Slam Dunk: I'm the Glasses Brother

Chapter 167 County Tournament Elimination Round 1 (1)

"Our first opponent is Tsukubu High School. According to investigation, Wu Dai from their team has transferred to Ryonan. Even if Wu Dai is still in Tsukubu High School, they are no match for us. They don't have any players over 190cm tall in the interior. The style of play will be the same as last year, with fast rotation and outside attack as the main focus." On this day, Ayako handed the list of opponents to Akagi.

After more than 20 days of competition, the first place in each group has been decided. The draw for the knockout round has also been held. Shohoku's first opponent is Tsukubu High School, which was their opponent in last year's warm-up match.

"There are indeed no players with particularly outstanding heights. The tallest is only 188cm. There are only two first-year students who have made the starting lineup. They are Yohei, Sakuragi, and Kiyota. Are you familiar with these two people?" Akagi asked the first-year students of Shohoku. Sakuragi and Kiyota took a look and shook their heads, saying they had no impression.

"I know this guy. He's the main player of our second round opponent. He's good at shooting, but average in other aspects. I don't have much impression of the other one either," Yohei replied.

"Let's not go on stage for the three of us yet, let's leave the opportunity for training to them," Mitsui suggested.

"Well, if there really is a problem we can go ahead (Will there be a problem?)" Akagi nodded in agreement.

"Is there any team that performed particularly well in the qualifiers?" Mugure suddenly asked Ayako

"Um... yes, this is a newly established high school. It's called Midori Wind High School. In the group stage, the team had an average net win of more than 30 points. My junior from high school, Rukawa Kaede, went to Midori Wind. He is the leading scorer of this team. Midori Wind not only has Rukawa Kaede, but also other good players. The center of Daihoku High School, Gao Guang, and the point guard of Nanajiu Bao, Ebina, have joined Midori Wind High School. Not only Kanagawa, but also good players from other places have joined Midori Wind. And it is said that if they make it to the joint finals, there is a player in their team who is studying in a high school in the United States and will come back. The strength of this team should not be underestimated." Ayako introduced Midori Wind High School in detail to everyone.

"It's a pretty good team. Let's see if we can test their strength in the joint finals." Akagi looked at the matchup schedule and found that if he played against Midorikaze, he would have to wait until the joint finals and would not meet them in the knockout rounds.

"Let these two elimination games serve as our warm-up. This year is our last year in Shohoku. Our determination to dominate the country is a hundred times and a thousand times greater than any of you can imagine. This year's Shohoku is also the strongest Shohoku." Murasakibara suddenly spoke

Pointing at Akagi in front of him, he said, "Captain Akagi, you fought against the Kobayashi brothers from Buri alone in last year's county tournament, you blew up the inside players of Aiwa and Touou in the national tournament, and you faced the two inside players of Hakata Corporation all by yourself, but you didn't lose the upper hand at all. You are definitely a top-notch center player in the county."

He then pointed at Mitsui Hisashi and said, "Mitsui Hisashi has been playing against the aces of strong teams since his freshman year. He is not inferior to Fujita from Kainan, Sendoh from Ryonan, Moroboshi from Aiwa, and Oyama from Hakata Sho. He is a top scorer in the county."

"I, Kogure Konobu, am one of the three great defenders in Kanagawa, and no one has ever taken advantage of me."

"Sakuragi, Yohei, and Kiyota are also well-known players in junior high school. Your joining is the best supplement for Xiangbei."

"And Katsumi, Hasegawa, Horita, you players who participated in the national competition last year, ask yourself, with your ability, you can get a starting position in any team."

"In addition to us players, we also have Coach Anxi to guide us. Isn't such a team a top-notch team in the county, or even in the country? Let me tell you, we are very strong!"

"We are strong!" The players' confidence and fighting spirit suddenly ignited.

"Kumure said it very well!" His friend made an exciting speech. As the captain of Xiangbei, Akagi was not to be outdone. He clapped his hands vigorously and said loudly: "Whether it is tomorrow's knockout match, the upcoming joint finals, or the national competition, no matter how difficult the moment is, each of you must remember - we are strong! We Xiangbei will definitely dominate the country!"

"Yes!" The entire Xiangbei team was boiling with excitement, and the momentum reached its peak in an instant.

"Oh, that's right. Remember, you are very strong." Coach Anxi also appeared at the entrance of the gymnasium.

Soon, the day of the elimination match arrived. Because of the appearance of the traditional teams, the Kanagawa Prefectural Gymnasium was packed. The first seeded team to play was the fourth place team of the previous tournament, Ryonan. Their opponent was Shida High School. In the first match of Ryonan, all the main players were out. The starting lineup: Uozhu, Nango, Sendoh, Wudai and Miyagi. This lineup was a waste of talent to deal with Shida.

"Yu Zhu is much stronger than last year." Seeing Yu Zhu shake off his opponent with his footwork and score a dunk, Mitsui said

"He has indeed made progress, but he is still not my opponent." While Akagi recognized the increase in Yuzhu's strength, he also expressed his own opinion.

"Sendoh's style has changed?" Mitsui noticed that Sendoh was not attacking all the time like before, but was passing the ball all the time.

"Sendoh is even more terrifying when he passes the ball, Mitsui, you'd better be careful," Murasakibara reminded Mitsui. Mitsui did not refute and nodded heavily.

"Godai, your abilities finally have a place to be utilized." With Uozumi, as well as two breakthrough masters, Miyagi and Sendoh, in the interior, Godai had plenty of opportunities to shoot, and soon Godai made three of four three-pointers. Murasaki was also happy that his former teammate could have a place to use his abilities.

"Ryonan's strength has increased a lot." Also watching the game were the captains of Kainan and Shoyo.

At the end of the first half, Ryonan led by 51 points, 23:28. Seeing that the opponent was only so strong, Tanaka began to train new players. Uozu, Sendoh, and Miyagi were replaced one after another, and Guan Ping, Ikegami, and Uekusa came on the court. Although the strength of the players on the field of Ryonan declined a lot, Shida was unable to close the score. In the end, Ryonan defeated the opponent 91:61.

The next game was between Xiangbei and Tsukubu High School. This year was the 90th anniversary of Tsukubu High School, and many students from Tsukubu High School came to cheer for Tsukubu.

"There are so many spectators. It's a pity that basketball still relies on strength. If it relies on the audience, then Takezono would probably be the king of Kanagawa." Mu Mu looked at the Tsukubu cheerleaders in the stands and said a witty remark

"Hahaha" The Xiangbei team members also found it very interesting after hearing Murasakibara's teasing.

"The starting lineup for this game is center Tokuo Horita, power forward Hanamichi Sakuragi, small forward Ichiro Katsumi, shooting guard Nobunaga Kiyota, and point guard Yohei Mito." Coach Anzai announced the starting lineup, and no one raised any objections, because Mumu and the others remembered that two years ago, Shohoku also had three freshmen in the starting lineup. The difference is that two years ago, they had no choice, but this year they have more soldiers and more generals. With Horita and Katsumi in the lineup, there won't be any big problems. What's more, Shohoku will not make the same mistake as Shoyo in the plot year, underestimating the enemy. Once they find something wrong, Mumu and the other two will be ready to go into battle at any time.

The two sides jumped the ball. Although Horita was a substitute player in Xiangbei, after several years of experience, he is more than capable of being a starter in an ordinary team. After winning the scrimmage, Mito Yohei got the ball, but he did not rush to fast break, but dribbled on the spot, "We'll score the first goal." When all the Xiangbei players ran to the front court, Mito Yohei started to dribble forward.

For the first ball of "Senior Horita", Mito Yohei did not choose to break through, nor did he choose to fast break, nor did he choose to give the ball to Sakuragi, whom he was familiar with. Instead, he passed it to Horita in the inside. Horita played one-on-one with his back to the basket, but Tsukutake's center strength was not enough. Horita carried the ball twice, got to a favorable position, and made a shot under the basket, taking the lead in scoring two points for Shohoku.

Tsukutake attacked, and their captain, who was no stranger to the second- and third-year Xiangbei players, was point guard Natsume Hirotoshi. Mito Yohei had also done a lot of homework on Natsume Hirotoshi, and knew that Natsume Hirotoshi was good at three-point shooting. He stuck close to Natsume and didn't give him a chance to shoot three-pointers. Natsume Hirotoshi tried to use his speed to get rid of Yohei's defense, but what he didn't expect was that Mito Yohei's speed was no less inferior. Natsume couldn't get rid of Mito Yohei at all, and had no choice but to pass the ball, but the pass was intercepted by Katsumi. Katsumi made a long pass directly, and Kiyota Nobunaga scored a dunk!