Chapter 116 : VS Yosen High VIII - 8 Points in 20 Seconds!

Izuki, Furihata, Kuroko, Tsuchida, and Kagami.

Furihata sighed when he saw the composition of the team.

In normal conditions, this team is a nightmare, especially for an offensive team like Seirin. Izuki, as the point guard, is a liability in terms of scoring. Tsuchida, the defense specialist, also can be put on the same label as Izuki, a liability in the offense. Kagami, the one who should be the ace, is a time bomb that is tickling all the time, threatening to explode randomly. Kuroko is probably the only one who could help Furihata in the offense; if only he has recovered his stamina enough to play for another quarter.

Unfortunately, he had no say in this, considering this is currently the best lineup Seirin has to restrict Murasakibara without sacrificing too much offense. To be honest, Furihata would feel better if Hyuga could be on the court instead of Izuki. Even though they would lose an excellent playmaker, at least he could cover that part.

However, Alex and Riko didn't think so. Their argument, Hyuga has been playing for the entire first quarter and has not been that effective offensively. It would be better to rest him first before putting him back on the court when he is recovered enough later.

"Okay, everyone! Listen carefully!" Izuki spoke, gaining the attention of all Seirin players. Izuki is the vice-captain of the team. So, whenever Hyuga is not on the court, everyone would listen to his command, naturally. "First thing first, we need to score first, or things would get worse for us. So, let's do it slowly and carefully. Let's ensure two or three points in the next play, and after that, we can think about stopping that monster. You hear me?"

"Yes!"

Even the antisocial Kagami and Kuroko shouted back, replied to Izuki's rhetorical question. Furihata didn't know what Alex and Riko said during his time on the bench. But whatever it was, he knows it was effective to tame the red-haired boy, at least making him obedient enough to follow the instruction.

But the problem is, would Kagami be willing to cooperate with him?

Yeah, even though the red-haired boy hasn't made any sarcastic comment toward him until now, there is no guarantee that the animosity between them wouldn't affect their teamwork. If anything, Furihata is afraid Kagami would be against teamwork and all that stuff just to prove himself.

Furihata took a deep breath, shaking his head repeatedly.

'No. That hasn't happened yet. Let's just focus on the next play first.'

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A moment later, the game restarted with the ball in Izuki's hand. Just like before, Furihata decided to mingle among the crowd, ready to dash out to the three-point area anytime he could.

'Except for the last play, this strategy worked almost all the time. So, why would we change that?'

But instead of Mitobe, it was Kagami who was there with him right now. But even though they are still at odds, the tacit understanding between them is still unquestionable. With just a second of eye contact, Kagami knows what Furihata wanted to do and gives him a nod.

Right after that, Furihata started to dash out, using Kagami as a screen to go through the left wing and approached Izuki. Tatsuya who was blocked by Kagami's screen managed to escape quickly, but Furihata's run is one of the best among all the players on the court right now. Seeing that he has no hope of catching Furihata, Tatsuya took an instant decision and shouted,

"Senpai, switch!"

This was basically the carbon copy of the last play when Furihata managed to split Yosen's backcourt guards and create enough space for his teammates to take a shoot from outside of the three-point line. However, unlike before, this time, Furihata decided to do it himself.

"Izuki-senpai!"

Seeing Furihata rush in his direction at full speed, Furihata slides one step from his position and handed the ball quickly to his kouhai. But his role is not finished just like that. Right after the ball changed its possession, he sets up a screen immediately, helping Furihata escape from Fukui too.

"Oooooh!"

"Nice screen, Izuki!"

"Come on, Furihata!"

Even though Furihata managed to get away from Fukui and get a good position, he didn't want to repeat the same mistake as Mitobe did before. He still keeps his guard high, observing the position of his opponent.

'Murasakibara is still having his eyes on Phantom. Good. That means putting him on the court worked. Wait! How the hell is he already here again?!'

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Tatsuya appeared from his left side while extending his arm, trying to steal the ball from Furihata. Fortunately, Furihata noticed it right on time, and he managed to avoid the steal by shifting the ball to his left hand with a quick crossover. Unfortunately, by doing so, all of his running momentum vanished instantly, and now, Tatsuya is on a position to guard him face-to-face.

"Damn, you are good." Furihata praised Yosen's shooting guard in front of him, his right hand is protecting the ball that was still dribbled by the left hand. "Not only you can read where I am going to go like an open book, you are also fast enough to stop me from shooting. Not a lot can do that."

"Thanks for the compliment," Tatsuya replied sarcastically. "If you think Yosen is just Murasakibara-kun, you are wrong, though. Let me show you the error of your way." And right after that, Tatsuya suddenly increased the pressure, closing the distance between them until Furihata had to take a step back to get out of his reach.

'Damn, he is good.'

To be honest, Tatsuya's defense reminded Furihata a lot of his own defense. Tough and tricky, and the purpose of the defense is not just to stop the opponent from scoring, but also to initiate a quick fast break.

'However, that means I am also familiar with this kind of defense. Let's see who is better, my offense, or his defense!'

Right after Tatsuya managed to push him to the edge of the sideline, Furihata suddenly shifted the ball to his right hand once again, and suddenly, he lunged forward, ready to penetrate Yosen's defense from the sideline.

"Don't think you can do it that easy!"

Tatsuya took a step forward quickly, trying to bump his body toward Furihata and forced Seirin's point guard to step outside of the sideline. However, what he didn't count on is for Furihata to suddenly changed his form, from about to breakthrough to suddenly pulling up a three. Having been taking a step forward, Tatsuya had no way to retreat back on time, as he could only let himself bump into Furihata who is shooting the ball.

And as expected, right after the collision between those two, the whistle from the referee could be heard loudly.

*FWEEE!!!*

Yeah. Furihata knows this would be a foul. But seeing the ball getting released from Furihata's hand, his eyes snapped, his eyes are locking into the ball, eyeing it creating a beautiful arch, and when it comes down to the basket,

*Clank!*

The ball hit the rim! And after that, the referee finally announced the foul.

"Yosen High #12 defensive shooting foul, three free-throws for Seirin #12."

There is silence for a second before everyone wearing the Seirin jersey celebrated the foul.

"Let's go!"

"Nice shoot, Furihata-kun!"

"Keep it up!"

As for Tatsuya, he suddenly exhaled the breath he held unconsciously when the ball is still in the air. Inwardly though, he sweated profusely.

'Damn! Even with how close we were, the shoot still almost went in! What an insane accuracy. He is dangerous.'

At this time, Tatsuya looked at Furihata with new eyes. The evaluation he gave for the first-year point guard that has already high before now becomes higher as time goes by and he keeps scoring even with all the tight defense.

Unknown to him, Furihata's assessment of Tatsuya also changed a little.

'Damn! Why is Alex-san only focused on his offense? His defense is annoying as fuck. If only my shoot is a bit shorter, this would be a four-point play.'

Furihata shook his head, walking to the free-throw spot. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. All of his overthinking, the sound of the audience, the cheers from the bench, all of that suddenly vanished, leaving only him and the hoop 15 feet away from him existed in his little world.

With that kind of focus, he launched the first two free throws successfully, shortening the gap back to 15 points, 32 – 17. But for the last free throw, an idea suddenly popped up inside his mind.

Instead of taking the shoot directly, he aimed the ball to the rim and hit it as hard as he could, surprising all the players on the court. The Yosen players who didn't expect Furihata would go for this hadn't prepared for the rebound, and Furihata who aimed the ball himself grabbed the rebound easily, taking back the possession for Seirin.

"Oooooh!"

"Nice play, Furihaat-kun!"

"Come on! Score again!"

But Furihata is not in a hurry. He knows if he forced himself to score immediately, the twin tower, Okumura and Murasakibara, would be able to react pretty quickly and stopped whatever shoot he wanted to take. So, instead of that, right after he got the ball, Furihata dashed out to the three-point area, stabilizing the tempo for Seirin again.

And just like before, Tatsuya stuck into him immediately, not giving him any chance to take a shoot.

"I will stop you!"

Unfortunately for him, it has only been two seconds since the free throw happened, and all the players' situation is still in chaos. During that time Tatsuya had no way to track down every Seirin player's position, so, he would never expect a screen to pop up from his blind spot out of nowhere.

And Furihata took advantage of that, taking a step aside, and when Tatsuya tried to follow him,

*Brugh!*

"WHAT?!"

"Nice screen, Phantom!"

Yeah, disappeared in the middle of the chaos just to suddenly appeared again in the most suitable position to help the team is Kuroko's specialization. It is no wonder when everyone is still trying to rearrange their position again, he was gone from Murasakibara's radar and went out to help Furihata escape from Tatsuya.

And his screen was all Furihata needs right now. Even though it was not that strong and Tatsuya managed to escape from it instantly, the one second that Kuroko brought for him was enough for Furihata to pull up another three; and this time, nothing can stop the ball.

*Splash*

"YOSSHHAAAA!!!!"

"Come on, Furihata-kun!"

"Keep it up! Keep scoring!"

"Come on, Seirin! You can do it!"

Even though Seirin is the underdog in this game, everyone started to cheer on them. That was understandable. After all, who doesn't like to watch David struggled to create a miracle and triumph over Goliath?

Hearing the sound of the audience started yelling their name, the spirit of all the Seirin players pumped right now. They didn't want this momentum that Furihata created with all his sweat to be wasted. And so they didn't waste it.

Right after the inbound pass to Fukui, no one noticed that once again, Kuroko seems to have vanished from everyone's radar. But right before Yosen's point guard could pass the middle court, the blue-haired boy suddenly appeared from the shadow, stripping the ball out of Fukui's possession.

"WHAT?!"

At first, Fukui didn't know what happened. For all he knows, the ball suddenly vanished from his hand, and his instinct kicked in. He turned around immediately without any second thought, just to see Kuroko is already running through Yosen's basket. And right after that, he could hear a shout,

"PHANTOM, RUN!"

And this was his cue to understand what happened.

"Damn! Fast break!"

As the last person to pass the middle court, Fukui is the closest one, and Yosen's best hope is to stop Kuroko's fast break. Fortunately, his speed is superior compared to the blue-haired boy, making it easy for him to chase him down.

However, what he didn't expect is when the ball arrived, instead of dribbling it or taking it for a layup, Kuroko didn't hesitate to pass it behind. And to no one's surprise, it was Furihata who received the ball.

*Splash!*

Another three!

Right after he received the pass from Kuroko, Furihata didn't hesitate even for a second as he launched the ball right before Tatsuya could stop it. And fortunately enough, the ball went in smoothly through the hoop.

And right after that,

"Yosen High, time out!"

And with that announcement, Furihata suddenly let out a roar, venting out all of his emotion.

"YEEEAAAAAAAHHH!!"

And for the second time in the day, the audience stood up from their seat, giving up a big standing ovation to Furihata.

"That was amazing!"

"It is not inferior to Murasakibara's play before!"

"Yeah! He scored the last 8 points in what? 20 seconds?!"

"This is a record!"

"It is almost like I see the reincarnation of T-Mac!"

T-Mac is the abbreviation of Tracy McGrady's name, the legend of the Houston Rockets in the NBA.

Yeah, the reason for their excitement is how fast it was for Furihata to score all of his last eight points. From the three free throws to his last shoot, It only took him 20 seconds to do that. Even though slightly inferior, the process was almost similar to how Tracy McGrady, scored 13 points in 33 seconds during the Rockets' game against San Antonio Spurs.

Even though what Furihata did is not as impactful as what T-Mac did, it was enough to make the audience's blood boil in excitement. After all who doesn't like to watch the NBA caliber play?

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Author note :

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You can also read this fanfiction up to chapter 136 on that page. Thank you! :)

-Zeta Faes-