KALAHEO — The Southside Boys and the Westside Klowns will take the floor at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a on Saturday for the title of the KYBA Boys 19 Under league starting at 2 p.m. Both teams were successful
KALAHEO — The Southside Boys and the Westside Klowns will take the floor at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a on Saturday for the title of the KYBA Boys 19 Under league starting at 2 p.m.
Both teams were successful in the playoffs Thursday night in Kalaheo when Severino Butay pulled Southside into the lead early in the fourth quarter and hung on for the 40-35 win over ZZ in the finale.
The victory was sweet for the third seeded SSB boys coached by Rudy Acoba as they upset the top seeded Zoom Zoom squad, handing ZZ their second straight loss this week.
Despite having their full squad on hand sans one player, coach Jeff Venzon mulled their performance, “They’re (SSB) a fast team, and they play well, but we’ve met before and we should do alright.”
But, SSB closed off the inside, and with the ZZ guns from threepointland misfiring, Southside controlled the second half behind strong defensive showing from Kaulana Lemke and Butay.
Jeremy Manuel came up with seven of his game-total 13 points in the third frame as Southside pulled to within a digit in the final seconds following a 12-5 run to erase a 22-14 halftime deficit.
Butay had an opportunity to stalemate the contest with a one-and-one in the final ten seconds of the quarter, but the ball bounced harmlessly off the rim only to have him redeem himself in the opening of the final frame with a trey to pull Southside ahead.
Butay and Manuel led Southside with 13 points apiece followed by Kaulana Lemke and Chris Colacino each chipping in six points.
Travis Bare and Russell Bocalbos rounded out the effort with a point each.
Brandon Wong, Bryan Domingo, and Ryan Cram combined for 14 of ZZ’s first quarter 16-6 run, and despite slipping, 8-6 in the second quarter, still managed the eight-point lead.
Cram finished with a game-high 16 points followed with Wong adding seven.
Domingo finished with five, Zachary Cummings added three, with John Penn and Micah Young chipping in a deuce apiece.
Aaron Hesapene continued his fiery performance from earlier this week with a game-high 17 points to lead the Westside Klowns to their 44-32 showing over the Kapa‘a Warriors for the second slot in the championship showdown Saturday.
Chad Barba finished with nine followed by Casey Kaohelauli‘I adding seven.
Brendan McDaniels chipped in five, Akeem Allen added four, and a pair from Jordan Rabot closed the show.
Mike Lindsey and Amini Taufuo‘o led the Kapa‘a effort with eight points each with Leo Calvin adding five.
Kiah Imai finished with three and a pair each from Greg Ragsac, Kapena Cummings, Junnel Calpito, and Elijah Phillips rounded out the math.
Janna Soto exploded for four points in the third quarter and added another six in the final period to lead Da Malahini to a 31-18 win over the Westside Hornets in the Girls 19 Under contest that opened the doors to the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
Soto finished with 12 points in the win followed by Tiana Samio and Rikki-Lee Knapp-Magno adding six markers each.
Moani Durant finished with five and a pair by Natalie Mata accounted for the arithmetic.
Virginia Aguilar led the Westside Hornets with seven points with Tori Kagawa finishing with a trey.
Ashley Mier, Lorraine Lagoc, Tehane Andaya, and Randi Ortiz each added a pair to round out the effort.
The battle for third place in the Boys 19 Under will feature the Kapa‘a Warriors taking on ZZ starting at 1 p.m. at the Kapa‘a High School gym.
In the first contest of the night, Da Malihinis cruised past the Westside Hornets, 31-18 in a girls 19-and-under game.
Janna Soto led Da Malihinis with 12 and Virginia Aguilar scored seven to lead the Hornets. Meanwhile out in Kapa‘a, The GoGo Girls mustered up a win over Wailua, 22-16.
Brittney Carvalho netted 10 in the win and Kenilyn Nakamura notched five for Wailua in girls 19-and-under action. The second game was as lopsided as any game in the KYBA this season, as the Lihu‘e Raiders romped the Eastside Gurlz, 68-6, behind 19 points from Rachael Taira. Rebeca Duncan led Eastside with four markers.
