WAIMEA — Strapped with four fouls, Kaua‘i’s Travis Stine came through on both ends of the court as the Red Raiders pulled off a 47-45 win over Waimea Friday night. “If we can get past this one, we might have
WAIMEA — Strapped with four fouls, Kaua‘i’s Travis Stine came through on both ends of the court as the Red Raiders pulled off a 47-45 win over Waimea Friday night.
“If we can get past this one, we might have a shot,” Kaua‘i coach Brandon Fujita said earlier in the week during practice.
Rebounding from a 2-point first-quarter deficit, Kaua‘i’s Basil Walton led a the Red Raiders to a 20-13 second period with 8 points for a 32-27 halftime lead.
But Waimea came back in a stingy third quarter and tied the contest at 36 at the buzzer as the Menehune outscored Kaua‘i 9-4. Chris Newcomb led the effort with 4 points.
Following a Dana Tayco announcement in the final period, Tyrus Ceria-Lux hit his third bomb from outside the three-point arc for a 39-38 lead. Damien Girard followed with a bucket and set the crowd cheering on both sides of the ball with 5:40 left. Girard’s bucket gave Kaua‘i a 41-38 lead that Waimea could not overcome. Stine’s putback of a Walton shot accounted for the final math as he snagged a Waimea board in the final seconds.
Ceria-Lux finished with 17 points to lead the Kaua‘i scoring. The non-scoring support roles from Walton (8 points), Stine (2 points), and the leadership from Bradley Semana (3 points) and Jordan Cox (6 points) were key to Kaua‘i’s win.
The tight Kaua‘i defense held Newcomb to 11 points with Vincent Geronimo adding 10 points and a lot of strength on the inside before fouling out with 2:34 remaining. Calsen Agrade finished with 9 first-half points.
“We finished, tonight,” Fujita said as his Raiders celebrated their victory.
Kaua‘i (1-0) hosts Kapa‘a (0-1) Tuesday starting at 5:30 p.m.
