The men's final of the basketball national high school championship was held on the 29th, and Kaishi Kokusai High School in Niigata Prefecture defeated Fukuoka Daiichi High School, which controlled the national high school overall this year, and won the championship for the first time.
The men's final of the national high school basketball championship "Winter Cup" was held at the Tokyo Gymnasium in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. It was the same match as the high school overall finals.
The match was a close match in the early stages, but in the second quarter, Kaishi Kokusai, who hoped to avenge the disappointment of the entire high school, turned the tide with first-year TAIRA Muneryu's four three-point shots.
In the 4th quarter, with Kaishi Kokusai's 16-point lead, Fukuoka Daiichi stole the ball from their fierce defense, and point guard Todoroki Ryui's 3-pointer scored them close to 8 points at one point.
However, Kaishi Kokusai collected the ball from the 1m 97cm ace, Anthony Sho Sukegawa, and scored many points, pushing away the tenacious Fukuoka Daiichi and taking their first victory with a score of 88-71.
It is the first time for both men and women to win the Winter Cup in Niigata Prefecture.
Sukegawa, who scored the top 30 points for both teams, said, "I was really frustrated at the Inter-High, and we practiced so far. It's great that we were able to keep believing in ourselves until the end and win."