HONOLULU – By the time O’Shen Cazimero threw down a thunderous left-handed slam in the fourth quarter, Kohala’s statement had already been made.
Cazimero was just giving that statement a worthy exclamation point.
The Cowboys came into Saturday’s HHSAA Division II Third Place game on a mission against the Eagles of Hawaii Baptist Academy, leading by as many as 37 points in what ultimately was a 78-46 blowout victory.
“After last night’s game, the boys took it really hard,” said Kohala head coach Kihei Kapeliela, referring to his team’s 19-point loss in the semifinals to Maui Prep. “Not being in the championship is not a failed season.
“We still gotta go out and finish for our fans, for ourselves. Finish for the seniors.”
The Cowboys did exactly that, playing their brand of fast and loose ball to perfection with nothing but smiles on their faces from the second they touched the court for pre-game warmups.
“We pretty much just wanted to have fun this last game,” said Cazimero. “It was just letting our seniors play our hearts out, finish it off strong… Kind of speechless right now.”
Cazimero and Kohala’s play did all the talking on an afternoon where seemingly everything went right. The Cowboys led wire to wire, first gaining the lead on an acrobatic and-1 basket made by Cazimero less than 30 seconds after tip-off. Kohala’s senior leader poured in 31 points on 8 for 12 shooting, outscoring the entire Eagles’ team during his 24 minutes on the court. Cazimero combined with La’akea Kauka to form an exceedingly efficient one-two punch for the Cowboys; Kauka recorded a double-double, pulling in 11 rebounds in addition to notching 22 points on 8 for 14 shooting.
“I didn’t realize how much points I had,” said Cazimero, who scored 88 points over the stretch of his final three games in the state tournament. “I just wanted to come out here and finish out the season strong.
“We didn’t want to hold back; we just wanted to let everything out, let the seniors run. Like I said, just had a fun game.”
Cazimero put Kohala up double digits with his first bucket of the second quarter and increased the lead to 20 with a made free throw early in the third. Legend Libron pushed the lead to 30 with a three-point play later in the third. The Cowboys were then able to ride the wave through to the final buzzer, but not before Cazimero threw down the final highlight reel-worthy dunk of his high school career on a fast break dunk in the fourth.
“An exclamation point, you know, my last dunk of the year,” said Cazimero. “I have my really supportive teammates that are always jumping around when I get those dunks. This one was pretty special today.”
Though the third place finish fell just short of the aspirations of seniors Cazimero, Kauka, Koby Agbayani, Legend Libron, Jace Hook, Logan Neves and Onipa’a Tavares-Matsuda to repeat as champions, both Cazimero and Kapeliela each relayed how proud they were of this class’s accomplishments in the 2021-22 season.
“I’m actually pretty stoked about how this class did this year,” said Cazimero. “We’re not really a basketball team; we’re a bunch of athletes. That’s why can grind, play a bunch of defense… Just stoked.”
“How hard they work,” added Kapeliela when asked what he was most proud of with this year’s group. “We’ve got a few basketball players and a bunch of football players.
“They just bought into our system this year. We had the one goal: for everybody to play as a team. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the court or on the bench; you see how excited our bench was… That’s what it’s all about. Growing as a family.”
Kapeliela made a point to thank the community surrounding his team throughout the season and their playoff run.
“They’ve been texting us, messaging us on social media,” he said. “Thank the Kohala community for all the support. Unbelievable.”
Cazimero’s final shoutout went to his former teammates who lost their 2020-21 season, unable to defend their state title.
“I would like to shoutout to the class of 2021. My bad that we didn’t get this state championship that you guys wanted last year, but we finished strong.”
