LIHU’E — Va’afuti Tavana roared for two quick baskets, got a bucket from Josh Bradbury, and buried on as the Kaua’i Red Raiders got off to a quick start enroute to a 73-29 showing over the visiting Kapa’a Warriors Friday
LIHU’E — Va’afuti Tavana roared for two quick baskets, got a bucket from Josh Bradbury, and buried on as the Kaua’i Red Raiders got off to a quick start enroute to a 73-29 showing over the visiting Kapa’a Warriors Friday night.
Tavana, coming off a dunk in their loss against Waimea, was more comfortable with the feat, dunking two of his three first-quarter buckets much to the delight of the audience, including members of the Waimea High School basketball team who turned out to watch the game.
Tavana finished the night with 27 points and numerous rebounds and blocks against Kapa’a’s Ta’ufo’ou Amini, Leonel Calvan, and Kaylan Dolor.
In the final frame, Tavana moved from his inside position to the outside where he closed off the night feeding to the inside guards.
Bradbury’s moves in the guard position earned him a 16-point night, hitting a perfect 2-for-2 on the charity stripe.
Alec Reichle filled in the other guard slot, and despite several attempts throughout the contest, couldn’t find the pilot light until the final quarter when he notched his game-total six points.
Lance Okasaki came off the bench for nine Kaua’i points with Kekoa Crowell and Kevin Downing each adding four points apiece.
Kapa’a, in the abscense of Ryan Cram on the court, got good play from Calvan who kept peppering the hoop from the outside.
Dolor topped the Warrior scoring with 13 points in the loss, the powerful player hammering away from both sides of the hoop as well as making concerted drives inside.
Amini was called on to fill the void in height, and following a slow start including having shots blocked by Tavana, came up with six of his game-total ten points in the first half.
Balanced scoring by Nate Beralas (14 points), Jessie Slade (13 points), and Jordan Cox fueled the JV Raiders to a 51-44 win over Kapa’a, the JV Warriors pulling to within a digit late in the game only to have the Kaua’i shooting height pull ahead.
Kapa’a was led by Junnel Calpito who finished with 11 points followed by Kapena Cummings adding eight points in the loss.
Tuesday night, the Kapa’a Warriors will play host to the Waimea Menehune at the Bernice Hundley Gym with the JV game tipping off at 5:30 followed by the varsity contest starting 20 minutes following the completion of the JV matchup.
