On December 25, during the second round of the SoftBank Winter Cup 2024, the national high school basketball championship, Hachioji Gakuen Hachioji High School from Tokyo faced off against Tomita High School from Gifu Prefecture at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Hachioji emerged victorious with a score of 80-61, advancing to the next round of the tournament.
The game kicked off with Shori Tokubei, who is also part of the U18 Japan national team, leading his squad by scoring 12 points from the first quarter alone. Although Hachioji initially seemed to be controlling the pace, taking an early 12-point lead at the start of the second quarter, Tomita was not to be overlooked. After trailing, Tomita's Aki Hosaka stepped up, making significant contributions to close the gap, resulting in the game being just one point apart at halftime.
With the start of the third quarter, Hosaka managed to flip the scoreboard by giving Tomita their first lead. Nevertheless, Tokubei rallied his team with focused effort, and with three minutes left, he hit free throws to regain the lead for Hachioji. This spurred the team to run off 10 points uninterrupted, widening their lead once more.
By the fourth quarter, Hachioji was able to extend their advantage, capitalizing on three-pointers from Yuma Hirahara among other key plays, eventually sealing the game with the strong final score. Tokubei, though missing all seven of his three-point attempts, still finished with the game-high of 34 points, thanks to 14 successful free throws. Hirahara also added to the tally with 20 points, connecting on five three-pointers.
Though Tomita put up a strong fight, led by Hosaka who scored 33 points including five three-pointers, they struggled during the later stages of the game. After closing the gap to 15 points and even briefly taking the lead, they could not sustain their momentum against Hachioji.
The victorious Hachioji team is set to face Kosen Catholic High School from Shiga, which recently defeated Houtoku Gakuen High School from Hyogo, the match scheduled for December 26 at 11:10 am at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
The statistics for the match are as follows:
Tomita 61 - 80 Hachioji Gakuen Hachioji
Tomita: 6 | 27 | 12 | 16 = 61
Hachioji: 19 | 15 | 23 | 23 = 80
