Chapter 9: Deadly Counter.

The next possession of Takezono, their coach gave them instructions to give the ball to Keita. Keita will be the playmaker for the team.

Keita pass the ball to Osamu in the right wing, Osamu gets a screen from Oda. Osamu dribble to the left side, Daichi went up to defend Osamu. Osamu attacks his defense and he went by Daichi easily, Osamu gets met by Sakuragi. Osamu stopped and pass the ball to the right corner with the wide open Takehiro. Takehiro shoots a three pointer and makes it.

SHOHOKU: 11

TAKEZONO: 3

1st Half 18:21

[SPECTATOR #2: Takezono finally score.]

[SPECTATOR #3: I thought they wouldn't score.]

Shohoku gets the ball and Miyagi is calmly taking the ball down, He pass it to Shota in the left wing, Shota then pass it to Rukawa in the left corner. Rukawa about to take his shot.

[OSAMU: Fake?!.]

Rukawa attacked his right side, he jumps to shot a layup but Oda jumps to block his shot. Rukawa, evaded Oda and goes up and under and still manages to score with left handed layup.

[OSAMU: No way…. How did he do that?.]

SHOHOKU: 13

TAKEZONO: 3

1st Half 18:02

[MAKI: Shohoku is taking their possessions very fast, they dont waste any time on scoring. This might hunt them down back the more they get deeper into the game.]

Maki was right, Shohoku's fast paced offense was very deadly but they were very short lived. And so, Takezono began to slowly get back into the game and they also expose Sakuragi and Daichi's perimeter defense. Keita suddenly became more aggressive and he started to score more points. Rukawa on the other hand, gets fully marked by Osamu. Osamu defended Rukawa very tightly and physical, Rukawa couldn't get a ball and Shohoku's offense began to crumble away after Rukawa got sealed.

And the nail in the coffin was Shota became a statue in the corners and didn't move to get into his position. Miyagi, was having a hard time finding a blind spot in the defense of Takezono.

And at the 10 minute mark, Shohoku regained momentum with Sakuragi's four straight points underneath the rim and trimmed the lead to just 6. But, Oda showcase that he improved and made two mid range shots. Oda gets their lead back to double digit.

SHOHOKU: 40

TAKEZONO: 50

1st Half 9:39

Takehiro, uses his height advantage against Miyagi and starts to posting him up in the left post wing. But, Miyagi steals the ball from him when he tries to attack the right side. Miyagi runs the floor and spotted Shota in the right corner. Miyagi passes the ball to Shota, Shota was about to take the shot.

[TAKEHIRO: Not so fast!.]

Takehiro jumps to block Shota's shot but Shota fakes it and attack the right side. Haruhiko closes the door on Shota, Shota picked his dribble and gets double team by Haruhiko and Takehiro. Shota saw Sakuragi running the down, and he pass the ball to Sakuragi.

[SAKURAGI: Great decision, Shota-Kun!.]

Sakuragi gets the ball and then throws a monster two handed dunk that makes the crowd go crazy.

[SAKURAGI GANG: GORILLA DUNK!.]

[MAKI: Shota makes a great decision right there, but he doesn't have to pick up his dribble. Specifically in that situation.]

[SHOICHIRO: Yeah, he gets rattled by the fact that number 9 closes on to him, thankfully for them Sakuragi was running down the line fast and Shota was calm enough to see him.]

SHOHOKU: 42

TAKEZONO: 50

1st Half 8:42

But, it wasn't enough for them to stop the offensive onslaught of Takezono. Takezono has an answer for every single point Shohoku scored and they also keep up the pressure on Miyagi and Shota. Keeping Rukawa in a cage by doing a single coverage on him, Sakuragi was being exposed in the defensive end and was keeping out of the box to get any chances of rebounding the ball. Daichi was still a freshman and therefore, Oda uses his technique and experience to score against the taller Daichi. Takezono was in full control of the game and believe they could take down one of the top teams. However, they miss calculate on one thing, this is still the team that beat Sannoh and reached the Nationals. They were not going down like this.

Miyagi, forces his shot and misses it but Sakuragi was able to get the rebound and pass the ball back to him.

[TAKEZONO'S COACH: It's okay. It's only one rebound, don't sweat it!.]

[ODA: Osamu-Senpai!.]

Osamu gets side track and loses Rukawa, Miyagi passes the ball to him and Rukawa attacks the middle. Rukawa jumps and gets met by Oda and Haruhiko in the air, Rukawa was still able to dunk it against those two.

The crowd was in owe and disbelief, Rukawa dunk over to people. Rukawa then steals the inbounds pass and throws it to Shota in the left wing who gets wide open, Shota shoots a three pointer and makes it.

I'm just two possessions before ending the 1st half. Shohoku suddenly wakes up and scores two big points and gets into the second half with a much better situation.

SHOHOKU: 57

TAKEZONO: 66

1st Half 0:00