KALAHEO — The visiting NJB Hawai‘i basketball team from O‘ahu was one game away from claiming the mini tournament for the 12 Under Boys basketball held at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center, but fell to the Lihu‘e Breakaway 37-19 on Sunday
KALAHEO — The visiting NJB Hawai‘i basketball team from O‘ahu was one game away from claiming the mini tournament for the 12 Under Boys basketball held at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center, but fell to the Lihu‘e Breakaway 37-19 on Sunday to give the tournament title to the Breakaway, NJB settling for second place in the goodwill tournament.
NJB swept their Saturday night series, 42-25 over the Lihu‘e On Fire with Keahi Hirayama leading that contest with a dozen points, Pono Perez leading On Fire with seven markers. NJB continued their winning ways with a 53-21 stinger to the Eastside Warriors with Casey Shibuya stepping up for 11 points in the win, Chance Bukoski leading the Warriors with 13 points in the loss.
Sunday afternoon, NJB opened up with their third win, besting Wailua 34-10 behind a seven-point showing from Jordan Ko, but Ko’s firepower was overpowered in their finale as he was limited to five points in their final-game loss to the Breakaway. NJB finished with a 3-1 record.
Braxton Garma fueled the Breakaway charge with 17 points in the title-clincher, the Breakaway going undefeated in the series.
The Eastside Warriors banked on Austin Simao’s ten points to claim third place in the tourney with a 40-31 win over the Magic who was led by a dozen points from Eric Tomacder. Eastside finished with a 2-1 record.
The tournament was co-hosted by the Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association (KYBA), the county of Kaua‘i, with support from former mayor Maryanne Kusaka.
