Second Half

"Go, Miuradai! Attack, Miuradai!!"

"Go, Ryonan! Defend, Ryonan!!"

Tokyo, Yoyogi Gymnasium, Court One—the semifinals between Miuradai and Ryonan.

With Miuradai having already built a 22-point lead in the first fifteen minutes of the first half, nearly everyone had concluded that Ryonan was completely out of this game.

Of course, the spectators did not think Ryonan was a weak team just because they had been so thoroughly beaten by Miuradai.

After all, in yesterday's Quarterfinals, Ryonan had played a high-quality, hard-fought battle against Sanno, with the winner only decided at the very last moment.

With that context, many neutral spectators at the venue still felt a bit of sympathy for Ryonan.

But sympathy was sympathy. A game was a game.

Although Ryonan had remained remarkably tenacious up to this point and showed no signs of surrender, Miuradai's advantage was already crystal clear.

All that remained was to see whether Ryonan could score on this possession after the timeout and salvage their nearly collapsed situation.

Beep—!!

Once both teams returned to the court, the referee immediately blew the whistle to signal play resumed.

After receiving the inbound pass, Nishiki Junichi once again began slowing down the pace.

But that move looked more like a helpless attempt to slow the rate at which Ryonan's deficit would widen.

Wu Yufei naturally did not care. He used the time to organize the team's defensive formation.

When Ryonan advanced into the frontcourt, they found themselves facing Miuradai's airtight defense, as impenetrable as an Iron Wall.

Against such defense, Ryonan could only force themselves onward and keep trying.

After a full twenty seconds of probing and battling, Ryonan finally tore open a gap in Miuradai's defense. Spotting the opportunity, Nishiki Junichi first used a feint to shake off Wu Yufei, then quickly fired a bounce pass