Another Victory

In the ninth minute of the second half, Mitsui Hisashi, whose stamina had run dry, finally awakened his last skill: Unreasonable Three-Point Rain.

After sinking three consecutive three-pointers, helping his team put together an 11–5 run and cutting the gap to just four points for the first time, Mitsui finally exhausted all his strength and was substituted out by Coach Anzai.

After walking off the court, Mitsui collapsed onto the bench.

Though a towel covered his head, hiding his expression, the slight trembling of his body suggested that Mitsui was crying.

He was crying, filled with regret—regret that he had ended up like this before he could help Shohoku take the lead.

If he had not wasted those precious two years, if he were still the former All-Japan Middle School MVP, if only...

Unfortunately, reality had no ifs.

Nine of fifteen from the field, seven of twelve from three, twenty-five points, three rebounds, and three assists—this was Mitsui Hisashi's stat line.

With numbers like that, Mitsui Hisashi had already performed exceptionally well.

But unfortunately, that alone was not enough to help Shohoku defeat Miuradai, led by Wu Yufei.

"It's over."

In the stands, Coach Taoka shook his head and sighed.

"Shohoku can no longer turn this around."

And just as he had predicted, with Mitsui Hisashi leaving the court, Shohoku's scoring burden had to be shared by Akagi and Rukawa Kaede.

One of them was now being double-teamed, while the other was being tightly contained by Wu Yufei.

To contain Rukawa Kaede, Wu Yufei had scored only six points throughout the entire second half so far, devoting all his energy beyond playmaking to shutting Rukawa down.

Wu Yufei was already exhausted as well, but he absolutely could not leave the court before Rukawa Kaede!

In the eleventh minute, after forcing his way to his twentieth point of the game, the utterly spent Rukawa Kaede was also substituted out by Coach Anzai.

At that point, Shohoku's two scoring aces had both been benched due to fatigue. With the team still trailing, Shohoku's odds of mounting a comeback plummeted.

In the twelfth minute, Akagi, who could clearly feel a dull ache starting in his ankle, was decisively substituted out by the sharp-eyed Coach Anzai.

Now, Shohoku's lineup on the court was Sakuragi Hanamichi, Kakuta Satoru, Kogure Kiminobu, Shiozaki Tetsuji, and Miyagi Ryota.

Coach Anzai's move was practically equivalent to raising the white flag and declaring surrender.

It was not that Coach Anzai wanted to surrender, but that he truly had no more cards left to play.

In the fourteenth minute, after smoothly extending the gap to fifteen points, Miuradai also pulled all of its starters and sent in the second string to run down the remaining time.

Coach Anzai decisively substituted Sakuragi Hanamichi and Miyagi Ryota as well, fielding an all-bench lineup.

Sakuragi naturally kept making a fuss and refusing to come off, but Coach Anzai eventually soothed him down.

"At least for now, we truly can't beat them. Rather than spending our last bit of strength here, we should save it for tomorrow's game against Ryonan."

Those helpless words were Coach Anzai's final consolation to his players.

[Don't give up. Until the very last moment, you never know how the game will end!]

That was indeed Coach Anzai's creed, but it did not suit Shohoku's current situation.

They were not at the end of the road. As long as they could defeat Ryonan tomorrow, they would still have a chance to reach the National Tournament.

The final few minutes passed with the bench players from both teams going back and forth and wearing down the clock. In the end, Miuradai defeated Shohoku 99–80, claiming its second victory of the Final Four Round Robin.

Though there would still be two games tomorrow and it remained unclear who would make the National Tournament, at least for now, Miuradai was unquestionably Kanagawa's strongest team in everyone's eyes!

After the game, Wu Yufei and Rukawa Kaede shook hands.

Without a doubt, Wu Yufei's defense against Rukawa Kaede had been excellent. He had successfully held the highly touted Kanagawa super rookie to just twenty points for the game. Though Wu Yufei himself had scored only twenty-six points, and both players had fallen far below their averages from the Prefectural Tournament,

Wu Yufei also had as many as twenty-four assists, something Rukawa Kaede simply could not compare to. Thus, in this clash of super rookies, Wu Yufei had naturally come out on top.

"Let's continue this battle at the National Tournament."

During the postgame handshake, Wu Yufei said with a smile.

"Next time, I'll win."

It was obvious that Rukawa Kaede's face was full of defiance.

That was only natural. It would be strange if anyone could make Rukawa Kaede concede. If he easily accepted defeat, then he would not be Rukawa Kaede.

"No problem. I'll be waiting for your challenge anytime!"

Once the handshake was over, just as Wu Yufei turned to head back to the locker room, Sakuragi Hanamichi suddenly ran over and blocked his path.

"Stare—"

"Is there something you want to say, Sakuragi?"

Watching Sakuragi Hanamichi glare at him without blinking, Wu Yufei asked with a smile.

"Listen up, you damn Chinese punk! This genius was forcibly subbed out by the old man! Otherwise, Shohoku would never have lost to you! At the National Tournament, wash your neck and wait for me!"

After throwing out those words, Sakuragi turned around and left.

"..."

Watching Sakuragi Hanamichi's departing back, Wu Yufei smiled and shook his head before turning to catch up with the rest of the team.

Miuradai's game against Shohoku had officially ended, and the spectators were given more than ten minutes to rest. After all, all that cheering and shouting had taken quite a toll on their stamina.

Wu Yufei and the others returned to the locker room to shower and change. After packing up their belongings, they headed to the stands to watch the upcoming clash between Kainan University Affiliated High School and Ryonan.

For Ryonan, having already suffered one loss, they had to seize this final opportunity and win a game. Otherwise, tomorrow's game would hold no meaning for them.

With Miuradai defeating Shohoku, Ryonan's players finally saw hope of reaching the National Tournament once again.

At this point in the Final Four Round Robin, the teams' standings were:

Miuradai: Two wins, 2 points.

Shohoku: One win and one loss, 1 point.

Ryonan and Kainan both had one loss and 0 points.

For Ryonan, as long as they could defeat Kainan today and then beat Shohoku tomorrow, they could enter the National Tournament as Kanagawa's second seed with a record of two wins and one loss, regardless of who won or lost between Miuradai and Kainan tomorrow.

Though winning two consecutive games on back-to-back days would be difficult, Ryonan's players had no intention of giving up.

Whether it came down to talent or hard work, Ryonan would never admit that they were weaker than any other team!

On the other side, Kainan University Affiliated High School's players thought exactly the same way.

As long as they defeated Ryonan today and Miuradai tomorrow, they too could reach the National Tournament.

And it was not merely about reaching the National Tournament. As long as they secured a large enough point differential in these next two games, Kainan could still defend its championship!

After all, they had lost to Shohoku by only two points in their previous game, while Miuradai's point differentials in its two games were 3 points against Ryonan and 19 points against Shohoku, for a total of 22 points.

So long as Kainan's combined point differential over today's game against Ryonan and tomorrow's game against Miuradai exceeded Miuradai's, Kainan would still be champions. They could still enter the National Tournament as Kanagawa Prefecture's first seed and enjoy a bye on the first day of competition.

More importantly, as the kings who had ruled Kanagawa Prefecture for sixteen years, Kainan's players would never allow that long-standing dynasty to end in their hands!

When it came to a battle for the dignity of an established powerhouse, Kainan had even more reason than Ryonan to claim victory!

Thus, even before the game began, the spectators could already feel the intense fighting spirit radiating from the players warming up on both sides.

Kainan's Kiyota Nobunaga was as showy as ever, attempting a self alley-oop dunk to draw attention. Yet the basketball showed him no respect and went straight into the hoop, leaving Kiyota extremely embarrassed.

Ryonan was not about to be outdone. They immediately answered in kind as Sendoh and Fukuda put on an alley-oop combination, drawing cheers from the section occupied by Ryonan fans.

"Take down that show-off monkey! Sendoh!!"

"Afu! Score thirty today! Thirty!"

The warm-up quickly ended amid the two sides' competition against each other.

The players returned to their bench areas to hear their coaches' final instructions. Then, the starters from both teams entered the court again and took their positions at center court.

Beep—!!

As the referee's whistle sounded and the basketball rose into the air, the Kanagawa Prefecture Tournament Final Four Round Robin game between Ryonan and Kainan officially began!

Kainan had naturally known for some time about Sendoh switching to point guard and Fukuda's sudden emergence, and had conducted specific research on both.

Therefore, from the very start of this game, Kainan did not allow Ryonan to seize momentum and score repeatedly due to carelessness and underestimation, as in the original story.

Both sides played very cautiously from the opening tip, and the pace on both offense and defense was steady.

When the game reached the tenth minute of the first half, the score was tied at 20–20, with neither side gaining an advantage.

Kainan had yet to find a way to contain the Sendoh-Fukuda connection. Likewise, Ryonan had no way to stop A Maki from repeatedly charging into the paint with force.

"Looking at it this way, Kainan isn't all that impressive. First they lost to Shohoku, and now they can't gain an edge against Ryonan either."

In the stands, Ishiyama Jun spoke with a trace of confusion in his voice.

After all, Kainan had been ruling Kanagawa since before he was born. Up until this year, Kainan had always been universally recognized as the strongest force in Kanagawa high school basketball.

Over the past decade or so, the only team in all of Kanagawa Prefecture that could make Kainan take a game even slightly seriously was Shoyo. Against every other team, fielding three starters was already considered the utmost respect.

Yet this year, Kainan had first lost to the suddenly emerging dark horse Shohoku, and now they were locked in a deadlock with Ryonan for ten full minutes, unable to build any advantage. Even A Maki, universally acknowledged as Kanagawa's No. 1, was evenly matched against Sendoh.

Such an enormous contrast left many spectators, who had spent years watching Kainan crush every opponent in the prefecture, feeling deeply unaccustomed to it.

But a king was still a king, and Kainan soon brought back the familiar feeling for those uncomfortable spectators.

It began in the eleventh minute of the first half...