Chapter 140: Seven to Nothing
First quarter over. Both teams walked to their benches.
Coach Domoto's substitution adjustment had been perfectly timed. Sannoh had scored five straight in the final minute to swing the quarter back in their favor.
After one quarter: Ryonan down by one.
Yagami Sorato: 13 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound, 1 block.
Sendoh Akira: 6 points, 3 assists.
Uozumi Jun: 2 points, 2 rebounds.
"Take a minute." Coach Taoka pushed Yagami down onto the bench before pulling out his tactics board.
"Everyone did well in that first quarter, but Sannoh was clearly not operating at their ceiling yet."
He sketched across the board as he spoke. "Second quarter: Uekusa handles the ball. Yagami, give yourself a partial rest on offense. Sendoh and Fukuda, this is your window."
"Yes, sir." Uekusa Tomoyuki and Fukuda Kicchou answered together.
"Uozumi. Kawata Masashi's three at the buzzer was unexpected, but don't start guarding against it specifically. His natural position is still near the basket." Coach Taoka continued. "What concerns me is his mid-range game and his post passing. Contest what you can reasonably contest, but don't drift away from the paint and do not pick up cheap fouls."
"Understood!" Uozumi nodded hard. He had heard from Yagami that Kawata had developed through all five positions, which meant a technical foundation everywhere on the floor.
And even setting aside that last three, Kawata had put up seven points, two assists, and two rebounds in the first quarter while barely appearing to try. The gap was real. Uozumi knew it clearly.
Beep.
Two minutes gone in a flash. The referee's whistle called them back.
"Uekusa!" Coach Taoka called one more time before his players stepped out. "You understand. In our eyes, this is not a gamble."
"I know, Coach." Uekusa Tomoyuki answered with full seriousness.
Taking over ball-handling duties meant going against Fukatsu Kazunari directly. Not one teammate had questioned the decision for a single second, which was itself a statement of trust.
"Even against Japan's best point guard, there are things I can do."
Second quarter. Both teams back out. Sannoh kept the lineup they had finished the first quarter with.
Ryonan ball. Uekusa Tomoyuki pushed up the floor.
"Hmm." Fukatsu stepped up and looked Uekusa over.
The replacement point guard had almost no standout game footage. Fukatsu recalled last night's scouting notes: unremarkable. No exceptional moments, but no noticeable mistakes either. His apparent task was simply to advance the ball.
As a point guard, Fukatsu would rate that kind of performance around seventy out of a hundred.
Yagami had shifted to the two position, but rather than finding his spot immediately, he stayed near Uekusa as a release valve. If Fukatsu's pressure was going to stop the ball at half court, Yagami could step in and receive.
"Uekusa-senpai, you're fine." Yagami's eyes signaled him forward. "Go set up. I'll come to you if you need it."
Uekusa looked at the calm, straightforward expression on the first-year beside him, smiled the same way he usually did, said nothing more, and jogged toward his position at the left forty-five outside Sannoh's arc.
The moment Yagami moved, Fukatsu accelerated his pressure.
Uekusa didn't flinch. He protected the ball into his side and held his ground.
"Not bad." Fukatsu kept the pressure on.
Uekusa couldn't shake Fukatsu's speed. He didn't have the mechanics to pull up from deep. Even observers in the upper rows could see he was in a difficult spot.
But Uekusa found a seam and lofted the ball high to the right.
Sendoh Akira caught it.
"He's a good player. Same type as me, maybe." Ichinokura Satoshi said it matter-of-factly and attached to Sendoh immediately.
Beyond "defensive specialist," Ichinokura carried a second nickname: the Man of Endurance.
He was not a genius. But in a competition of sheer perseverance, even Sawakita, Kawata, and Fukatsu might not outlast him. He had outrun the track team in the school marathon, endured the pain of appendicitis to finish an exam, and completed every one of Sannoh's brutal high-intensity training sessions without once stepping back.
"Come at me, Sendoh." Ichinokura's expression was set hard. "I will be in your way until you can't move anymore."
"Well. You really do look like you'll be a nuisance."
Sendoh bounced the ball through his legs to create space, then flung it up into the air without warning.
Fukuda Kicchou easily got free from Kawata Mikio, cut hard to the basket, rose to meet the ball, and drove it down toward the rim.
"ALLEY-OOP!"
"Fukuda is fast!"
But Kawata Masashi's lateral quickness was equally sharp. He stepped in front of Fukuda and went straight up, both arms high.
Fukuda didn't panic. In the air he pulled the ball back, folded through a reverse layup around the defense, and dropped the ball in off the glass from the other side.
Ryonan 23, Sannoh Industrial 22.
"NICE ONE!"
"FUKUDA! FUKUDA!"
Fukuda jogged back with the grin still on his face, though he remembered to keep moving.
"That kid's offensive ability is better than what I saw on film." Kawata Masashi murmured, genuinely surprised that Fukuda had made that shot. "Mikio. Don't let the opposing cutters get to the rim freely."
"Sorry, brother!" Kawata Mikio's apology was sincere.
Transition. Sannoh offense.
Fukatsu pushed up and found Sendoh still in front of him.
"You're not tired?"
Fukatsu didn't want to spend time wrestling with Sendoh. He skipped the perimeter game entirely and fed the ball directly into the post. Kawata Mikio received, recognized nobody was in position to stop him, and turned to face the basket for a standing jumper.
"I read it." Coach Taoka's focus sharpened instantly on the sideline. He had made the call that Kawata Mikio's frame would prevent him from operating fluidly in tight space with the ball. Which meant contesting him on the catch was the wrong approach—better to let him receive cleanly and time the contest to his release.
Fukuda Kicchou had already been setting up in that position. The instant Kawata Mikio released, Fukuda jumped to contest.
"Planning something clever?" Kawata Masashi watched the ball in the air.
The ball missed Fukuda's outstretched fingers entirely.
"The release angle is very high on little Kawata!"
CLANG.
The ball came off the back of the rim.
BOOM.
Kawata Masashi left the floor and redirected the bouncing ball back down through the basket.
Ryonan 23, Sannoh Industrial 24.
"What a putback slam!"
"Sorry, brother."
"Apologize after you're back on defense." Kawata Masashi said it over his shoulder. "Remember next time, you don't need to rush. No one in this tournament can stop you when you're patient."
"Yes, brother."
"DAMN!" Uozumi Jun could not contain his frustration. Kawata Masashi had read exactly where the ball was going to bounce before it even came off the rim.
"Don't let it get to you, Uozumi-senpai." Sendoh patted him on the back. No time to be down about it.
"I know! I'm going to take back control of this paint!" Uozumi said it low and fierce.
Transition. Ryonan offense.
Uekusa brought the ball up steadily, got Sendoh the ball after positioning, then immediately ran his route toward the corner to pull Fukatsu out of the center of the action.
The ball found Yagami. He crossed over, beat Matsumoto Minoru on one move, and pulled up mid-range.
SWISH.
Two points.
Ryonan 25, Sannoh Industrial 24.
With Uekusa controlling the ball, Ryonan's offense was somehow flowing more easily than in the first quarter.
"Their coach." Coach Domoto's expression had become careful as he watched Coach Taoka across the floor. "Coaching a team that beat a squad led by Coach Anzai takes real substance. He's not ordinary."
But Domoto wasn't alarmed. Even at dead even, Sannoh still had Sawakita as an unused card. When Sawakita was on the floor and locked in, he would accelerate the pace decisively and break things open. Anything less than that would be wasting his court time.
Transition. Sannoh offense.
Kawata Masashi stepped out to a mid-range position and received. He went straight up with the jumper.
Two points.
Ryonan 25, Sannoh Industrial 26.
Transition. Ryonan offense.
Sendoh drove into the paint, pulling Kawata's attention, then faked a feed to Fukuda on the right and instead threaded a no-look pass the other direction to Uozumi Jun cutting under the basket. Uozumi caught it and threw it through with both hands.
Ryonan 27, Sannoh Industrial 26.
Transition. Sannoh offense.
Fukatsu went directly at Sendoh, probing the drive, pushed into the paint, and released a mid-range pull-up before Yagami's help arrived.
Two points.
Ryonan 27, Sannoh Industrial 28.
The pace picked up. Both teams were scoring through their respective advantages.
By the seventh minute of the second quarter:
Ryonan 42, Sannoh Industrial 43.
Ryonan ball.
Uekusa passed off and ran his usual route to the baseline, pulling Fukatsu with him.
But this time Fukatsu didn't follow him all the way down. Instead he broke toward Sendoh for a double-team.
"Don't underestimate Uekusa-senpai." The corner of Sendoh's mouth lifted, as if he had been waiting for exactly this opening. His arm swung through the incoming ball and redirected it sharply to the left corner.
Uekusa had the ball in open space.
"Don't you dare!" Matsumoto Minoru couldn't fully leave Yagami unguarded, but he made a hard feint toward the corner with a shout meant to disrupt the shot.
Uekusa adjusted, bent his knees, and released smoothly.
SWISH.
Two points.
Ryonan 44, Sannoh Industrial 43.
"Uekusa! Beautiful!"
"Great shot, Uekusa-senpai!" Yagami's praise was genuine.
Transition. Sannoh offense.
Fukatsu drove at Sendoh again, forced the issue, came up short on a pull-up. The ball bounced away hard.
"Rebound!"
Kawata Mikio had position in the paint and that was usually the end of the conversation. Even Uozumi had no clean answer for him at this spot.
But the ball bounced left off the kick-out, and Yagami came cutting through the interior to get there before Kawata Masashi's second attempt.
"COUNTER!"
Sendoh was already sprinting toward Sannoh's end without looking back. On the opposite side, Fukuda Kicchou was moving at a speed that didn't match his size.
Fukatsu, Matsumoto, and Ichinokura recovered at full speed. Only Fukatsu was actually fast enough to chase either of them down.
Yagami's quarterback pass went long, the ball arcing high toward Sannoh's end.
Sendoh jumped to receive above Fukatsu's defensive effort. Fukatsu came around the front to stop him. The other two defenders cut off Fukuda's cutting lane to the basket.
SMACK.
Sendoh caught the ball, took two hard steps, and got stopped by Fukatsu. Without pausing, he flipped the ball behind him.
Uekusa Tomoyuki, trailing everyone, received at the top of the arc.
"Watch out, Uekusa!"
Fukuda Kicchou, seeing the massive figure closing in from behind, called out the warning at full volume.
"Fast—"
Uekusa felt the shadow before he heard anything. He had not planned to finish this himself.
CRACK.
The ball hammered the floor and launched back out to the three-point line.
The man who had started the fast break was now standing beyond the arc with open space in front of him. Yagami hadn't seen a look this clean in a while.
"Great pass, Uekusa-senpai."
No hesitation. Three-pointer.
Kawata Mikio and Uozumi arrived in the paint at almost the same time, one quarter-second too late.
SWISH.
Pure.
Ryonan 47, Sannoh Industrial 43.
"The lead is back and it's Ryonan's! STILL RYONAN'S LEAD!!!"
"They're not here by luck! Could Ryonan actually have what it takes to beat Sannoh?!!"
The mood in the stands had started to shift.
The neutral fans found themselves in a complicated place emotionally—part of them wanted to see Sannoh protect their status and continue the legend, but another part was watching Ryonan climb and felt something pull toward them.
"Stay level." Fukatsu said it calmly over his shoulder as he brought the ball up. He was not about to chase the score. "One counter. That's all it was."
He was right that Sannoh still held the structural advantage, even trailing by four.
From what the second quarter had shown, Yagami was using significantly less energy than Ryonan's other players. Everyone else had been running hard on both ends and in contact. Fukatsu knew exactly what Coach Domoto did with gaps like that. The decisive swing, when it came, would be concentrated into a few minutes the other team wouldn't see coming.
Transition. Sannoh offense.
Fukatsu drove at Sendoh, who was making life as difficult as advertised. Without a height advantage, pulling up hard was giving poor looks; but driving lanes were being cut off by Sendoh's defensive prediction and lateral movement.
"Ichinokura!"
No elaboration needed. Ichinokura stepped up immediately to screen.
Fukatsu used the pick to cut into the paint. Uozumi shifted out to help.
Fukatsu delivered the ball directly to the basket.
Kawata Masashi received, left the ground, and threw it down with one hand.
"Kawata, watch—!" Matsumoto Minoru's voice had urgency in it.
"How is he HERE?!"
Yagami appeared at Kawata Masashi's diagonal rear, palm coming down hard on the ball.
But Kawata Masashi pulled the ball back in the air, avoiding the block attempt, and thrust it upward again.
"???!"
"That's extraordinary! A center making a mid-air adjustment like that?!"
In terms of raw size, the image was almost absurd. But precisely because of it, the threat was real. The sheer dimensions involved created a problem no defensive play could fully account for.
SMACK.
A hand came down on the ball and took it clean out of the air.
Sendoh Akira.
He had been stopped by Ichinokura's screen and hadn't chased Fukatsu. He had gone straight to the basket instead.
Fukuda Kicchou was already at full speed at the front.
Ryonan counter!
Sendoh's pass went long and with intent, aimed at the left side of Sannoh's basket.
Fukuda accelerated away from Fukatsu down the sideline, arrived at the paint ahead of everyone, took one step inside, rose to receive the ball in the air, and drove it home.
BOOM.
Ryonan 49, Sannoh Industrial 43.
A full-court alley-oop finish!
Fukuda grabbed the rim and swung, caught the referee's eye, and got himself down properly.
In the span of two minutes, Ryonan had run off seven straight points.
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