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Score! This here is a Featured Match.
Seirin High vs Shūtoku High (Winter Cup) has been featured, meaning it was chosen as an article of interest.
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Seirin High vs Shūtoku High is a match in the final league of the Winter Cup preliminaries. It is a rematch between the both teams from the Interhigh.
Game[]
Prologue[]
Both Seirin and Shūtoku have suffered defeat not too long ago and are determined to not let that happen again. Now, in the Winter Cup, they try to grasp a ticket into the tournament and are set to play each other in the preliminaries, group stage. Finally, the heavily anticipated match is about to begin. Thirsting for victory, both teams face each other on the court.[1]
1st quarter[]
The tip-off is given and Kiyoshi and Ōtsubo jump for the ball. They both graze it and the ball ends up with Izuki, but is immediately slapped away by Takao. Kimura grabs a hold of it and sees Miyaji running down court. He tries to thrust it to him, but he is hindered by Kuroko. The ball then goes to Shūtoku again, this time Midorima picks it up and pulls up for a long range shot. However, Kagami leaps high in the air and blocks it ferociously, sending the ball out of bounds. The crowd is psyched as Miyaji delivers the inbound pass to Takao, who passes it through to Midorima. Again, he pulls up for a three, but is yet again blocked by Kagami. Kagami wonders what Midorima's plan is, as it doesn't seem like he has anything to counter Kagami. Midorima declares that he will simply keep shooting until Kagami can't jump anymore.[2]
2nd quarter[]
Midorima's fakes foil Kagami into jumping
In the early stages of the second quarter, Kagami is seen Midorima once again, continuing this trend from the previous quarter. Successfully stopping Midorima, Seirin has taken a 7-point lead. However, Seirin's members are uneasy, knowing that Kagami will fall to exhaustion first and further more, that Kuroko is still having trouble dealing with Shūtoku's Takao. Miyaji suddenly steals the ball and gets it to Midorima. He pulls up for a shot and Kagami jumps for the block, but Midorima was only faking and simply drives past an airborne Kagami. He shoots right after, but Kagami however, isn't done yet and jumps for the block again. Midorima gets his shot off, but it is grazed by Kagami, making the shot miss. The rebound is surprisingly taken by Kuroko, who launches it across the court to a cutting Izuki, who lays it in. Riko is concerned with Kagami's state and orders Kiyoshi to go help him, which he does after Midorima fakes Kagami into jumping again. It looks like Kiyoshi is able to block Midorima's shot, but Midorima unexpectedly switches to a pass to Takao, who pushes it up-court and it ends up with Ōtsubo, who finishes at the rim. Seirin's players are shocked about Midorima's team play and think that now that Shūtoku has become a true team, there's no way of stopping them. However, Riko says that they must trust upon Kiyoshi.[3]
Seirin's Run & Gun fast-break
Kiyoshi talks to his team and suggests taking out Kuroko for starters. He explains that now that Takao has shut down Kuroko, he's more of a liability than an asset. Riko thinks alike and subs Kuroko for Mitobe. On the bench, Kuroko says that this time out of the game will help him better prepare for his Vanishing Drive. Meanwhile, with both Kise and Momoi watching the game, Kagami and Kiyoshi double-team Midorima. Midorima passes it inside to Miyaji, who makes the lay-up. However, Seirin runs for it and comes invading Shūtoku's half of the court in an instant. Lightning-fast passes do the rest and the crowd is awed by Seirin's high leveled run and gun. Both this and the next offense, Seirin uses their inside guard, Kiyoshi, as a relay to swing the ball around to free players, resulting in a lay-up from Mitobe and a three-pointer by Hyūga. Shūtoku returns the favor though, by a quick rebound by Ōtsubo and a long-range shot from Shūtoku, Generation of Miracles shooting guard. The high paced point war continues and the first half of the match ends in Seirin's favor, 45 against 43. Kise speculates that Seirin could lose the point war if it wasn't for Kuroko.[4]
3rd Quarter[]
The high paced point war continues into the third quarter, but without Kuroko on the court Shutoku quickly asserted their dominance with Takao's playmaking exploiting every hole in Seirin's defense, while effectively stopping Seirin's offense by stealing the ball based on the patterns of their favorite plays, and the gap extended to 68-76 in Shutoku's favor with 1:09 on the clock in the third quarter. At this point, Kuroko is finally back on the court, and after shaking off Takao using a screen set up by Kagami, receives and catches the ball from Kiyoshi while approaching Midorima. Kuroko, using his new Vanishing Drive technique, passes Midorima easily and passes the ball to Kiyoshi who finishes the play with a dunk. In Shutoku's offense, a flustered Kimura attempts an one-handed layup, only to miss and the ball ends up with Izuki who remarks his luck on the rebound against Ōtsubo, then passes to Kuroko who once again catches it. Takao tries to stop the Phantom Sixth Man, but just like Midorima was passed easily, and the ball is passed to Hyūga for an open three pointer. Kuroko then manages to steal the inbound pass from Miyaji, and passes to Hyūga again for another open three pointer, ending the third quarter in a tie at 76-76.
On the bench, Shutoku's players were clearly shocked by Kuroko's new drive, but is assured that this doesn't give Seirin the upper hand as Kagami's dwindling stamina will allow Midorima take as many shots as he wants to. Midorima, however, rejects the claims and says "he's not that weak".
4th Quarter[]
With the fourth quarter starting, Miyaji tries to intercept Izuki's pass to Hyuga, but Kuroko, who manages to slip by Takao, changes the direction of the pass and it ends up with Kagami, who forcibly dunks the ball in over Ōtsubo and Kimura. At this point, Shutoku finally realized what they're dealing with - with Kuroko's misdirection complimenting Izuki and Kiyoshi's passes, their run-and-gun style becomes extremely quick and unpredictable, and is the final form of Seirin's basketball style. The match goes on, and Midorima shoots another long range three pointer by catching Kagami and Kiyoshi off guard yet again. Takao expresses concern on Midorima's stamina, but the latter assures he will be fine as he has overcome his limit through training long ago. At this point, the high paced point war also became a clash of will between the two high school teams, sparking excitement across the entire arena, but Kise remarks the players were the ones that are having the most fun. Eventually, with 30 seconds on the clock, Ōtsubo scores a layup over Hyuga, putting Shutoku up 104-103. On Seirin's offense Izuki got the ball tipped away by Kimura, but was luckily saved by Kuroko. Takao once again runs at Kuroko, and once again gets passed by the Sixth Man's drive, which greatly irritates the Shutoku point guard. Ōtsubo comes to stop Kuroko, but the ball is passed to none other than Kiyoshi, who prepares to jump for the finish, but his leg injury stalled him for just long enough for Midorima to come and stop him. Kiyoshi desperately uses his Right of Postponement to change the dunk into a layup and forces Midorima to foul him. The shot missed, but the foul gave Kiyoshi two free throws. This puts Shutoku in a state of despair, as they know their fate depends on free throws of an Uncrowned King. Ōtsubo, however, commands the players to keep their head up, and says while they'll have to accept defeat if Kiyoshi makes both shots, they must get the rebound if he misses the shot by chance. Kiyoshi makes the first shot but misses the second due to leg injury and perhaps the pressure. Kagami uses his superhuman jump strength to secure the rebound over multiple Shutoku players, but was stopped by a determined Midorima when he jumps again for the finish. The buzzer sounds when the two were still fighting in the air, ending the match in a tie at 104-104 because the Winter Cup's prelims have no overtime rules due to wishing to keep games short. Clearly not satisfied with the result, the players promise to play each other again in the Winter Cup, and won the audience's applause in the meantime.
Trivia[]
- This is the first and only match in the entire series to end in a tie.
- The promise made post match did not come true, as Shutoku was defeated by Rakuzan in the semi-finals.