Before Gu Jin's footsteps from landing had even faded, Sendo had already run over and bumped his arm, his eyes shining as if with light: "That was a beautiful attack."
"They play too dirty. Next, we need to watch out for Hei Huang's cheap shots," Gu Jin said in a deep voice.
Sendo also nodded, wiped some sweat, and ran back.
Daiei's serve was a bit rushed.
Tsuchiya Jun almost fumbled the ball when he received it, only steadying it after his fingertips grazed the surface.
He looked up at the score, the numbers 67:51 like a needle, making his temples throb.
It wasn't that Daiei had never lost, but those were against strong teams in the National Tournament, and they were rarely behind by so many points.
The last time was against Hakata Shodai High School.
Damn it! Has this year's Ryonan already reached the level of a National Tournament top four team?
Tsuchiya Jun's gaze swept across the positions of his teammates.
Morita Masanobu yelled from the sidelines: "Don't rush the offense! Control the tempo!"
But Ryonan didn't give them a chance to control the tempo at all.
Ikegami stuck to Tsuchiya's side like a plaster, his knees almost scraping the floor when he moved sideways, leaving no space for Tsuchiya to even lift his hand to pass the ball.
Tsuchiya could only throw the ball to Hei Huang, then run off a screen.
As Hei Huang received the ball, Gu Jin had already closed in.
This time there was no bump or shove, just an elbow tucked into his waist, not heavy, but like a reminder—I'm watching you.
Hei Huang tried to turn and break through, but Gu Jin's center of gravity was extremely low, his feet seemingly nailed to the ground. He tried twice but couldn't shake him off, only able to pass the ball back to Tsuchiya.
After passing the ball back and forth three times, Daiei couldn't find an offensive opportunity.
Finally, Tsuchiya Jun had no choice but to force a breakthrough, and Ikegami seized the opportunity to steal the ball—Ikegami's fingertips were as fast as lightning when he stole the ball, even the referee unconsciously nodded.
Ryonan fast break!
Sendo charged with the ball, Gu Jin close behind.
Ben Wallace tried to block Sendo on defense, but didn't notice Gu Jin had already cut in from the sideline.
Sendo was so smart; with a quick glance out of the corner of his eye, he flipped his wrist and passed the ball.
Gu Jin received the ball exactly at the free-throw line, Hei Huang's chase-down block was half a step too late.
He didn't jump too high, but as he took off, he suddenly pulled the ball behind him—it was a small hang-time scoop shot, avoiding Ben Wallace's defending hand, then switching the ball from his left hand to his right, gently laying it into the basket.
"Swish!"
69:51.
As the basketball landed, Gu Jin turned and looked at Hei Huang.
The opponent was panting, sweat dripping from his forehead onto the floor, the unwillingness to lose still in his eyes, but the earlier aggression was gone.
"Travel! That was definitely a travel!" Morita Masanobu yelled from the sideline again, but this time even Daiei's bench didn't respond—that scoop shot was as clean as a textbook.
The referee signaled a valid basket, and Morita Masanobu could only throw his tactics board to the ground and curse.
This also caused extreme dissatisfaction among the investors of the charity game in the VIP box.
Basketball competition is supposed to promote sportsmanship, but Daiei's head coach cursed with news media present; this was simply a slap in their face.
It was said to be a charity exhibition game, but anyone with eyes could see that Daiei simply couldn't afford to lose!
However, Morita Masanobu didn't realize the seriousness of the situation; he was now full of anger and wanted to vent it on Hei Huang.
If he had listened to him earlier and injured Gu Jin instead of Uozumi, none of this would be happening now.
But he glanced at Hei Huang's tense profile and swallowed his words—although Hei Huang had the potential of a rogue player, he was originally someone who just wanted to play a proper game. If he pushed him further, he might quit the game on the spot.
Morita Masanobu called another timeout!
During the timeout, Taoka Moichi patted Gu Jin's back and smiled: "That scoop shot just now, so standard!" He suddenly yelled at Sakuragi, "See that? That's rhythm! When you go in later, you have to find the timing like that when rebounding!"
Sakuragi clenched his fists and jumped: "Got it, Coach! I'll make sure all rebounds become mine!"
Ryonan made personnel adjustments: point guard Uekusa, shooting guard Koshino, small forward Sendo, power forward Sakuragi Hanamichi, center Gu Jin.
Although Daimoto Tadunobu was 196 centimeters tall, Taoka Moichi had great confidence in Gu Jin's ability.
Furthermore, while winning and losing were important, developing a team was even more crucial.
After the timeout, back on the court, Daiei's offense became even more chaotic.
Tsuchiya Jun tried to break the deadlock with his individual ability, but he was no match for Sendo.
In the original work, it was only said that his style was very similar to Sendo's.
But in this comparison, his current level was inferior to Rukawa Kaede.
Sendo's stealing awareness and timing were too precise, striking the moment Tsuchiya Jun dribbled and changed direction.
Slap!
After the steal, Sendo didn't go for the offense himself, but directly threw the ball to Gu Jin.
Gu Jin received the ball outside the three-point line. Hei Huang had just run up to him when he suddenly made a crossover step, his left foot stepping to the right, but his right foot pushing off the ground as if it had a spring—it was still the Kashgar Step, but half a beat faster than before.
Hei Huang tried to move sideways to block, but this change of direction caused his center of gravity to shift. By the time he stabilized, Gu Jin had already charged into the restricted area.
Ben Wallace tried to help defend, but Gu Jin suddenly passed the ball as he jumped—Sendo had already cut to the basket, received the ball, and scored with a layup.
71:51.
The score was again stretched to 20 points.
Sendo winked at Gu Jin as he landed: "Nice pass!"
Gu Jin smiled; this was the first time he had smiled since Uozumi's injury.
A burst of cheers suddenly erupted from the stands.
A fan held up a hand and shouted: "Gu Jin is too amazing, he can score and pass."
"Yes, he's already scored 19 points in the second half! More than Daiei's entire team!"
Morita Masanobu's face turned as white as paper when he heard the words from the audience.
He knew the single-game scoring record for Japanese high school basketball was 42 points, and Gu Jin was now only 1 point away from breaking the record.
Moreover, the game wasn't over yet, and no one seemed able to stop him.
He yelled at the court: "Defend Gu Jin! Full-court press! Don't let him touch the ball!"
But no sooner had he spoken than Ryonan's offense came.
Sendo deliberately drove into the paint with the ball, drawing two defenders, then suddenly flung the ball outside the three-point line—Gu Jin was waiting there, and no one was even guarding him when he received the ball.
Hei Huang tried to rush over, but Sendo blocked him with his body—it was a clean screen, and the referee didn't even bat an eyelid.
When Gu Jin jumped, his wrist action was as light as a feather. The arc of the basketball was high and steady, passing through the net under everyone's gaze.
"Swish!"
74:51.
The moment the ball went in, the referee at the scorer's table suddenly raised his hand and shouted into the microphone: "Ryonan's #7 Gu Jin, 22 points in the second half! And he has now set a new National Tournament single-game individual scoring record!"
The entire venue erupted.
Ryonan fans stood up holding "Gu Jin" cheering signs, and even among Daiei's home crowd, some couldn't help but applaud—this three-pointer was too beautiful, so beautiful that it made people forget about winning and losing.
Sakuragi jumped higher than anyone on the bench: "See that! This is our Ryonan's Gu Jin! None of you can stop him!"
Taoka tapped his head beside him: "Keep it down! But—you're right!"
Morita Masanobu sat in his chair, looking at Gu Jin and Sendo high-fiving on the court, and suddenly felt the tactics board in his hand was as heavy as iron.
He stared intently at the scoreboard—now it wasn't a question of losing or not, but of ending with dignity.
As Gu Jin ran back, he specifically looked at Uozumi.
Uozumi made a "victory" gesture to him, the light in his eyes even brighter than when they won.
Gu Jin smiled, then turned to play defense—the game wasn't over yet, and he was going to fight to the end, on behalf of Uozumi.