KALAHEO n Coaches Kurt Inaba and Dennis Onishi of the Piopio Bears Under 16 Boys Basketball team would have liked to have had a sweep during their weekend series against Kauai opponents, but the four-game marathon series in less than
KALAHEO n Coaches Kurt Inaba and Dennis Onishi of the Piopio Bears Under 16 Boys Basketball team would have liked to have had a sweep during their weekend series against Kauai opponents, but the four-game marathon series in less than 24 hours took its toll on the Bears as they barely escaped from the Westside Hornets 43-40 only to fall victim to the Southside Boys 55-40 on Monday morning at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
Arriving on Friday night, the Bears engaged their first Kauai opponent on Sunday evening as they pulled away from the Lihue 5-O 46-28 before slipping past the Kaumakani Supersonics 36-29 prior to meeting up with the Westside Hornets’ Under 14 team early Monday morning.
A pair of field goals by Chad Barba and a trey from Braxton Garma pulled the Hornets to a 15-8 lead only to have the Bears’ defense hold the Hornets to just a Kyle Achuera bucket in the second quarter as the visiting Big Islanders trimmed a 7-point deficit to just two points behind two buckets from Kyle Santos and Daniel Namahee for the 16-18 halftime reading.
The Hornets continued to burn the twine in the third period, outscoring the Bears 15-10 with Barba blazing the way on three field goals and Vincent Vea and Aldeon Lahip adding two buckets apiece.
Barba continued the charge in the final frame with two field goals for four of the Hornets’ seven-point frame, but missed free throws, one-for-six in the fourth, and a tenacious Bears defense saw the Big Islanders take the contest behind Santos who came up with nine big points in their 17-point last quarter showing.
“Get chance yet!” Coach Maynard Shea yelled from the sidelines as the Hornets watched the clock tick down, and the crowd groaned as a Barba layup bounced off the rim.
The battle against the quick Hornets took its toll as the Bears, despite the addition of Aina Tavares for their final game, fell victim to the Southside Boys in the race to the ball.
Futi Tavana notched 24 points with Tab Matsumoto sparking 18 markers as Southside pulled ahead in the second quarter to a 55-40 showing.
Santos topped the Bears’ scoring with nine points in the loss with Tavares adding eight on a pair from 3-pointland and a field goal.
Moniz and Ian Gutierrez each fired six points in the final-game loss.
Kaupili Akau posted ten points in the Lihue 5-O loss with Shaun Dante and Santos leading the Bears’ win with eight points apiece Sunday night.
Jeremy Manuel came up with 12 of his game-high 13 points in the second half to lead the Kaumakani Supersonics in their loss against the Bears with Akeem Allen also coming alive for seven of his eight points as Kaumakani outgunned the Bears 21-13 in the that half.
Santos led the Bears’ charge with 11 points in the 36-29 win over Kaumakani.
The Bears, originally scheduled to appear in the Kauai Youth Basketball Association tournament scheduled for early June, had to change their plans due to graduation.
Lorna Santos, of the Kaumakani Neighborhood Center coordinated this goodwill trip.
