Chapter 89 : VS Meisei High V - The End of The Game

Five minutes before the third quarter ended, Furihata, Kuroko, and Tsuchida finally went back to the game, substituting Kagami, Koganei, and Kiyoshi. Even though both of them are still on fire, it was a necessary precaution to take for a player after getting injured, not letting them getting exhausting too much.

Of course, strategically wise, it also helps the team recover, as no, Meisei would have to face two new combatants whose strengths are not lower than Kagami and Kiyoshi. The situation turned from bad to worse for their opponent, as they were pretty exhausted at this point.

It was just a pity, that even though Tsugawa and Uchida, the two best players on Meisei's side, played an amazing game, they couldn't get enough support from their teammates. Their third-best player in this game, Nobu, could only provide 7 points as the best support for those two. Compared to Uchida's 30 points and Tsugawa's 22 points, 11 assists, and 7 rebounds, that was definitely not enough for them to chase the score. And that was not to mention their bench players, which was filled by probably voluntary members from the other sports' team and didn't have any basketball basics skill.

This team, Meisei, basically is fighting with only Tsugawa and Uchida.

To put it simply, their situation right now is the same as Seirin's last year. A new team with a bunch yet not enough players to compete in the tournament. Once again, it was a pity, that compared to Seirin, Meisei's core is already third year, and wouldn't be able to play again next year.

"Furihata-kun." Kuroko's voice calling him out suddenly snapped Furihata from his thought. "The lead has already been this big. As long as we didn't make any silly mistakes, we could secure the win easily. Shall I try my vanishing drive?"

When Furihata turned around to see the scoreboard, it was indeed a big lead. The score shown there was 70 – 92 for Seirin's lead. This was the first time in the tournament that they had such a big lead. However, regarding Kuroko's question, Furihata shook his head firmly.

"No, it would be too risky." Seeing the confusion on Kuroko's face, he added quickly. "Your move, even though it was deadly, do you think no one would be able to see through it from the aerial perspective? If someone like Momoi-san is there and saw your move, I bet she would be able to discover the secret easily. So, no. Don't use it right now. Use it in the emergency case or when you face your former teammates to catch them off guard."

Now, Kuroko seems to be enlightened by his explanation, as it could be seen from the blue-haired boy's expression.

"I see… I don't think about that too far. Thank you, Furihata-kun."

"Don't worry." He waved his hand. "Just polish it until the success rate is high enough so you can surprise your former teammates."

"Sure."

Right after that, a second later, the referee blows the whistle, signaling for the game to resume again. This time, it was a free throw chance for Tsugawa, as before, he was getting fouled by Koganei in a double-team effort with Kyoshi.

"Brat." Hyuga greeted him. "You are finally here. Any idea of how to stop Tsugawa-san?"

Furihata nodded slightly. "Tsuchida-senpai, just focus on limiting his scoring ability. Don't worry about him passing the ball. Let us worry about his teammates. As for everyone else, don't let the other players have any room to create trouble for our defense."

Yeah, he found out the essence of Tsugawa's playing style when he was on the bench. Basically, the center would prioritize passing first if there is a chance, and if not, he would make a fake gesture as if he wanted to pass before he drives forward or pulled up a jumper. So, as long as the passing option is limited, Furihata believes it would be enough.

It was just fortunate for Seirin that besides Uchida, Tsugawa didn't have any reliable teammates on Meisei.

"Okay, I will try it." Tsuchida nodded. "But I cannot guarantee that it would work, okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry about that." Hyuga slapped his back. "We are still on the lead. Stopping him is not the priority. We just need to stabilize the game, and everything would be alright."

"Okay."

And right to what he said, once Tsugawa's passing option was limited, he has a hard time optimizing his playing style.

"Senpai, here!"

"Damn!"

"Keep moving! Open up your own position!"

"Nice pass, Senpai!"

*Clank!*

"Rebound!"

"Damn, go back! Defense!"

"Nice pass, Kuroko-kun!"

*Splash!*

"Yeaaaah!"

"Nice hook, Tsuchida!"

This was the fourth time in a row that Meisei's offense failed and resulted in another point from Seirin's fast break. Not only it widened the score gap, the fast transition also makes things harder for Meisei's players who have already exhausted all their energies in the game.

"Come on, Kise-kun." Momoi also stood up from her seat. "It is over now."

"Eh?" Kise looked at the girl confusedly. "Why would we go? Did you want to meet Kurokocchi?"

"Yeah, but that is not the case anymore." She still eyeing the court. "Seeing this game, I found inspiration for Dai-chan! I would meet him the other days."

Kise had a sweat drop at the sudden mood change of his friend. But he has already experienced that a lot during his time in middle school, so he just followed her from behind quietly.

Meanwhile, back on the court, Meisei players gathered around their captain who panted heavily after finishing the third quarter.

"Are you okay, Senpai?"

"They are targeting me." Tsugawa ignored Uchida's question, smiling bitterly. "Whenever I held the ball, they would close the pass route and force me to play an isolation game. If it was one or two quarters before, I don't have any problem with that. But now, with my stamina getting depleted like this, I don't have a chance to change the game anymore."

Uchida stares at his senpai silently, racking his brain hard to find the solution. Out of all the players in Meisei, even though they are separated by two years, he is the closest to Tsugawa. So, he knows that even though his senpai didn't show it, losing horribly in his first and last tournament would hurt so much. That's why even though they would lose, he vowed to try his best to help his senpai leaving the team without any regret.

What he didn't expect is that his other teammates would feel the same.

"We are sorry, Senpai." Araki, the shooting guard, spoke solemnly. "You and Uchida-kun have done your best to carry this team, yet we couldn't step up our game when you need us the most."

"Yeah." Nobu, the small forward and the third-best player on the team nodded in agreement. "We are so useless in this game. If you have better teammates, you would not be as vulnerable right now."

"Eh?" Tsugawa and Uchida were stunned at the sudden exclamation from his teammates. "What the hell are you talking about?! Even though we are not strong, you are still the best teammates I could ever have! Don't talk nonsense like that!"

And what Tsugawa said is indeed true. Even though he knows they are not as passionate about basketball as he is and didn't have to follow him all the time, they still went through a lot together with him, from building the team to doing a part-time job together to raising funds for summer training camp, in Tsugawa's eyes, they are not only the best teammates and the best kouhai, but they are also his best friend. So, he couldn't bear the thought of them blaming themselves like this.

"Don't worry, Senpai." Hoshi, the power forward and probably the weakest member of Meisei also speaks. "We know our capability, and we give our thanks to you for carrying us until this stage. So, for our last quarter, let's give our best and leave without any regret."

Seeing the loyalty that his teammates give to him and the determination in their eyes, Tsugawa could only nod, his eyes blurry in tears.

'They might not be the strongest, but they sure are the best.'

-------------------

And just like what they said, Meisei came to the last quarter with a new fighting spirit. Even though the score is already 75 – 100 and Seirin has already treated as garbage time, they still hustled every ball like a crazy.

"Senpai, here!"

"Nice fake, Uchida!"

"Shoot it, Araki!"

*Clank!*

"Rebound!"

*Splash!*

"Nice follow-up, Hoshi!"

"Keep it up, everyone! Don't give up!"

"Yes, Captain!"

"Damn it!" Fukuda couldn't help but curse out loud. At first, he was excited of the chance he was given once again, even though it was during a garbage time like this. But he didn't expect the opponent would go frenzy like this.

"Furihata-kun, any idea of what we should do?" Kawahara who was also given a chance to play asked. Instead of giving an answer, Furihata pondered for a moment while taking a glance at his teammates.

'Koganei-senpai and Kawahara-kun are defensive type players. So, our offense would depend on me, Kiyoshi-senpai, and Fukuda-kun. It would be hard, but our task is just to maintain the lead. We could do it.'

After nodding at himself, Furihata began to speak.

"Right now, all we had to do is to slow down the pace of the game and stabilize our situation. Also, we don't need to score a lot of points. But as long as we could prevent their offense, that would be enough. Kiyoshi-senpai, your task would be to limit Tsugawa-san's offense. As for the other, don't let Meisei's other players distract Kiyoshi-senpai from his task. Is that understandable?"

"Yes!"

And his decision was proven to be successful in the next play when Tsugawa tried to single Kiyoshi once again.

'Tch!' Tsugawa clicked his tongue. 'They strengthened their defense line and cut off the passing route again. Even though they are just bench players, they are still serious.'

Having said that, knowing that he didn't have much choice, Tsugawa lowered his body, trying to force a breakthrough on Kiyoshi. His eyes still wandered around the court, trying to fool Kiyoshi with his fake movement. But facing Tsugawa, Kiyoshi is unfazed. He didn't even take a glance at the other direction, keep putting his focus on the ball.

'Well, if that is what you want….'

Tsugawa makes a sudden stop, his eyes are up, ready to pull up a shoot. Seeing this, Kiyoshi extended his arm high, blocking Tsugawa's eyesight from the rim. But it was a fake move, as Tsugawa lowered his hand which had the ball and tried to flick the ball from under Kiyoshi's hand. However, right before the ball was released from his hand, his eyes caught a sudden movement from behind.

"Don't think it would work again!"

*Slap!*

This time, the ball was blocked by Kawahara who covered the paint area, and it bounced straight to Furihata.

"Nice defense, Kawahara-kun!"

"Damn! Fast break! Be careful!"

But unlike before when Furihata launched a quick fastbreak, this time, he slowed down the tempo, letting his teammates breathe and wasting time so Meisei couldn't catch up with the score. When the shot clock showed the time at 00:05, he drove forward, and right in front of Tsugawa, he slides the ball toward Kiyoshi who caught it and jumped immediately, slamming the ball down to the basket.

*BAAAMM!*

A one-handed dunk! And this time, not only for two points, this dunk also killed the mentality of Meisei players, as their shoulders dropped down a little.

"Nice dunk, Senpai!"

"Good one! Keep it up, Kiyoshi!"

And that was the summary of the rest of the game. Meisei tried to attack Seirin, but due to their bad condition, they couldn't change the direction of the game, until…

*FWEEEEEEE!!!*

"YEEAAAHHH!!!! WE WIN THE GAME! LET'S GO, SEIRIN!!!"

Right after the referee blows the whistle, all Seirin bench players roared in excitement, hugging each other to celebrate their win. Even though they feel bad for Meisei players who cried in the middle of the court, they also understand that this is the harsh reality of the tournament. It is they or us. And right now, after securing the win, Seirin prolong their life in this inter-high, while maintaining their hope to advance through the national!

90 – 107

Meisei High, eliminated!

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Author note:

Sorry, not too much basketball played in this chapter. Next chapter, I will make it full of action. Also, If you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon page on patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes

You can also read this fanfiction up to chapter 109 on that page. Thank you! :)

-Zeta Faes-