KALAHEO — There were a lot of familiar names. There were a lot of new names. Names that became known through the just-completed KIF boys basketball season, and some that advanced from one age bracket to another. Karen Matsumoto, one
KALAHEO — There were a lot of familiar names. There were a lot of new names. Names that became known through the just-completed KIF boys basketball season, and some that advanced from one age bracket to another.
Karen Matsumoto, one of the key organizers for the 19 Under boys basketball league that opened its season at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center on Thursday night was excited about the response.
“We had a lot of boys respond,” she noted. “There were about 50 that signed up.” These boys were broken down into six teams that will meet at the neighborhood centers twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
Games are played in four six-minute quarters with stoppage.
Ross Acoba, although excited about some of the pre-game activities on the court, noted “there is no dunking.” But, he was quick to add, “You should’ve been here to see (Va‘a)Futi (Tavana) dunk!”
Tavana is just one of the names from the KIF, others being Ryan Cram, Lance Okasaki, Matt Palaroan, Aren Racca, Zac Cummings, Amini Ta‘ufo‘o, but what was noteworthy was the re-emergence of Kapa‘a graduate Brandon Wong, who although having one finger taped, did his defensive magic in their (ZZ — Venzon) opening night loss to Lihu‘e Medina, 40-33.
Struggling through a late start and a dismal 4-for-10 free throw performance, ZZ got smart court maneuvering from Wong and Garrett Sakimae, although both players finished with empty baskets.
Cram came off the bench to snag numerous rebounds, and fired off eight second-quarter points to keep ZZ in the game.
The blistering six, and five-point performances from Medina’s Kenan Guzman and Aaron Medina respectively, pulled the Lihu‘e team ahead of ZZ, and despite surviving a blistering 14-8 comeback effort from ZZ in the third quarter, went on to lock up the 40-33 win behind the lead of Palaroan who finished with nine points followed by Guzman with seven, and Medina with six.
Cram led ZZ with a game-high 15 points in the loss with Garren Venzon and Sam Chung each adding five points apiece in the loss.
Earlier in the evening, Tab Matsumoto exploded for 18 points including four treys to combine with 16 points from Chris Colacino to lead Kalaheo to a 57-23 win over the Hanamaulu Boys who got nine points from Ferdinand Cadiente and five from Rogelio Sagis in the loss.
The first game of the evening saw Tavana rack up a game-high 16 points to lead Southside (SSB) to a 36-24 win over West Kaua‘i.
Josh Bradbury helped the Southside effort with 10 points with Aukai Dennis leading WK with eight points and Jordan Rabot adding six points.
Tuesday night games will feature WB taking on Kalaheo starting at 6 p.m. followed by Southside battling Lihu‘e Medina at 7 p.m., and the final game will pit HB against Lihu‘e Venzon (ZZ) tipping off at 8 p.m.
