Hope

"That was beautiful! Absolutely beautiful! Kazama!"

After Kazama Yuto landed, Aida Hikoichi and the others who rushed over behind him immediately rewarded him with a crushing group hug.

Two straight possessions, two spectacular 2+1 plays.

More importantly, both fouls had been pinned on Meihou High's most relied-upon core ace: Morishige Hiroshi!

Morishige Hiroshi now had four fouls.

And the game had only reached the sixteenth minute of the second half!!

There were still a full four minutes left, but Morishige Hiroshi had no more room for error. One more foul and he would be sent off immediately.

After celebrating with his teammates, Kazama Yuto promptly stepped to the free-throw line. Taking the ball from the referee, he aimed briefly before decisively making a Quick Release.

Swish!!

The basketball once again cleanly pierced Meihou's basket.

Thanks to Kazama Yuto's astonishing six points in one minute after Ryonan returned from the timeout, the score became Ryonan 77-85 Meihou.

When they had been down by fourteen points just moments ago, even Wu Yufei had thought Ryonan was finished.

Yet only a minute had passed, and the momentum on the court had completely shifted. Ryonan could once again see hope of turning the game around.

Basketball really was that magical!

Beep—!!

The referee's whistle sounded again from the sidelines.

"Meihou requests a timeout!!"

The old coach had only one purpose in calling that timeout: taking Morishige Hiroshi off the court.

Since the opponent had already found a way to target Morishige Hiroshi, he naturally had to stop them from carrying out their plan.

Though Morishige Hiroshi was extremely unwilling, the old coach still insisted on planting him on the bench.

The players at the other positions remained unchanged.

After arranging the substitution, the old coach hurriedly laid out the tactics for what came next.