By BILL O’REAR Tribune-Herald sports editor ADVERTISING PAHOA — Senior Kekoa Turner scored 14 points and junior Shaun Kagawa 11 to lead defending Division I champion Kamehameha to a 63-54 win over D-II powerhouse Pahoa on Saturday night. About 900
By BILL O’REAR
Tribune-Herald sports editor
PAHOA — Senior Kekoa Turner scored 14 points and junior Shaun Kagawa 11 to lead defending Division I champion Kamehameha to a 63-54 win over D-II powerhouse Pahoa on Saturday night.
About 900 fans watched the high-intensity Big Island Interscholastic Federation boys basketball game at the new Daggers gym. It was a war through the first three quarters before the visiting Warriors outscored the hosts 15-6 in the fourth period to pick up the hard-fought victory.
The Warriors, under coach Dominic Pacheco, improved to 8-0, including two league wins over the scrappy Daggers. Pahoa, under coach Marc Saito, slipped to 6-2.
Kamehameha had to overcome a brilliant 29-point, 14-rebound performance from Pahoa junior Nick Fisher to fight past the Daggers in their rocking new gym. Senior Devin Freitas-Gonsalves followed with 14 points but sharpshooting senior Sonny Miguel was held to just three points — on a long trey to start the third period.
The game was tied 15-15 at the end of the first quarter before the talented Warriors grabbed a 37-30 advantage heading into the intermission. But the fired-up hosts outpointed Kamehameha 18-11 in the third period and the contest was knotted at 48-48 going into the final quarter.
Kagawa, a 5-foot-10 guard, scored six points early in the fourth period to give the Warriors a 54-52 lead and buy some valuable time for Lanaki Apele, a 5-10 senior point guard who earlier picked up his fourth foul and had to sit on the bench.
Apele returned with 3:57 remaining and senior Kaeo Alapai hit a layup to put the visitors on top 56-52. Pahoa’s Raymond Kawaihahalu-Baldonado answered with two free throws to trim the margin to 56-54 with 3:09 left.
The Warriors then amped up their man-to-man defense and outscored the Daggers 7-0 in the last 1:57 to earn the tough win.
Senior Jacob Kackley, the hustling Alapai and junior La’akea Manliguis (3 treys) each added nine points and Apele eight in a balanced attack. No one else reached double figures for Pahoa.
Pacheco felt fortunate to escape with the victory against an experienced Daggers squad.
“Pahoa played a great game tonight,” he said. “Hats off to them. The place was rocking. It was awesome, I couldn’t hear myself a lot of the time when I was yelling and I’m not sure if the kids could either.
“But tonight was a real chess match. Pahoa came out in a diamond-and-two defense and it gave us some problems for a while. These are the types of games we need at this time, battled-tested games to get us ready for the playoffs.”
And the Warriors coach felt the final outcome came down to defense,
“We were able to get some key stops and some late turnovers,” he said. “Then we started to knock down our free throws. But hats off to Pahoa, they played a great game.”
JV: Pahoa 61, Kamehameha 49. Pahoa: Ben Padilla-Gamponia, 24; Kainalu Kawaihalau-Blyth, 14. Kamehameha: Kauila Wong Yuen, 17; Jonathan Correa, 13.
Playoff note
In both D-I and II, the top six teams in the final regular-season standings will qualify for the BIIF playoffs, which start run Feb. 8 on the higher seeds’ home courts, then Feb. 10-11 at Hilo Civic. The breakdown in D-I is, four East teams and two West; in D-II, three East teams and three West. The top seeds from the East and West draw first-round byes and advance to the semifinal rounds.
The BIIF will send two D-I and D-II representatives to the state tournaments on Oahu. The state events will run concurrently, Feb. 22-25.
Kamehameha 15 22 11 15 — 63
Pahoa 15 15 18 6 — 54
Kona grabs No.1 seed
With Konawaena’s boys basketball team trailing by seven at halftime Saturday, Wildcats assistant coach Tory Guillermo warned his players about the bitter taste they’d have in their mouths if they ended up losing to neighborhood rival Kealakehe.
“He told them, “If you let this slip away, this one’s going to hurt,'” Konawaena boys basketball coach Donny Awa said of Guillermo’s halftime speech.
But in the end, Konawaena hurt Kealakehe with a weapon other teams have become familiar with: a defense that forces mistakes.
The visiting Wildcats quickly erased their halftime deficit and clinched the West’s No. 1 seed in the six-team Division I tournament with a 47-44 victory over the Waveriders.
Last season, Konawaena (6-0) beat Waiakea in the first round of the BIIF tournament but then fell to eventual champion Kamehameha in the semifinals with a Hawaii High School Athletic Association state tournament berth on the line. This time, Awa said, the Wildcats likely won’t face the Warriors unless they reach the championship game with a state berth in hand.
“(The No. 1 seed) is huge for us because you have to look at (Kamehameha) as being the big dog,” Awa said. “Your road to the championship is a little bit easier not having to play Kamehameha (in the semifinals).”
Awa said the Wildcats “played scared” in the first half but got past the Waveriders (2-4) on Saturday by creating transition offense in the second half. Awa said it only took Konawaena 2 minutes to gain the lead in the second half.
“We came out on fire in the second half,” Awa said. “A lot of those (points) we were creating turnovers, getting layups.”With 18 seconds remaining and Konawaena leading 45-44, 6-foot-7 junior center Brenton Shropshire gave the Wildcats some breathing room, grabbing the rebound on a Kenan Gaspar miss and sticking in a putback to cap the scoring.
A last-second Waverider shot fell short, ending the game.”I’m actually surprised they lost three games (going into Saturday) because they give us fits,” Awa said of Kealakehe. “They fight us better than anybody else.”The home team of Kealakehe did not report statistics on the contest.
Ka’u 51, Keaau 49: Junior Jansen Candaroma scored 13 points and senior Holden Galigo added 10 in Keaau as the Trojans rallied in the fourth quarter to improve to 2-7.
Senior Chase Paulino led the Cougars (1-7) with 12 points.
In JV, Keaau won 62-50.
Ka’u 16 8 12 15 —51
Keaau 11 16 13 9 —49
Hilo 72, St. Joseph 53: At Hilo Civic, Jalen Carvalho scored 23 points to lead the D-I Vikings (5-2).
Jodd Carter added 16 points and Rico Loeak had 10 as Hilo broke the game open with a 33-point third quarter.
Thomas Fairman scored 17 points to lead the D-II Cardinals (3-5), while Austin Lee had 10.
Hilo 13 12 33 14 —72
St. Joseph 14 10 10 19—53
HPA 55, Honokaa 48: At Waimea, Dakota Berman scored 29 points as the D-II Ka Makani improved to 4-2.
Alika Alip scored 21 points for the D-II Dragons (1-5), while Wayne Vaoga had 14.
In JV, HPA won 60-36.
Honokaa 11 15 14 8 —48
Hawaii Prep 16 10 16 13—55
Kohala 60, Laupahoehoe 17: At Laupahoehoe, Christopher Roxburgh scored 13 points to lead the D-II Cowboys (5-1).
Jordan Salboro scored 10 points to lead the D-II Seasiders (0-7).
Kohala 20 18 13 9—60
Laupahoehoe 11 1 5 0—17
Girls
Kohala 46, Laupahoehoe 14: At Laupahoehoe, Sheana Cazimero scored 12 points to lead the D-II Cowboys (3-4).
Vanistie Batin and Kai-lyn Requelman each scored five points for the D-II Seasiders (0-7).
Kohala 14 11 10 11—46
Laupahoehoe 3 2 4 5—14
