Victory eludes Raiders, twice

WAIMEA — A near-capacity crowd at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea saw victory elude the hands of the Kaua’i Red Raiders. twice on Friday night.

The Menehune played tough defense on Va’afuti Tavana throughout the night, and held the Kaua’i tall man to a scant 17 points, Tavana’s most productive periods coming in the second and third quarters where he netted four of his game-total six field goals.

But the Kaua’i production stopped there as Alec Reichle was held to just eight points, Josh Bradbury to seven, and Aren Racca to six points in the loss, the Menehune defense effectively led by Casey Kaohelaulii and Lanikai Kanahele.

Offensively, the Menehune were led by guard Jeremy Manuel who exploded for 13 of Waimea’s 17-point second quarter to overtake the Red Raiders 27-23 at the half.

The Raiders came back late in the third frame to outgun Waimea 16-12 in that quarter only to be victimized by Kaohelaulii in the final quarter as the Menehune forward notched seven of Waimea’s 11 points in that stanza, outperforming the Raiders 11-7 towards the final 50-46 reading.

Kaohelaulii pulled the Menehune up 48-44 late in the game only to have Raca sink one of his two second half buckets to pull within two, 48-46, but with just 11 seconds showing, Manuel sank both ends of a one-and-one for the final math as Bradbury’s trey attempt bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

The Kaua’i JV boys, after overcoming a problem of which pants to wear, spent part of their halftime locker room session playing musical pants, but fell victim to a 4-for-15 showing at the charity stripe as Waimea banked the 47-46 squeaker behind the 20-point showing from Brandon McDaniels.

Calsen Agrade added ten points towards the winning effort with Chris Newcomb finishing with nine points.

Kaua’i was led Chad Nonaka and Jesse Slade who each tucked in a dozen points apiece in the loss.