Laupahoehoe 3 0 0 0 — 3
By MATT GERHART
Tribune-Herald sports writer
KEAAU — Coach Dominic Pacheco faulted Kamehameha’s first-half intensity and senior Jacob Kackley questioned his team’s ball movement. The Warriors’ second half included a shooting effort to forget.
When all else fails, however, Kamehameha’s boys basketball team can still rely on its defensive pressure.
The Warriors forced St. Joseph into 29 turnovers Saturday and Kackley scored 14 points for a 54-33 victory in a Big Island Interscholastic Federation game at Koai’a Gym.
Sophomore Micah Carter came off the bench to score 10 points and the defending Division I BIIF champions improved to 4-0 despite shooting only 20 percent from the field in the second half.
With the way Kamehameha harassed the Cardinals and got into its transition game and dominated rebounding, its shooting woes didn’t really matter.
“If you’re not shooting well you can still create scoring on defense with transition, and it makes things easier,” Pacheco said. “We’ve got to work on our shooting, but defense is our core and we are always going to strive for that first.”
Senior Thomas Fairman scored 15 points for the Division II Cardinals (2-2), but things began to unravel after senior guard Sebi Ohara-Saft, the team’s best ballhandler, left the game after rolling his ankle midway through the second quarter.
“We saw that they really didn’t have backup guards for our pressure, so we created turnovers for our transition game,” Kackley said. “Coach always stresses intensity on defense.”
Seniors Keoni Wong and Lanaki Apele and junior Shaun Kagawa each scored seven points and provided strong ball defense as the Warriors held St. Joseph to 37 percent shooting.
Guards Apele and Kagawa broke down the Cardinals’ zone defense to set up Kackley, who finished 6 of 10 from the field.
Kackley scored his team’s first six points of the second quarter to give the Warriors a 19-13 lead, and once Ohara-Saft went down the Kamehameha began to pull away.
“That’s when everything went loose on them,” Pacheco said.
The Warriors got good looks in the second half but made only 3 of 20 shots in the third quarter. Still, they attacked the offensive glass to get second and third opportunities and used their stifling press to increase their lead. In addition, Kamehameha got to the free-throw line and converted, finishing 14 of 18.
“We were happy to be down by 12 at halftime, but they came out and upped the pressure and it was tough,” St. Joseph coach Scott Saft said.
He said that Sebi Ohara-Saft, the Cardinals’ other prime scoring threat to go along with the 6-foot-5 Fairman, would likely be out about a week. St. Joseph has only one game next week: a trip to Pahala on Wednesday to face Ka’u.
Senior Austin Lee finished with seven points for St. Joe and Ohara-Saft had five.
Kamehameha already owns victory over title contenders Pahoa, Hilo and St. Joseph heading into Monday’s game at Waiakea, but Pacheco still would like to see his team put together four consistent quarters offensively.
“We’ve got a ways to go,” he said. “We have to figure out the first half and not playing with intensity. If not, sooner or later it’s going to bite us.”
St. Joe 11 9 9 4 —33
Kamehameha 13 19 11 11—54
Ka Makani win
Senior forward Tyler Van Kirk scored a game-high 20 points, leading Hawaii Prep’s boys basketball team to a 74-59 victory at Kealakehe.
Junior forward Kama DeSilva and senior guard Dakota Berman added 16 points apiece as Ka Makani improved to 2-0.
Senior guard Jacob Ontiveros scored a team-high 18 points for Kealakehe (0-2). Senior guard Nalu Marks added 15 points, while junior guard Deion Utrera and senior forward Larry Adarna chipped in nine points apiece.
In the JV game, HPA beat Kealakehe 46-26.
Buck Thomas scored a game-high 17 points for Ka Makani, and Jeffery Lewi led Kealakehe with nine.
Kealakehe 8 9 21 21 — 59
HPA 19 24 16 15 — 74
Konawaena 72, Laupahoehoe 15: Junior guard Trevor Tanaka scored 15 points, while junior guard Kenan Gaspar and senior guard Viliamu Uulopa added 10 apiece for visiting Konawaena, which improved to 2-0.
Senior Lexton Silva paced Laupahoehoe (0-2) with six points.
Konawaena 17 33 8 14 — 72
Laupahoehoe 5 2 5 3 — 15
Pahoa 72, Ka’u 49: Senior guard Sonny Miguel scored 15 points, junior forward Nick Fisher added 14, and junior forward Maverick Tebelak had 12 for the host Daggers (3-1).
Senior forward Holden Galigo scored a team-high 15 points for the Trojans (1-3).
In the JV contest, Pahoa defeated Ka’u 49-45. Isaiah DeSilva led the Daggers with 13 points, while Benjamin Padilla-Gampona and Kevin Lee followed with 12 and 11, respectively.
Larry Navarro scored 14 points for the Trojans.
Ka ‘u 14 14 11 10 — 49
Pahoa 17 23 14 18 — 72
Hilo 62, Waiakea 58: Sophomore Jalen Carvalho scored 14 points and sophomore Austin Dante added 10 as the visiting Vikings improved 2-1.
Waiakea fell to 1-2 despite 24 points from sophomore Lucas St. George. Junior Owen Sandstrom added 15 and sophomore Dillon Rellez had 10.
Waiakea won the junior varsity game 39-31.
Hilo 25 9 11 17—62
Waiakea 19 16 8 15—58
Kohala 62, Honokaa 47: Senior Christopher Roxburgh scored 22 points as the Cowboys won at Honokaa Armory in the season opener for both teams.
Junior Kalai Kapeliela added 17 points for Kohala, which scored 29 points in the fourth quarter to break open a tie game.
Keanu Freitas led the Dragons with 13 points.
In JV, Wesley Salboro, Makana Loo and Sione Epenesa each scored nine points in the Dragons’ 46-40 victory.
Kohala 9 15 9 29—62
Honokaa 9 12 12 14—47
Girls
Konawaena 107, Laupahoehoe 3: Junior forward Courtney Kaupu and sophomore guard Makani Wall scored 16 points apiece for the visiting Wildcats, who didn’t allow a point after the first quarter.
Junior guards Melissa Simon and Hoku Liftee each scored 15 points, while senior guard Lia Galdeira chipped in 14 points for Konawaena (2-0).
Kailyn Requelman led Laupahoehoe (0-2) with two points.
Konawaena 37 22 27 21 — 107
Laupahoehoe 3 0 0 0 — 3