Konawaena 19 15 15 19 — 68
By JOE FERRARO
Stephens Media
KEALAKEKUA — Konawaena boys basketball coach Donny Awa said Jonah Bredeson has “disappeared” in the first halves of key games in the past.
On Friday at Onizuka Gym, the sophomore forward showed an offensive aggression Awa hopes to see on a more consistent basis.
Bredeson scored eight of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, when the Wildcats went on a decisive run to beat Hawaii Prep 68-57 in a Big Island Interscholastic Federation contest.
“I was feeling it today,” Bredeson said. “I felt like I could do it, help the team out and extend the lead.”
On three occasions in the contest Konawaena (4-0) established a seven-point advantage only to see HPA (2-2) whittle the lead away.
Hawaii Prep senior guard Keanu Yamamoto hit a layup early in the fourth quarter, getting the Ka Makani within 49-44. Then Bredeson, who also scored nine points in the first quarter, came alive again, scoring eight points during a 12-7 spurt that gave the Wildcats a 61-51 lead with 1:51 remaining.
“I want him to be more aggressive early, to find his offense early,” Awa said of Bredeson, who also pulled down nine rebounds.
A disciplined HPA team committed just 12 turnovers in the contest, but sophomore guard Brandon Awa turned two of them into easy fast-break baskets, feeding Bredeson on both hoops for two of his 15 assists.
“We just had a couple of lapses in our execution here and there,” HPA coach Dave Huntington said.
However, Huntington came away satisfied with his team’s effort, especially considering the Ka Makani suffered a 40-point preseason loss to Konawaena in the Waiakea-Keaau Classic in mid-December.
“We really wanted to come out and compete,” Huntington said. “We wanted to come out and execute. I think we battled pretty hard and competed.”
HPA took its first lead since taking an 8-7 lead early in the first period when senior guard Dakota Berman hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 3:36 left in the third quarter, putting the Ka Makani up 42-41.
Berman scored a team-high 15 points, and junior forward Kama DeSilva added 10.
However, Konawaena closed the quarter by scoring the next seven points, with junior guard Trevor Tanaka hitting back-to-back 3s from the left wing and Bredeson hitting a jumper after the Wildcats recovered a loose ball in a scramble.
“I thought we worked a little harder in the second half getting to those loose balls, and that might have been a big factor,” Donny Awa said.
Tanaka and 6-foot-7 junior Brenton Shropshire added 11 points apiece for the Wildcats, with Brandon Awa delivering nice feeds inside to Shropshire in Konawaena’s halfcourt offense.
Neither team shot well from the free throw line, with HPA shooting 53 percent (8 of 15) and Konawaena going 40 percent (6 of 15) from the charity stripe.
However, the Wildcats shot 49 percent (28 of 57) from the field, while HPA shot 37 percent (20 of 55).
“We were reading the defense, did our cuts, we were hitting shots, we were hustling for plays,” Bredeson said.
In the JV game, HPA defeated Konawaena 49-39.
Freshman Nicky Palleschi scored a team-high 16 points for the Ka Makani, while sophomore Kamahao Paio added 10.
Gabriel Trevino scored a game-high 20 points for the Wildcats.
Hawaii Prep 14 18 10 15 — 57
Konawaena 19 15 15 19 — 68