For the first half, Waiakea put on a vicious full-court press on Pahoa, forced 18 turnovers and held a commanding 15-point halftime cushion.
Waiakea called off its tenacious pressure in the second half, but still trounced the Daggers 66-47 in a BIIF basketball game on Wednesday night at the Warriors Gym.
Calvin Mattos scored 22 points and had eight assists to lead the Division I Warriors (6-0), who hit 56 percent (24 of 43) on field goals.
Louie Ondo added 14 points, including eight in the first quarter, Kahinu Alapai had 10 and Noah Ferreira chipped in seven points.
Kili Oliveira scored 24 points to lead the Division II Daggers (2-3), who shot 42 percent (11 of 26) from the floor.
He had little scoring help, mostly because his teammates couldn’t hit any long-distance shots. Keinan Agonias added eight points for Pahoa, which had zero 3-pointers; Waiakea had two treys in the first half.
The big question for the Daggers was: Would they finish with five players?
On Monday, Kohala defeated Pahoa 53-41, and the Daggers played much of the fourth quarter with only three players on the road.
Last Friday, Pahoa edged St. Joseph 41-39 with four players during the final nine seconds on a 3-point buzzer-beater by Joel Rosario Jr. at home.
Against Waiakea, no one fouled out for the Daggers, who have nine players on their roster.
The defending BIIF Division II champion Daggers play the other two title contenders next month: Honokaa on Thursday, Feb. 4 and at Hawaii Prep on Saturday, Feb. 6.
Waiakea did the Daggers a huge solid, sticking a press on them. That’s because the Dragons will do the same thing. The only difference is Honokaa will stick to it for the full 32 minutes.
Pahoa finished with 24 turnovers; Waiakea had just 12 giveaways. Off turnovers, the Warriors outscored the visitors 17-0, including 15-0 in the first half.
More than anything, the game, which got a little heated at times, featured the unselfish play of Mattos, who often passed up layup attempts and easy points to feed his teammates running to the rim.
Also, Oliveira showed why he’s, arguably, the league’s most versatile big man. He’s an excellent post defender because he anticipates well and moves his feet.
In the first half, Oliveira, a 6-foot senior forward, ran the point, and scored facing and with his back to the basket. He backed his defender down, drop-stepped, and fired jump shots.
But his offense wasn’t enough, not against a team like Waiakea that scored in so many ways: off turnovers with layups, 3-pointers (Mattos and Ondo each sank one), and mid-range jump shots.
One of the most entertaining moments was a one-on-one confrontation between Oliveira and Ferreira, who did an Allen Iverson side-to-side dribble waiting for his defender to stick out an arm.
Ferreira crossed Oliveira over and drove to the baseline for a reverse layup. It missed, but it was easily the most exciting attempt that didn’t go in.
Unfortunately for Pahoa, the Warriors shot better than 50 percent on the night and had more than enough offense.
In the junior varsity game, it was Waiakea 59, Pahoa 13.
Pahoa 6 13 9 19 — 47
Waiakea 20 14 19 13 — 66
St. Joseph 62, Hilo 50: Manato Fukuda scored 26 points as the Cardinals won at Hilo’s gym to end a two-game losing streak.
Cole DeSilva and Titus Liu each scored nine points and Jacob Au added eight for St. Joseph (2-3).
Isaac Liu and EJ Narido each finished with 16 points for the Vikings (2-4), who fell into fifth place in Division I after losing for the fourth time in five games.
St. Joseph 15 19 9 19–62
Hilo 9 11 15 15 – 50
Kamehameha 80, Kohala 43: Pukana Vincent (21 points) and Bayley Manliguis (20) carried the Warriors (4-2) to an easy home victory against the Cowboys.
Maui Hook scored 13 for Kohala (2-4).
Kohala 12 14 11 6 –43
Kamehameha 22 43 20 17–80
Honokaa 70, Laupahoehoe 17: Koa Callihan (15), Kea Callihan (10) and Kamuela Spencer-Herring (10) all scored in double-figures on the road as the Dragons (4-1) won their fourth consecutive game.
The Seasiders fell to 0-4.
Hawaii Prep 58, Ka’u 45: Jonas Skupeika scored 24 points in Pahala and Matija Vitorovic finished with 10 for the 3-0 Ka Makani.
The Trojans (0-4) were led by four scorers. Joven Padrigo scored 11, and Evan Manoha, Pete Dacalio and Jacob Flores each finishe with nine.
Hawaii Prep 15 13 18 12 –58
Ka’u 13 5 11 16–45
