Chapter Forty-Four: Opponents Fighting for Second Place
"It's Ryonan! They're entering!"
With a commotion, spectators' gazes turned uniformly toward the entrance. After Ryonan's players appeared, discussions immediately erupted throughout the stands.
"Is that Uozumi Jun? What incredible height!"
"Look, people from Kaijo and Shohoku are here too! Strange, their games aren't at this venue, right?"
"They don't have morning games." A nearby spectator said. "Looks like the rumors are true... I heard both teams lost to Ryonan in practice games."
"What? Shohoku's one thing, but even Kaijo with their 'Generation of Miracles' member lost?"
"Looks like Ryonan's recruit might not lose to Kise Ryota or Rukawa Kaede."
"Really? That number 10? He's pretty handsome too. I'm going to take his photo!"
In the spectator seats, Shohoku and Kaijo's players sat separated by a gap.
Kise Ryota couldn't help glancing toward Shohoku, his gaze falling on that conspicuous red-haired figure, muttering quietly: "Why another red-haired weirdo?"
"Hey! What's with that look!" Sakuragi Hanamichi immediately glared back after sensing the stare.
"Haha, sorry sorry," Kise waved his hand with a laugh. "Recently I met a guy with a similar build to yours, also with red hair, so I couldn't help looking twice."
"Oh? Already people are starting to imitate this genius!" Sakuragi immediately became smug.
"Idiot, watch the game quietly!" Akagi Takenori's low roar made Sakuragi shrink his neck.
Actually, he'd already noticed Kaijo's players. Though they might lack understanding of Shohoku, Shohoku had researched Kaijo—if things went as expected, to face Ryonan, they'd first need to beat Kaijo.
"Kise, focus on the game. Don't cause trouble." Kasamatsu Yukio reminded him.
"I know, Kasamatsu-senpai~" Kise responded lazily, finally withdrawing his gaze.
Both teams temporarily suppressed their curiosity about each other. After all, they had a more definite mission here—personally confirming Ryonan's current strength.
"Now then, the match between Ryonan High School and Takesato High School officially begins!"
"Tweet!"
With the referee's whistle, the basketball was tossed skyward.
Uozumi Jun, with absolute height advantage, easily tipped the ball to Sendoh behind him.
Takesato wasn't a pushover team. They'd been regular top-four contenders in the prefecture. Though lacking star players, their tactical discipline was strict and strength solid—precisely why Kaijo and Shohoku considered this game worth watching.
Facing the preliminaries' first battle, Coach Taoka showed no carelessness, deploying his full starting lineup from the beginning.
Consequently, the game practically lost suspense in the first quarter.
Yagami dribbled across halfcourt. Facing Takesato ace Imamura Yasunori's defense, he didn't rush to attack, simply standing at the top of the key observing teammates' movement.
"Swoosh!"
The basketball threaded straight into the paint.
Uozumi caught it with his back to the basket, dribbling and powering backward twice.
Though Takesato's center lacked Uozumi's height, his frame was stocky, attempting to use strength to compensate for the height gap.
Only, Uozumi's strength didn't lose to his at all. After creating space by bumping, he immediately spun and jumped for a dunk!
"Boom!"
Ryonan 2 - Takesato 0
"WOOO!" Uozumi howled while retreating on defense.
"Just slightly, but Uozumi's footwork seems better than before." Akagi frowned. After creating space backing down, Uozumi's motion flow was smooth. Previously he'd never paid attention to such details.
Offensive transition. Takesato's offense.
Imamura brought the ball forward. Just past midcourt, Yagami pressed up.
"Impossible!"
Several attempts at breaking through failed. Imamura nearly got stripped outright.
"This guy's actually a first-year?"
First-year players could generally attack, but defense was rarely this airtight.
Imamura observed his teammates. The shooter was glued tightly by Ikegami, unable to even find receiving opportunities. Interior presence Uozumi's pressure looked too strong—no chances at all.
"Damn."
Time ticked away. Imamura passed to the small forward, wanting a pick-and-roll to slip free of defense.
"Smack!"
Sendoh stole the ball. Yagami had already crossed halfcourt, easily scoring a layup after receiving the pass.
Ryonan 4 - Takesato 0
"That recruit's really good. For Takesato, playing with the ball against him won't work."
At another section of the spectator seats, Shoyo High School's Fujima Kenji and Hanagata Toru were also watching this game.
"The ball can't stop—must move quickly," Fujima said, though immediately shaking his head. "No, that carries high steal risk..."
"The gap between both teams' players is too large."
Takesato attacked again, attempting to find opportunities through patient ball movement, but Ryonan's defensive line was impenetrable.
Finally, with the 24-second shot clock expiring, Takesato's power forward forced up a shot. The basketball clanged off the rim. Uozumi easily secured the rebound.
Yagami continued organizing offense. After crossing halfcourt, facing Imamura's defense, he immediately jumped.
"How dare he!"
Imamura jumped to contest.
But Yagami wasn't shooting—rather, an elegant pass.
Koshino caught the ball. Open space stretched before him. He adjusted slightly, launching a mid-range jumper.
"Swish!"
The basketball swished through cleanly.
Ryonan 6 - Takesato 0
"Huh?!"
Also top-four caliber, yet Takesato had absolutely no ability to fight back against Ryonan!
Takesato missed again. Uozumi grabbed the defensive rebound. Offensive transition—Ryonan counterattacked.
Yagami passed to an eager Sendoh.
The latter, facing defense at the 45-degree three-point line, executed a simple crossover into stepback, instantly creating shooting space. Pull-up jumper.
"Ahh!!"
Ryonan scored again!
Three-pointer.
Ryonan 9 - Takesato 0
"Tweet!"
"Takesato requests timeout."
After the timeout, Takesato finally scored through a successful pick-and-roll, their shooting guard hitting a mid-range jumper to break their scoring drought.
But this was merely a drop in the bucket. Ryonan's offensive waves came one after another.
Takesato's coach shouted loudly from the sideline, demanding strengthened perimeter defense. However, Ryonan had too many scoring options. Takesato's defense leaked like a sieve.
Halfway through the first quarter, the score had reached Ryonan 20 - Takesato 7.
Takesato tried substituting players to improve the situation, but their starters were already their best players. The backup players who entered were even more helpless.
When the first quarter ending buzzer sounded:
Ryonan 42 - Takesato 17
Ryonan outscored them by 25 points in a single quarter, completely dominating the game.
The second quarter began with Coach Taoka rotating personnel.
Sendoh and Ikegami came out. Uekusa and Fukuda entered. Yagami's position changed to small forward.
Takesato's players thought Sendoh's exit was their opportunity, but reality proved otherwise. The on-court gap widened further.
Halftime ended.
Ryonan 74 - Takesato 40
The lead expanded to 34 points. The game had practically lost all suspense.
This margin satisfied Coach Taoka greatly, so in the second half he substituted out Yagami.
Ryonan's on-court lineup now: point guard Uekusa, shooting guard Koshino, small forward Ikegami, power forward Fukuda, center Uozumi.
Takesato's coach looked ashen, loudly deploying tactics and trying to motivate his players.
But Ryonan's advantage on court remained massive. Uozumi and Fukuda churned the interior like overturning seas. Whether offensive rebounds leading to second-chance points or receiving outside passes for power plays, no one in Takesato could stop them.
Still, Takesato didn't give up. They played more tenaciously in the second half, even seizing opportunities from Ryonan's backup lineup's coordination issues to mount a 7-0 mini-run.
Only this couldn't change the game's trajectory.
Uozumi quickly scored on an interior power play, stabilizing the situation.
Ryonan 110 - Takesato 68
The gap had reached beyond 40 points. Ryonan even broke 100 through three quarters.
Takesato finally chose surrender.
The entire fourth quarter became garbage time, both sides fielding complete backup units.
Though Ryonan's backups lacked experience, they earnestly executed tactics, seizing this rare official game opportunity.
Takesato's players finally dropped their burdens, executing some nice plays that earned audience applause.
Ryonan 132 - Takesato 94
When the final buzzer sounded, the score froze.
Ryonan High School, with a 38-point blowout victory, easily secured their Inter-High prefecture preliminary opening win.
Statistics-wise, multiple Ryonan players reached double figures.
Fukuda scored game-high 36 points. Uozumi posted 26 points and 18 rebounds—a massive double-double. Sendoh and Yagami, in limited playing time, scored 12 and 10 points respectively while dishing multiple assists.
"What happened? Ryonan's firepower is actually this exaggerated..."
Kainan High School players arriving after their own game only saw the final score. This seemed extremely different from the Ryonan they remembered, whose stable scoring option had been only Sendoh.
Ryonan's players high-fived in celebration, but their faces showed no excessive euphoria. For them, defeating Takesato was an expected result.
In the stands, Shohoku and Kaijo's players silently stood and departed.
They'd clearly witnessed Ryonan's strength—the starting lineup's powerful dominance plus deep bench depth. This Ryonan was stronger than in practice games. Absolutely a formidable rival in their national tournament pursuit.
Yagami looked up at the scoreboard, then gazed toward those familiar yet strange opponent figures in the distant stands, his eyes calm yet carrying unstoppable excitement.
"Looks like quite a few teams want to compete for second place."
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