Honokaa 18 12 17 17 — 64
By BILL O’REAR
Tribune-Herald sports editor
Sophomores Jalen Carvalho and Jodd Carter each scored 19 points to lead Hilo High School to a 73-64 come-from-behind win over St. Joseph on Monday night.
A small crowd watched the Big Island Interscholastic Federation boys basketball game at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
The Division I Vikings improved to 6-2 while the D-II Cardinals slipped to 3-6.
Hilo, under coach Jason Mandaquit, was ice cold in the first half, making just 9 of 45 field goals, including 0 for 11 from 3-pointers, and trailed the hustling Cardinals 28-21 at the intermission. But the Vikings opened the third period with a 13-3 run to take the lead and continued to apply the defensive pressure against shaky ballhandling St. Joseph, which had 28 turnovers.
The shorter Vikings also pounded the Cardinals on the glass, outrebounding the visitors and taking charge in that pivotal third quarter with a 34-point explosion while holding St. Joseph to 17 points. The Cardinals then outpointed Hilo 19-18 in the fourth period and was within four points in the final two minutes before turnovers or missed shots zapped their chance at pulling off the upset.
Carvalho — who had 10 points in the third period — and Carter each had two 3-pointers in their team-high 19 points. Senior point guard Kainoa Kawaha came off the bench to contribute 12 points and senior Rico Loeak added 11.
Senior Sebi Ohara-Saft (5 treys) led the Scott Saft-coached Cardinals with 21 points and 6-foot-6 senior Thomas Fairman had 20 points, including two dunks. Teammates Austin Lee and 6-4 Cody Andrade each chipped in with seven points.
It was the second win in three days for Hilo over St. Joseph. On Saturday night, the Vikings beat the Cards 72-53.
The BIIF boys regular season wraps up Feb. 2 with the top six teams — four D-I schools from the East Division and two from the West and three D-II teams from the East and West — qualifying for the playoffs. The first round will be played on the higher seeds’ home court on Feb. 8, with the semifinals and finals played Feb. 10-11, respectively, at Hilo Civic.
St. Joseph 10 18 17 19 — 64
Hilo 6 15 34 18 — 73
* Kamehameha 70, Keaau 52: At Keaau, junior Shaun Kagawa scored 18 points, Kaeo Alapai 12, Lanaki Apele 11 and Kekoa Turner 10 to lead the host Warriors, who improved to 9-0 in the D-I East standings.
Kau Eggers scored 12 points and Chase Paulino 11 to lead the D-I Cougars (1-8).
JV: Keaau 51, Kamehameha 49. Keaau: Charlie Belmes, 28. KamehamehaL Quenten Anastacio, 16; Kauila Wong Yuen, 9.
Keaau 16 8 12 16 — 52
Kamehameha 14 22 20 14 — 70
* Honokaa 70, Laupahoehoe 43: At Honokaa, Alika Alip scored 16 points, Darius Ignacio 13 and CJ Carvalho 11 to lead the host Dragons, who improved to 2-5 in the D-II West standings.
Jordan Salboro scored a game-high 26 points as D-II Seasiders dropped to 0-8.
Laupahoehoe 5 15 11 12 — 43
Honokaa 21 18 12 19 — 73
Girls
* Honokaa 64, Laupahoehoe 15: At Honokaa, Yvonne Daniels scored 10 points and Hunter Liftee nine to lead the host Dragons (6-2).
Sayla Anderson scored 10 points to lead the D-II Seasiders (0-8).
Laupahoehoe 4 0 5 6 — 15
Honokaa 18 12 17 17 — 64