“I want to prove that even a small team can win.”
The Winter Cup brings together teams with various personalities from all over the country. Among them, Kyushu Gakuin demonstrated an organizational ability that set them apart from other teams. Rather than relying on individual breakthrough ability, the five players worked together in a coordinated manner to create gaps in defense and develop a set offense that released open shots one after another. In addition, their high-quality defensive play shined as the team firmly protected the opponent’s strengths.
In the third round against Tottori Johoku, Kyushu Gakuin showed their strengths both offensively and defensively. They made a dramatic 3-point shot just before the end of the game, resulting in a heartbreaking 76-77 loss, but the team, which had no international students and no players over 190cm tall, played an even match with the inter-high champions.
Looking back on the game, No. 4 Kanta Yamaguchi, who played an active role both offensively and defensively with 18 points, 4 assists and 3 steals, said, “We fought to prove that we can win even as a small team with no international students.It’s very frustrating that we couldn’t get past the main court (advancing to the top eight), which was our goal.We had victory right in front of us, but we were overturned, but I think every single mistake we made really resonated in the end.”
Tomoki Inoue, the No. 9 player who scored 17 points, made a low-handed free throw after receiving a basket count in this game, but this was due to an injury to his right hand that he sustained before the tournament. “In the first round, I hit a shot with my right hand, but it got worse, and in yesterday’s second round and today, I hit a shot with my left hand, and I also hit free throws from below,” Inoue said, “I was injured, but thanks to the people around me, I was able to play in the game.I wanted to win, and I’m very disappointed that I lost a game that I could have won.”
Even if frustration was the biggest factor, Yamaguchi talked about the response to the set pieces, which wowed viewers with their quality, which was outstanding for a high school team. “There are dozens of different set pieces, so it was tough to remember, but my teammates and I worked hard to get through it.I think we were able to demonstrate the set pieces we practiced every day and perfected in this tournament.”
Inoue also looks back on this. “There were various rules not only for offense but also for defense, and if we made a mistake, we had to make corrections immediately and everyone learned them.With no international students, we had to do a lot of things to make up for the disadvantage of height. During that time, we also trained mentally to make the perfect shot and get the rebound.”
“I want to take away this frustration at university.”
As the two men say, various set plays cannot be mastered overnight. That’s why the Kyushu Gakuin players approached the tournament with such strong feelings. “We lost in the first round at Inter-High, and since then we’ve been practicing desperately, so it’s not easy to lose in the Winter Cup.We went into the game thinking, “Why did we practice so hard?” But we lost, and it’s frustrating,” says Yamaguchi, but their sophisticated organized play must have touched the hearts of many basketball fans.
The cohesiveness of the team as a whole is one of Kyushu Gakuin’s strengths, especially Yamaguchi and Inoue, who played together for Nagasaki Veruca U15 during their junior high school days. In their third year of junior high school, they participated in the Jr. Winter Cup, and their team was a good team, losing in the second round to the runner-up Yokohama Bee Corsairs U15 by three points. Inoue says of Yamaguchi, “Kenta and I were rivals in the same district when we were in elementary school. From then on, we never wanted to lose, and now he’s a really dependable shooter.”
Yamaguchi looks back on his relationship with Inoue as follows. “We’ve been together for a long time, and we know how Inoue wants to play. On top of that, he has great individual skills and athletic ability that I don’t have, so we had a sense of rivalry over how we could beat Inoue. Being able to attend the same high school as Inoue for three years was really big for me.”
Kyushu Gakuin’s basketball was sophisticated and not typical of high school students, but this high-quality team basketball was created by the close bond typical of high school students. They may not have been satisfied with the results, but the team left a strong impression as good losers by firmly proving that even a small team with no international students can win on the national stage.
In conclusion, Yamaguchi said, “I will continue playing in college.I would like to use my shooting ability, which is my weapon, to overcome this frustration at college.” I’m looking forward to seeing what the Kyushu Gakuin players, who have acquired excellent basketball IQ, will do in the next stage.
