<Basketball / SoftBank Winter Cup National High School Championship: Kaishi Kokusai 88-71 Fukuoka Daiichi> ◇Men’s Final ◇29th ◇Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
Kaishi Kokusai (Niigata) won the long-awaited first victory. In the men’s final of the “SoftBank Winter Cup 75th National Basketball National High School Championship” (special cooperation with the Nikkan Sports Newspaper), they beat Fukuoka Daiichi 88-71. In the 2nd quarter (Q), which was 5 points behind, 1st year PG Taira Soryu’s 5 consecutive 3-point shots, including 4 shots, turned the game around at once. He got revenge against the opponent who lost by one point in the high school overall final this summer. Director Hideki Togashi (60) brought the first winter title to Niigata Prefecture in his 9th year as a commander.
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Coach Togashi clenched his right fist small while watching the players hugging and bursting with joy on the court. Two minutes before the end, he already had water in his eyes. A clear victory of 17 points to clear up the regret of summer that lost 76-77. “I’ve been thinking about how to beat Fukuoka Daiichi. I was able to do that today,” he nodded. Yuki Togashi (29 = Chiba), the eldest son and representative of the Tokyo Olympics, watched the game on the stand. Last year, after losing the first round, I heard that he went home saying, “You’re weak.” This year, he showed the strength to “revenge” even with such a word. “I don’t know what they’ll say if I don’t win, because I’m so outspoken,” he laughed.
He showed a flurry of consecutive points that broke the opponent’s feelings. The second quarter was 22-27. PG Taira launched “three point fireworks” in a row. 2 consecutive 3-point shots, followed by PG Sawada’s 1 shot. Director Togashi praised him as a “reliable first year student” for the strong heart of the youngest student.
It took nine years to win the winter. When he was a junior high school teacher, he led Shibata City’s Honmaru Junior High School to the number one spot in Japan in 2008 and 2010. He won the high school overall in 18 years at Kaishi Kokusai. However, at first, it was not possible to cope with the difference in the reinforcement cycle of junior high school and high school. In junior high school, we make a peak all summer, and then switch to a new team for 1st and 2nd grades. On the other hand, in high school, the Winter Cup will be held even after the summer tournament. “I was weak in the winter. Even in high school, after the summer, I was thinking about the new team. What should I do from here?”
This year, the maturation of the team was delayed due to the corona sickness in early spring, but the players united with the regret of the summer semi-V. On this day, the third-year duo of Sukegawa and Muto scored a total of 50 points to match their juniors. The upperclassmen and lowerclassmen worked well together, and finally stood at the top of winter.
What is written on the chest of the uniform is not the school name, but the nickname “RED TIGERS”. Director Togashi was born in 1962, the year of the tiger. Most of the students who entered the school in 2014 as the first class were born in the year of the tiger in 1998. And this year’s sexagenary cycle is the tiger. The red tigers bared their fangs on the court of the winter finals. (Japanese original by Mikio Wakui, City News Department)
▽ Kaishi Kokusai / Taira (14 points including 4 consecutive 3-point shots in the 2nd quarter) “Seniors say ‘Keep hitting’ even if you fail. I’m happy that I won the championship with this member.”
▽ Kaishi Kokusai / Sukegawa (30 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, leading the team) “I was frustrated at the Inter-High, practiced hard, and finished high school basketball comfortably.”
◆Kaishi Kokusai A co-educational school that opened in April 2014 (Heisei 26). There are four courses: Medical Course Advancement, International Advancement, International Athlete, and Athlete. The main alumnus are snowboarders Ayumu Hirano and Umihai, sisters Sena and Ruki Tomita, and professional golfer Ayaka Takahashi. The location is 439-1 Nagahashiue, Tainai City, Niigata Prefecture.Principal Akinori Kudo
