KAPA‘A — The Piopio Bears came to play! Using the strength of their inside game led by Ian Guiterrez, Jon Moniz, and Daniel Namahoe, the Hilo Piopio Bears got a game-high 11 points from Aukai Wong as they capitalized on
KAPA‘A — The Piopio Bears came to play! Using the strength of their inside game led by Ian Guiterrez, Jon Moniz, and Daniel Namahoe, the Hilo Piopio Bears got a game-high 11 points from Aukai Wong as they capitalized on the Waimea Fakers, 48-25 to open the first day of a three-day goodwill basketball tournament Thursday night at the Kapa‘a High School.
In the abscense of their guards who were involved in a 19U game at Kalaheo, the Waimea Fakers dropped the battle for ball control in a tight contest that saw Brysen Andaya, Calsen Agrade, and Kyle Pigao lead the squad with six points apiece in the loss.
The Piopio Bears, one of the teams from the Hilo Police Activities League (PAL), are no strangers to Kaua‘i, and were welcomed with a Kaua‘i-style pa‘ina following the strongly-contested game by coach Neil Pigao and his contingent of Waimea supporters.
Dennis Onishi, the PAL director, accompanied the group, and announced to Lorna Santos, the Kauai coordinator for the goodwill trip, that they plan on bringing over a girls 12- and 14-Under team next year when they return.
Santos said they plan another potluck following Friday night’s game in Kalaheo, and the Bears will be hosted to their Saturday evening meal by Coach Brian Inouye’s team.
Kauai High School girls JV coach Inouye, who also coaches a KYBA girls team in the ongoing 19 Under program, took advantage of the visit to bring a contingent of his players — Kori Masuda, Mei Ling Keopuhiwa, Cherisse Rapozo, and Darcie Allianic, who helped keep score for the tournament to return Onishi’s favors of setting up the team’s KIF pre-season tour of the Big Island.
Normally traveling to the island in June for the KYBA tournament, the Hilo group put off their trip this year so they could treat the team to the pyrotechnic spectacular at the Sunday Kaua‘i Hospice “Concert in the Sky” before returning to Hilo on Monday.
Santos coordinated with KYBA coordinator Karen Matsumoto to put together the goodwill tournament that will see the Kurt Inaba-coached Bears pitted against the Kalaheo squad coached by Steven Matsumoto on Friday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center before games return to the Bernice Hundley in Kapa‘a on Saturday where they will face Ed Phillips’ Kapa‘a 17 Under team starting at 2 p.m.
Trailing Wong’s 11-point performance, Moniz added ten points for the Bears with Ian Guiterrez chipping in seven points.
Gilbert Guiterrez, Kyle Santos, and Namaheo each finished with six points, and a pair by Brady O’Rear rounding out the arithmetic. Chris Newcomb helped Waimea with five points and a pair by Alton Shimatsu rounded out Kaua‘i’s Westside team’s showing. Earlier in the evening, Brandon Wong withstood heavy pressure in the paint to pass off to Micah Young who broke a 37-37 stalemate in double overtime to lead ZZ (ZoomZoom) to a 39-37 win over the Eastside Ballers in a physically defensive KYBA 19 Under boys’ contest.
With just five ticks remaining on the second OT, Eastside’s Andrew Gaditano took the inbound pass, and launched a half-court bomb that careened off the backboard at the buzzer.
Bryan Domingo topped the ZZ scoring with ten points in the win followed by Ryan Cram adding seven, Garren Venzon finishing with six, and Wong and Young contributing five points apiece. Randy Vicoy came up with an OT trey to finish with four points to round out the win.
Kaina Ka‘auwai finished with a game-high 17 points and numerous boards to lead Eastside followed by Jonny Poe, Pekelo Dettloff, and Gaditano each adding six points.
