Victory Was Always Ryonan's to Claim (1)

In Game 177, Shohoku defeated Xiangyang 115–65, crushing Xiangyang by a massive 50-point margin.

That 50-point gap was like a joke, or perhaps mockery and ridicule aimed at everyone from Xiangyang.

No one had expected Shoyo, which had long held firm as Kanagawa's second-best team, to be steamrolled by Shohoku—a team that had once been eliminated in the first round—by such an enormous margin.

The victory had been far too absolute, so absolute that people could hardly process it.

Some suspected that Shoyo had been crushed by Shohoku only because its match against Ryonan had dealt it such a heavy blow that it had never recovered.

Others said that Shohoku had simply overwhelmed Xiangyang with absolute strength.

In any case, people said all sorts of things, but regardless, Shohoku's victory over Xiangyang was a fact.

With that, Shoyo was completely eliminated from the tournament, while Shohoku took third place in the Kanagawa Qualifiers and successfully secured the final ticket to the National Tournament. On the afternoon of June 20, sunlight filtered through the clouds onto the plaza outside Kanagawa Gymnasium, yet it could not stop the tide of people pouring into the venue.

Outside the gymnasium, a vast crowd continuously streamed inside. Noisy chatter and cheers intertwined, making the place as lively as a grand festival.

Compared with the morning's Xiangyang versus Jiangbei game, which could only be called an appetizer, the afternoon match between Ryonan and Hainan was everyone's true purpose for coming.

There was still an hour before the game began. Inside Basketball Gym No. 1, the venue was already packed with people, and the stands were essentially full. Basketball club players and coaches from various schools had all found places to sit and quietly waited for the game to begin.

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