Waiakea senior guard Calvin Mattos put on point-producing display, and his team didn’t have to worry about protecting a late lead, which has been trending recently.
Behind solid play on both sides of the ball, the Warriors defeated Hilo 76-52 in a BIIF Division I game Thursday night at the Vikings Gym, dealing the host team a tough setback.
Mattos scored 20 points and Shaun Kojima 13 to lead the Warriors (5-1), who hit 49 percent (27 of 55) from the field and converted 15 of 24 free throws.
Isaac Liu scored 19 points and Lawrence Padasdao had eight to lead the Vikings (3-4), who shot 52 percent (22 of 43) from the floor and made 7 of 19 free throws.
One of Hilo’s issues was ball-handling, far too many turnovers.
Waiakea forced 19 turnovers and capitalized with a 12-0 scoring edge off free gifts. The Warriors also had better ball-security with just four giveaways.
Mattos reminded the league why he’s the two-time BIIF player of the year with a virtuoso performance. He shot 10 of 20 from the field including 5 of 6 in the second half, and dished out six assists.
The Warriors led 33-24 at halftime and came out in the third quarter on fire, scoring seven straight points. Mattos hit a right-handed floater, followed by a baseline jump shot, and then fed Kojima, who buried a 3-pointer for a 40-24 cushion.
Later, he swished a setback jump shot from the elbow and then dished a behind-the-back pass to William Soares on a layup, which increased Waiakea’s lead to 46-27 and allowed coach Paul Lee to breathe easy.
Playing traditional BIIF basketball or run-and-gun ball nearly cost a pair of teams a victory over the last two days. Both (Hilo girls and Kamehameha boys) could have made their life easier with time management: holding the ball and draining the clock.
On Wednesday in a girls game, Hilo led Waiakea by eight points with under two minutes left but took quick shots, couldn’t defend a transition attack and fouled way too much: the Warriors went just 20 of 44 from the line.
The Vikings pulled out a 46-45 victory after Mandi Kawaha was fouled with 0.0 on the shot clock and swished the game-winning free throw. Hilo sank 5 of 13 from the line and shot 31 percent (18 of 59) from the floor.
On Tuesday in a boys game, Kamehameha held a 12-point cushion over Waiakea heading into the fourth quarter but took quick shots and couldn’t stop Mattos or Kojima in transition or their dribble-penetration in half-court sets.
Kamehameha prevailed with a 79-76 victory after Mattos’ game-tying 3-point attempt rimmed out as time expired. It also helped that Payton Grahovac drilled four 3-pointers, and Waiakea converted only 19 of 34 free throws.
It was a tough loss for the Viks, who are sixth in the Division I standings and have an uphill climb for the four-team BIIF playoffs, which start Thursday, Feb. 9.
“Calvin missed four or five shots early, and I took him out to settle him down,” Lee said. “Then he went on a run and hit five straight (in the third quarter). He could have had four or five more assists, but we missed some easy baskets.
“We’re still have to improve on defense. We’ve been averaging 20 fouls a game. We have to move our feet. But our guys came out with a lot of energy. The main thing is our defense if we create turnovers and get easy buckets.”
For most of the night it was Mattos getting the job done in that regard for the defending BIIF champs. Also, the Warrior defense pitched a shutout when Hilo forced a turnover.
“I was surprised at that,” Lee said. “It’s only our second game with single-digit turnovers. If we can take care of the ball, we should be pretty successful.”
In the JV, it was Waiakea 58, Hilo 54.
Waiakea 14 19 28 15 — 76
Hilo 11 13 14 14 — 52
Keaau 73, St. Joseph 53
Patrick Mears followed scored 22 points in a follow-up effort to his 37-point performance Monday, and Rico Handy added 11 as the host Cougars (6-2) coasted to their fifth win in a row.
Keegan Scanlan scored 19 for the Cardinals (2-5), and Ruka Suda and added 17 and 13, respectively.
In JV, Keaau won 42-26.
St. Joseph 6 10 14 23 – 53
Keaau 16 14 23 20 – 73
Konawaena 43, Hawaii Prep 32
Kamakana Ching scored 13 points in Waimea as the Wildcats (6-0) stifled HPA to remain the BIIF’s only unbeaten.
Jonah Hurney scored 10 points for Ka Makani (3-3), who had just 20 points after three quarters. The loss leaves Honokaa as the only Division II team with a winning record.
Konawaena’s JV won 44-41.
Konawaena 11 14 10 8 – 43
Hawaii Prep 7 11 2 12– 32
