Chapter 902: DING!

DING!

DING!

DING!

"Woooh! You guys are amazing!!!!"

"I love you all!"

"Go, Team Hugo! Go, Dean!"

"Let’s go, team!"

"Let’s score another one!"

DING!

"Kyahhh!! This is getting even more exciting!"

"Offense! Offense!"

"Go, go, go, go!"

"We can do it!"

DING!

"Woah!!!! Back-to-back scores for Team Hugo! You guys are on fire!"

For the next several minutes, all that could be heard was the continuous cheering and the ringing of the bell. Hugo’s team scoreboard continued to add points, making everyone more excited with each score.

DING!

"Hah... hah..." Max panted for air, his sweat dripping from his chin and the tips of his hair. Not just him, but his teammates were also trying to catch their breath, staring at the score as their opponents closed the gap by half.

And yet, there was still a minute left before the second quarter ended.

"This is bad," Max muttered to himself, watching the enemy team exchange high-fives after another point was made. "I knew it."

After the first score Dean made, Max and his teammates decided to stick to their original strategy, only tweaking it slightly by assigning another player to guard Dean instead of leaving him on standby. Their original strategy had been pathetic, but it worked during the first quarter.

However, just when they thought Dean was able to score because Max’s defense was lacking, they were wrong. Even with another player guarding Dean, the latter was agile and really knew how to play the ball. His playing style was more like the street basketball seen abroad.

Therefore, Max was forced to play against Dean. But with Max’s attention on Dean, Hugo was left unguarded. In other words, Hugo was free to score points if Max wasn’t watching him. It was as though Hugo’s team automatically shifted their focus to Hugo the moment Max locked eyes on Dean.

"Team Max is calling a time-out...!" an announcement was made, but the cheering didn’t stop because earlier, Max didn’t use his time-out.

Max gathered his team around the bench, all of them staring at the scoreboard in disbelief.

"What is happening?" one player blurted out. "This isn’t supposed to happen."

"We were doing well in the first five minutes of the game," said another. "But the second Dean made that point, things just went south for us."

Meaning, they couldn’t score and were forced to defend after Dean made a point.

"There’s only a minute left," someone expressed, dread evident on his face. "If this goes on, they might tie the score soon. Worst case, we wouldn’t score another point and could only hope they wouldn’t bury us with their points."

One after another, the first five on Max’s team expressed their dismay and disbelief. It was as though they couldn’t believe this was happening at all. How could they? At the start of the game, they were all a little intimidated by their opponent’s aura. However, Max’s first points in the second quarter gave them hope and confidence.

But all they had witnessed so far was Max straining himself, exerting more effort than all of them combined. After all, Max was the only actual and gifted player on this team.

"Senior Max, how about you sub me out?" someone on the team proposed. "A lot of guys volunteered to be on your team, so you can always choose the next best player to help you win this game."

"No, I should be the one to get replaced." Another player shook his head. "Compared to you, I made a lot of mistakes. If I had been more aware, Atlas wouldn’t have stolen that ball, and they wouldn’t have been able to score."

"If we’re talking mistakes, I did more than that. I couldn’t even guard Senior Atlas, and then I fell when Hugo was in front of me. I shouldn’t have let him intimidate me."

"I disagree. You guys did your best, and considering who we’re facing, I’m more ashamed. I only had to guard Blacky, but he made three consecutive three-points. I should’ve known the second time he would try another three, but I still doubted and gave him another opportunity for the third."

Max watched his team argue with each other, revealing their mistakes and regrets. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but smile despite the concerning situation.

"I’ll sub you out if any of you are injured or too exhausted," he said, watching all four of them look back at him. "Is anyone injured or exhausted to the point you don’t think you can play any longer?"

His team looked at each other, then turned their eyes back to him, answering in unison, "No, we can still play."

"Then, let’s continue." Max offered them a reassuring smile. "Mistakes happen, and we’re not perfect. Whether we want to or not, it’s bound to happen. Besides, I don’t call them mistakes because our opponents are good—all five of them."

He nodded, his eyes scanning their faces to make sure they could see the sincerity in his eyes. "If there’s anyone to blame, it should be me for not calling a time-out earlier. I should’ve gathered you all sooner, but I waited until they were halfway to close the gap."

"Senior Max, how can you say it’s your fault? You’ve been doing your best!"

"Don’t blame yourself! We all didn’t see this coming."

"They’re right. With everything that’s happening, it’s not fair to blame yourself."

"That’s right." Max nodded at them. "Blaming each other or ourselves isn’t going to help us right now. That’s why, even though I feel responsible for all of this, I can’t dwell on it for now."

Max gave everyone a sincere and encouraging look, nodding at them. "We started this game thinking that our only opponents were Atlas and Hugo. But basketball isn’t like that at all. Everyone on the court is your opponent. Our mistake was underestimating them, which we shouldn’t have done in the first place."

"We’ll correct that," he continued. "This time, we’ll play this game the way it was meant to be played."

Everyone’s eyes shone with eagerness as they listened to Max’s plan. Instead of focusing on just one or two opponents, they would now engage in a one-on-one match where each player would guard their counterpart as best as they could.

And just like that, the game resumed.

A minute passed, and the situation proved that Max’s team’s plan to go one-on-one was wrong. Hugo’s team scored another nine points within that one-minute time frame.