Spent After Three Attempts

"Hmm... I never expected the game to reach this point. Looks like our pregame preparations weren't thorough enough."

As Meihou High mounted a powerful comeback and cut the deficit to just three points, Coach Anzai sighed from the sidelines.

The next moment, Coach Anzai called Haruko over and gave her some instructions.

"Okay."

After listening to Coach Anzai's instructions, Haruko nodded and immediately headed for the scorer's table.

Beep—!!

Shohoku had barely inbounded the ball when, before Matsuoka Teruji and the others could organize this possession, the referee's whistle sounded from the sidelines.

"Shohoku requests a timeout!!"

The timeout had been called at exactly the right moment.

Had it come a minute or two later, Meihou might really have tied the score or even taken the lead.

Beep—!

A minute later, the timeout ended, and both teams returned to the court.

The outcome was still unclear, so neither side dared to take off its key starters. They could only continue battling Morishige Hiroshi, Sakuragi Hanamichi, Rukawa Kaede, and the rest head-on.

Beep—!!

Once both sides were in position, the referee blew the whistle again, signaling play to resume.

"Hold your ground! Keep running the offense we do best!!"

After receiving the inbound, Matsuoka Teruji first rallied his teammates, then immediately pushed toward Meihou's half.

Upon reaching the frontcourt, Matsuoka Teruji tested the defense briefly before suddenly accelerating past Kono. He forced his way into Meihou's paint through the defense, gave a pump fake to draw his opponent off balance, then spun and fired a bounce pass to Hasegawa Alonso outside the restricted area.

Alonso had been thoroughly suppressed by Morishige Hiroshi throughout the game. The number of times he had shone could be counted on one hand, completely unlike the previous matches, and he had long been holding in a