Fierce Battle

Tokyo, Yoyogi Gymnasium, Court One—the semifinals matchup between Shohoku and Meihou High.

As both teams rapidly settled into their rhythm right after tip-off, the intensity of the game continued to rise.

In the first two and a half minutes, the two teams combined for 13 points, and there was still no sign of their ferocious offensive momentum slowing down.

After Shohoku took the lead again, Meihou High showed no discouragement. Kono took the inbound pass and immediately organized a counterattack, spotting an opening to feed the ball successfully to Morishige Hiroshi in the paint.

After receiving Kono's pass, Morishige immediately went back to work against Alonso behind him.

Thump! Thump! Thump!!

This time, Alonso was not knocked off balance by Morishige on the first step. Instead, he battled him tenaciously. The sound of colliding muscles was crystal clear to their teammates nearby.

Seeing that he could not muscle his way into the paint with his back-to-the-basket play, Morishige did not keep forcing it. He quickly adjusted his strategy and swung the ball to Tsukamoto on the other side.

After receiving the ball, Tsukamoto immediately unleashed his strongest post moves against Sakuragi Hanamichi, trying to shake him off for a layup.

However, Sakuragi's defense was equally resolute, giving Tsukamoto no opportunity at all.

Meihou High's offense was unexpectedly shut down by Shohoku. Whether it was Morishige, Tsukamoto, or Hosokawa, their repeated attempts all ended in failure.

The basketball returned to Kono's hands once more, but less than five seconds remained in the possession.

I have to go for it!!

Seeing that time was running out, Kono immediately abandoned the idea of patiently setting up another play and decisively drove hard at Matsuoka Teruji.

Whoosh...

After powering through his opponent's defense and forcing his way to the edge of the paint, Kono