The Ace Runs Out of Gas

Smack! Smack! Smack!!

Before returning to the court, Akagi Gorilla vigorously slapped his own face with both hands.

Don't think about my injured foot anymore! Trust my teammates, trust the coach, win this game, and firmly seize the initiative in the fight for a spot in the National Tournament! That is the only thing I should be thinking about right now!!

When he opened his eyes again, Akagi saw the relieved expressions on his teammates' faces.

Hmph, to think these problem children were worried about me. I really am pathetic.

Akagi smiled self-mockingly, but immediately replaced it with a stern, focused expression.

"Let's go!!"

"Yeahhhh!!!"

After slapping his thigh hard, Gorilla rose to his feet again and led his teammates back onto their battlefield.

"Has Akagi finally recovered?"

In the stands, Uozumi smiled as he watched Akagi return to the court.

"There are still four and a half minutes left, and they're only down by ten. This game is far from over."

Sendoh smiled and added, "Now it's Miuradai's turn to be careful. Akagi has rested for a full ten minutes. He must have been holding it in for ages."

"Boss!!"

To help Akagi regain his touch as quickly as possible, Shohoku's first possession after the timeout saw Miyagi immediately feed the ball to Akagi, who was calling for it in the paint.

Akagi caught the ball and backed Naito down twice. After realizing he still could not budge him, he stopped trying to match Naito in raw strength.

The next instant, Akagi gave a feint to the right. After successfully baiting Naito into jumping, he pulled the ball back and spun into the paint.

"Haaaah!!!"

Akagi Gorilla vented all the fury he had accumulated over the past ten minutes on Ohno Kazuki, who came over to help, and on the basket above him.

He leaped, forcefully bumped Ohno Kazuki away as he tried to interfere, and hammered the basketball into the hoop with both hands.

"It's here!!"

"Gorilla Dunk!!!"

"Great! Captain Akagi has finally come back to life!!"

The Shohoku bench immediately erupted in wild cheers.

The value of that dunk was far more than just two points. It completely ignited Shohoku's morale.

Captain Akagi was back. They could definitely win this game!

It gave everyone on Shohoku, from the bench to the starters, that confidence. It even affected quite a few spectators. That was the true power of Akagi's dunk.

Now the pressure had shifted to Miuradai, to Wu Yufei.

Without question, Shohoku would launch a furious counterattack over the final four minutes of the first half. Wu Yufei's task was to lead his teammates in weathering this surge while also making sure Rukawa Kaede did not take the chance to pad his score!

Heh... I thought I'd finish today's task easily. Looks like I'll have to give it everything too.

Wu Yufei silently thought as he looked at the Shohoku players in front of him, already set in their defensive stances and waiting in formation.

Wu Yufei brought the ball into the frontcourt. While shielding it from Rukawa Kaede's defense, he signaled to Ohno Kazuki in the paint.

"That gesture is..."

"Miuradai isn't easy prey either. If Shohoku wants to mount a comeback, Akagi's revival alone won't be nearly enough..."

The Ryonan players in the stands immediately recognized Wu Yufei's gesture.

They knew that motion all too well. A week ago, they had lost points again and again because of it, with no way to stop it.

Back on the court.

The moment Ohno Kazuki saw Wu Yufei's signal, he pulled out to set a screen for him.

Once Ohno was in position, Wu Yufei immediately drove.

After successfully screening off Rukawa Kaede, Ohno Kazuki immediately turned and ran toward Shohoku's basket.

The next instant, Wu Yufei, drawing both Rukawa Kaede and Sakuragi's attention, made a shooting fake. Once he had baited both of them into raising their hands, he fired a bounce pass through their defensive line to Ohno Kazuki, who had rolled cleanly to the basket.

Naito Tetsuya boxed Akagi out, giving Ohno Kazuki plenty of room and time to receive the ball, adjust, and drive in for an easy layup.

The pick-and-roll was a play Miuradai had drilled countless times every day since the start of school.

Its purpose was to let Naito Tetsuya and Ohno Kazuki unleash their greatest power under the basket.

Simple, practical, and quick to produce results.

Shohoku's ball.

Miyagi Ryota continued attacking through Akagi, because before the fully revived Akagi's technique, Naito's size and strength advantage had nearly vanished.

But Wu Yufei made a decisive call, immediately ordering Ohno Kazuki to abandon Sakuragi and support Naito Tetsuya, trapping Akagi under the basket.

Facing the double-team from Naito and Ohno, Akagi forced up a shot and missed. Sakuragi Hanamichi grabbed the rebound and passed it back to Miyagi Ryota, giving Shohoku a second chance on offense.

This time, Miyagi chose to trust Mitsui Hisashi, who had played well in the first half, and immediately passed to him when he got open.

Mitsui caught the pass and, before Ishiyama Jun could close in to contest him, launched a shot from beyond the three-point line.

Clang!!

Unfortunately, Mitsui Hisashi, who had already hit three three-pointers in the first half, failed to make his fourth.

After consecutive offensive failures, Naito Tetsuya grabbed the rebound forcefully, and Shohoku lost this precious chance to cut the deficit.

"Yufei!!"

Naito glanced toward Wu Yufei, shouted, then swung his arm and hurled the basketball toward Shohoku's half.

Seeing this, Rukawa Kaede and Sakuragi Hanamichi immediately turned and sprinted after Wu Yufei, who was racing ahead on the fast break.

The chase began in an instant. Sakuragi and Rukawa boxed Wu Yufei in from the left and right, only half a step behind him.

Outside the three-point line in Shohoku's half, Wu Yufei caught Naito's long pass and charged into the paint without slowing down at all.

The instant he stepped into the paint, all three leaped almost simultaneously. Wu Yufei stared fixedly at the basket ahead, while Sakuragi and Rukawa Kaede stared just as intently at the basketball in Wu Yufei's hands.

The moment they saw Wu Yufei make a floater motion, Sakuragi and Rukawa Kaede immediately swung their arms toward the ball.

The next instant, just as everyone thought Wu Yufei would fall to this double block, he sharply pulled back the ball he had already extended, bringing it back to his chest.

After making Sakuragi and Rukawa Kaede's blocks miss completely, Wu Yufei arched his body in midair, slipped the ball beneath the arms in front of him, and lightly flicked it up with his fingertips.

Swish!!

The sound of the net was unbearably piercing to Shohoku's players at that moment.

"They still couldn't stop him even like that..."

At the sideline bench, Ayako watched Wu Yufei turn and retreat on defense after scoring, speaking helplessly.

She had forgotten that when Rukawa Kaede made that kind of play against Shoyo before, she had been extremely excited.

"An opponent like this is just right for Sakuragi and Rukawa."

Coach Anzai spoke slowly from beside her.

If someone like this had stood before Yazawa back then, perhaps he wouldn't have...

For a moment, Coach Anzai recalled a past he was unwilling to mention again.

Shohoku regained new vitality with Akagi's return, forcing Wu Yufei to run even more tirelessly on both ends of the court as he led his team in resisting the counterattack launched by Akagi.

At the same time, Wu Yufei did not lose his composure. He continued to tightly restrict Rukawa Kaede, his direct matchup.

No matter how many points Shohoku scored, as long as Rukawa Kaede was not the one scoring them, Wu Yufei could accept it all!

At 18:26, Wu Yufei used his physical advantage to force his way into the paint again despite Miyagi's interference. After drawing the attention of three Shohoku players, he instantly kicked the ball out to Ishiyama Jun, who had gotten open on the perimeter and was waiting quietly. Ishiyama decisively fired and hit a three.

Shohoku refused to be outdone. At 18:41, Mitsui Hisashi immediately answered with a three-pointer.

At 19:02, after successfully running more than twenty seconds off the clock, Wu Yufei used an extremely quick BSP; Over move to shake Rukawa Kaede to the floor. Then, like a sharp blade, he drove straight into Shohoku's paint, rose against Akagi Gorilla's defense, arched in midair, and finished the layup.

At 19:10, Shohoku launched a fast break. Miyagi Ryota tried to lob the ball inside, but Wu Yufei intercepted it in midair and immediately started a coast-to-coast counterattack.

Unfortunately, Wu Yufei's counterattack did not result in a basket either. Sakuragi grabbed the rebound and charged toward Miuradai again.

The pace on both ends was incredibly fast, and the spectators in the stands were thoroughly thrilled.

In the end, thanks to Wu Yufei's tireless effort over the final few minutes, Miuradai successfully withstood Shohoku's fierce teamwide counterattack and held the score at 47:40 by the end of the first half.

A seven-point lead was still relatively safe.

And Shohoku High's ace, super rookie Rukawa Kaede, had scored only 11 points in the first half under Wu Yufei's "special attention"!