KXO 3x3 Hongcheon STOP champion was Sagamihara.
'NH Nonghyup Bank 2025-2026 KXO 3x3 Hongcheon STOP' was held on the 20th at the Hongcheon County National Sports Center in Hongcheon County, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province. The tournament staged fierce competition over two days across four divisions: U15, U18, men's open division and KXO STOP.
The event hosted by KXO (chairman Park Geon-yeon) was held with the support of Hongcheon County (county governor Shin Young-jae) and the Hongcheon County Sports Council (chairman Shin Eun-seop). Beginning with KXO 3x3 Hongcheon STOP 1 in February, KXO, which held six domestic tournaments and three international tournaments this year, completed its 2025 schedule with this Hongcheon STOP.
In the U15 final, SKBT (Lee Ki-beom, Kang Byung-jun, Eom Seok-hyun, Ahn Hyun-jun) came from behind to beat PRISM (Caiden Galloway, Jake Burton, Moon Chang-jun, Choi Wook) 16-13 to take the trophy.
Early on, PRISM, which relied on a height advantage, seized the initiative 5-0. PRISM benefited from the imposing height of 193 cm Caiden Galloway. Moon Chang-jun's outside shot also went in.
SKBT were small in stature but quick in speed. With SKBT's drives and outside shots hitting, they completed a comeback to lead 14-13 with one minute remaining. SKBT held on in the remaining time, and Ahn Hyun-jun's clinching free throw sealed the championship.
In the U18 final, RKDR (Gam Dong-bin, Lee Jong-min, Kim Chan-yi, Chae Tae-hyun) defeated Hagik High School (Choi Ji-ho, Oh Woo-seok, Joo Ha-jin, Hwang Hyun) 16-13. The two teams fought an extremely close match from start to finish. RKDR, who had the edge in late-game focus, became the champion.
The men's open final was a showdown between RNT (Kim Ki-woong, Kim Sang-hoon, Son Seung-gi, Kim Kwang-ho) and the Basketball Research Institute (Koo Hyun-seo, Choi Woo-young, Lee Geon-ha, Park Ji-min). RNT won 21-15 to claim the championship cup. Kim Ki-woong was named MVP.
As befits a final, rough physical play continued. Players threw their bodies for the ball. The two teams battled fiercely from the start at 6-6. RNT's ace Kim Sang-hoon and Kim Kwang-ho showed good chemistry. Kim Ki-woong's outside shot and Son Seung-gi's drives also hit, widening the gap and securing the title.
The much-anticipated KXO STOP final became a Korea-Japan match between Hongcheon of Korea (Park Ji-hwan, Jung Seong-hoon, Lee Young-seok, Im Dong-il) and Sagamihara of Japan (Yahatabara Reon, Igo Kenya, Fujihara Tom, Uros Kanic). The matchup between Serbian center Uros Kanic and the 214 cm Im Dong-il was worth watching. Hongcheon used Im Dong-il's overwhelming height to take a 2-0 lead.
Sagamihara's resilience was remarkable. The players' team cohesion was a level higher. Sagamihara, which showed powerful pass work, quickly turned the game around to lead 9-4. Center Kanic played the role of closer by hitting consecutive 2-point shots.
Kanic, who led Sagamihara to the championship, was selected as MVP. The winning team Sagamihara was awarded a spot in the Spain Challenger.
[OSEN]