Taco fire sparks Waimea

WAIMEA — Menehune guard Dayna Taco was on fire.

Taco fired no less than five three-point bombs, three in the first half, to lead Waimea to a 48-36 win over Kapa‘a in the opening contest of the KIF basketball season Tuesday night.

The guard blistered the twine from beyond the arc with nine of the Menehune’s 17 points in the first quarter. On the downside, Taco finished 0-of-3 from the charity stripe.

But that didn’t matter as Waimea’s secondaries came into the picture in the second quarter to dominate Kapa‘a 11-3 in offense while the defense, going through a platoon change late in the period, held Kapa‘a to just a field goal that came late in the period from Matt Lindsey in heavy traffic.

Following Taco, Waimea got a strong showing from Chris Newcomb on the inside as the low post nailed eight of his game-total 13 points in the opening frame before handling the chores to the Waimea secondaries.

Braxton Garma finished with four along with Bradley Frasco, Kaimana Girod nailed a second-quarter trey, and Kyle Achuela, Calsen Agrade and Vincent Geronimo each added a pair in the win.

Kapa‘a’s bright spot came in the opening period when they kept pace with Waimea on buckets from David Mendes and Daniel Lizama to pull the Warriors to within four, 17-13 at the buzzer.

Rebounding from the second quarter, Kapa‘a could not overcome the tenacious Menehune defense and a dismal showing at the charity stripe before the clock ran out. Kapa‘a went 5-of-16 from the free throw line.

Lizama and Mendes paced Kapa‘a with 7-point showings followed by Lindsey finishing with six points.

Waimea now travels to Kaua‘i High School Friday night to meet up with the Red Raiders who were attentively watching the matchup with coaches Brandon Fujita and Ipo Yoshioka.

Tipoff for the JV contest is 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity starting 20 minutes following the JV game.

The varsity contest will be broadcast live on KQNG Am570 by Anahola Joel Pahukula.