Waimea went an entire KIF season undefeated, and it only took one loss – a 48-43 thriller against Kapa’a – to put its title hopes under the “maybe” category. But that’s the way the KIF goes – that’s how the
Waimea went an entire KIF season undefeated, and it only took one loss – a 48-43 thriller against Kapa’a – to put its title hopes under the “maybe” category.
But that’s the way the KIF goes – that’s how the “rounds system” works.
It’s good for fans, for upsets, and for memorable, down-to-the-wire season finishes, but it has put a team with only a single mark under the loss column in a battle to the end.
“That’s the way it is,” said Coach Matt Taba, who didn’t seem at all miffed by the way the KIF system works. “We were the team that needed the system in the past, and so there is no reason to complain now we are on the other side of the coin.”
So Taba and his boys regroup.
Yes, they were dissappointed. Yes, the season has grown and the Menehune road seems a bit more rocky.
But this is no time for shovels and caskets. There is at least two more games left, and if Waimea can win each one, the championship is still theirs.
The first step is to win tonight, in the make-up game at Bernice Hundley (7 p.m. tip-off).
“It’s the little things,” Taba said his team has to focus on in tonight’s match-up in Kapa’a. “We have to box-out, get rebounds, make layups, talk on defense….all the little things that we didn’t do last Friday.”
Taba said Kapa’a improved vastly from the beginning of the season and he knew they wouldn’t be easy to beat in the second round.
But he says if his boys “tighten up” what he calls the “little things,” the Menehunes should fare much better down the stretch.
“I knew it would be this way. It’s always this way,” said Taba. “But my guys know what they have to do, and we just have to go out there and do it.”
