"Hiroshi Morishige, how about we sit out the second half?
...I'll go talk to Shohoku's coach. You just get some rest."
Meihou Industrial High School's head coach watched Hiroshi Morishige cautiously as he ventured the question.
He was being so excessively polite to Morishige because he knew today's game wasn't Morishige's fault.
Morishige's current situation was just like Shohoku High School's the year before last and last year: aside from a powerful center in Takenori Akagi, they were weak at every other position.
In fact, Morishige's performance was far more impressive than Akagi's.
Back then, forced to fight alone, Akagi hadn't led Shohoku High School to any impressive results.
Never mind the National Tournament-they had never even made Kanagawa's final four.
Yet in his first year of high school, Morishige had already led Meihou Industrial to an undefeated record in Aichi Prefecture, earning them seeded status.
The current situation came down to Meihou Industrial not having provided Morishige with capable teammates.
The head coach had already made plans to scout more promising basketball players this year.
Next year, with a more mature Morishige and some good teammates, dominating the nation would no longer be a dream.
Morishige sat there with a towel over his head, remaining silent for a long time.
Suddenly, Morishige yanked the towel off his head and said in a low voice.
"We're finishing the game! We haven't lost yet, and I haven't given up!"
After a moment's hesitation, the head coach agreed to Morishige's request.
There were no other goals left for this year's competition, only developing Morishige to the fullest.
As long as Morishige could grow, the head coach no longer cared about anything else.
Meanwhile, in Shohoku's locker room, Hisashi Mitsui took a bottled drink from Satoru Kakuta.
He tried to open