Securing the Advantage

Beep—!!

"Red No. 6, Alonso, defensive foul! Basket counts! One free throw!"

Following the referee's call, Alonso helplessly raised his hand to signal his acceptance of the ruling.

Wu Yufei merely shrugged with an innocent expression before quickly stepping up to the free-throw line.

Huff... swish!!

He calmly took the shot and quickly made it.

The scoreboard at the sidelines changed to 72–62. Miuradai had once again extended its lead to ten points, while the game had already reached the ninth minute of the second half.

In just eleven more minutes, this highly anticipated Winter Cup finals would come to an end. Judging from the current situation, while it could not be said with absolute certainty that Shohoku had no chance left, it was perfectly fair to say that its hopes were slim.

Not only were the spectators in the stands beginning to lose confidence in Shohoku's chances, but even some of Shohoku's players on the bench were showing signs of wavering.

Beep—!!

The whistle sounded again from the sidelines the next moment.

"Shohoku requests a timeout!!"

The instant they heard that announcement, Sakuragi Hanamichi and the others on the court showed expressions of relief before heading to the bench.

Miuradai's fierce assault over the previous five minutes had been successfully weathered by Shohoku, and Shohoku had even managed to gain a slight advantage during that stretch. However, the entire team had expended a tremendous amount of energy, and nearly everyone was now holding on by sheer force of will.

If Wu Yufei were allowed to lead his team through another five-minute offensive barrage in his current form, it was hard to say whether Shohoku would be able to withstand it again.

Therefore, Coach Anzai's timeout had come at exactly the right moment.

*What a shame. Give me two more