. Shirasawa's popularity skyrocketed, and he was immediately labeled " Eiji Sawakita's strongest challenger." In other words, Sawakita's title of "Number One High School Student in the Nation" is now starting to become a bit unstable. Everyone is hoping that the two of them can meet, and naturally, this includes themselves.
Besides Shirasawa, Dai Moroboshi, Sendoh, and Atsushi Tsuchiya Jun all scored a spectacular 40+10, while Kaede Rukawa, Mikoshiba, Ken Hoshino, and Hajime Chiba all scored 30+. Following the Round of 32, the National Tournament witnessed another scoring feast. Such a diverse and exciting scene has not been seen in recent years, and it has also broken several tournament records.
However, there's still one person missing between these top scorers and Shirasawa — Hiroshi Morishige of Meihou Industrial. Meihou Industrial won by another 30 points today, easily advancing to the quarterfinals, and hasn't encountered a team that can threaten them yet. The reason for this is none other than the super rookie, Hiroshi Morishige.
In today's game, he was as dominant as ever, scoring 31 points, grabbing 25 rebounds, and blocking 9 shots in just 33 minutes, nearly achieving a triple-double. Everyone thought he had a breakout game last time, but now it seems that was just routine. Two consecutive games with 30+20+9 points not only drive perfectionists crazy, but also leave the opposing team's interior players speechless.
After three games, Hiroshi Morishige proved his inside strength, which is on a completely different level from most players. Shirasawa became famous overnight, while Hiroshi Morishige continued to gain momentum. These two abnormally strong rookies may meet in the semifinals. The suspense will be revealed tomorrow.
Tomorrow, there are two key matches in the left half of the bracket: Meihou Industrial High School will challenge Jousei High School, while Shohoku will face the even tougher Hakata Shodai Affiliated. The hype surrounding these two matches has already reached fever pitch.
That afternoon, the entire Shohoku team sat together at the guesthouse. They had no time to rest, only this afternoon to prepare for the game. Although Shohoku had only played two games, the intensity was not low, and fatigue was already starting to show. At this moment, Coach Anzai was playing a video of the Hakata Shodai Affiliated School game for everyone.
Everyone watched intently because this team's games were truly captivating; in other words, they were very strong, and reportedly even stronger this year than last. Hanamichi Sakuragi, in particular, was watching with rapt attention for the first time.
Coach Anzai smiled at everyone and asked, "So, what do you all think of Hakata Shodai compared to us?"
Kogure spoke first, his voice tinged with emotion. "They are strong, really strong." In his opinion, Hakata Shodai truly deserved its title as last year's runner-up. Since entering the national tournament, Shohoku had only encountered teams with strong offense and weak defense, but Hakata Shodai was definitely a team with both offense and defense.
Akagi continued, " Kogure is right, Hakata Shodai is probably the strongest opponent we've faced so far." He meant that neither Kainan nor Aiwa were as strong Hakata Shodai, but this didn't mean that Shinichi Maki and Dai Moroboshi to Hakata Shodai's ace, Hajime Chiba; rather, it referred to the team's overall level.
Putting aside other factors, Hakata Shodai has two five-star high school students. Before the quarterfinals, Ken Hoshino and Hajime Chiba were both scoring 30+ points or even higher in every game. Their other team members also have a common characteristic—they are strong! Hajime Chiba is the thinnest player in Hakata Shodai, and the rest are all muscle-bound. Although they are not at the level of flying or leaping, judging from the videos, they mainly rely on their physical advantages to fight.
One thing is certain, though: they don't play dirty. High-intensity competition doesn't mean dirty play; it's all fair contact, just pure hard play. If Toyotama were to face them, things might get interesting...
Ryota Miyagi observed carefully, stroking his chin as he analyzed, "They mainly play around their point guard and power forward. Throughout the game, it felt like it was just the two of them running pick-and-rolls back and forth. It seemed like a simple offensive tactic, but the opponent couldn't find a way to counter it."
Coach Anzai nodded and explained, "That's right, this is Hakata Shodai's core playing style: the pick-and-roll combination between Ken Hoshino and Hajime Chiba. Ken Hoshino has excellent face-up attack ability and a long shooting range, while Hajime Chiba has top-notch ball-handling and passing ability, and is also a powerful scorer."
Simply put, they broke down a 5v5 team game into localized 2v2 situations, using their chemistry and skills to dismantle the opponent's defense. Miyagi was right; it's an extremely simple offensive tactic, but they took the pick-and-roll to its extreme.
At this point, Coach Anzai paused and looked at the players. "This is a real tough battle." It was rare for the old man to be so serious. Since entering the national competition, he had been more like he was on vacation, strolling around every day and rarely showing up outside of the competition.
When playing against Toyotama Aiwa, he only gave a few simple instructions, his words radiating confidence, even though Aiwa was a top four team last year. But Hakata Shodai Affiliated clearly made him pay extra attention, which also made the team members take it seriously.
Suddenly, Coach Anzai called out, " Sakuragi."
Hanamichi Sakuragi blinked in surprise. He was unusually quiet today, focusing intently on watching the video.
Coach Anzai looked at him earnestly and said, "Your performance in this match will play a crucial role."
After watching the game replay, even the usually quiet Kuwata noticed something. The power forward position was the Achilles' heel against Hakata Shodai. Whether they could contain Ken Hoshino would essentially determine whether they won the game. Of course, Hajime Chiba wasn't just for show, but he was matched up against Xiao Bai. In the eyes of the Shohoku players, Xiao Bai was the god of the backcourt; whether it was Hajime Chiba or Chiba II, they were no match for him.
"Me?" Hanamichi Sakuragi raised an eyebrow, pointed to his nose, and his lips almost curled up to the sky.
" Akagi can't keep up with Ken Hoshino's speed and shooting range; Mitsui is a step behind in height and strength. So Sakuragi, to put it bluntly, looking at the whole country, the only one who can stop him is you." Coach Anzai's words were practically praising Sakuragi to the skies. After comparing him to Akagi and Mitsui, the final conclusion wasn't "You're the only one who can do it in Shohoku," but rather "You're the only one who can do it in the whole country!"
This wasn't some excuse the coach made up to appease him. The old man knew perfectly well that this was the truth. Ken Hoshino's ability to make a name for himself in the past two years, even earning the title of "Number One Power Forward in the Country," was entirely due to the advantage he had in that position. Power forward has always been a weak point in national teams, and Ken Hoshino was fortunate to have caught a lucky break.
He possesses all the skills expected of an inside player, yet he also boasts the speed, mobility, and shooting range of an outside player, and even his passing is quite impressive. In the past two years, he's been practically a bug on the court. This kind of player is like a god when he's in form, and a weed when he's out of form. As it stands, Ken Hoshino is clearly still standing on that pedestal.
If we're talking about nationwide players who can truly go toe-to-toe with Ken Hoshino on the defensive end, it's really only Hanamichi Sakuragi. Sakuragi's physical attributes are in no way inferior; his defense can cover the entire half-court, and in terms of physical prowess, he's even stronger than Ken Hoshino! However, the coach was referring to the Sakuragi who was willing to play seriously. The entire Shohoku team agreed on that.
"Hehe, Dad, your eye for talent has only gotten sharper with age! Alright, leave this to this genius!" Sakuragi was getting cocky again. Actually, he was quite focused while watching the video. Ever since he ran into Ken Hoshino at the night market, he'd been holding back, determined to win. He'd even held off on using his secretly practiced " Killer Training Camp Shot," waiting to unleash it against Hakata Shodai and show those guys what a genius was all about.
If Coach Anzai knew about this, he'd probably take back his words by now. Too bad the old man doesn't know... That praise made Sakuragi's already easily swayed heart swell like a hot air balloon.
"What Ken Hoshino, what the nation's best power forward? In my genius Sakuragi's eyes, he's nothing but an ant!"
"Hmph, watch me carry you to victory tomorrow!"
Listening to Sakuragi's blatant boasting, the others frowned so deeply they could trap a mosquito. They'd initially had high hopes for him, but now they just wanted to cover their faces—how could they have actually thought this guy was reliable? How stupid!
"Hahaha--" Coach Anzai laughed out loud. He knew perfectly well that Sakuragi needed to be tested and tempered in games to improve. He believed in Sakuragi's ability.
"Alright, that's enough about the competition."
" Hakata Shodai is strong, but remember, you are even stronger!"
" Shohoku is a tough opponent that no one wants to run into right now."
In his final few sentences, Coach Anzai boosted everyone's morale once again. Confidence is always the foundation of a game; without confidence, any tactical arrangements are useless.