the garden island KILAUEA — Beads of perspiration glistened in the gym lights as they clung to the tips of Hanakila 11 Under’s Reason Selz’s hair Thursday night. The perspiration was partly due to the ferocity of the game, and
the garden island
KILAUEA — Beads of perspiration glistened in the gym lights as they clung to the tips of Hanakila 11 Under’s Reason Selz’s hair Thursday night.
The perspiration was partly due to the ferocity of the game, and partly due to the humidity generated by the passing showers at the Kilauea Neighborhood Center.
That ferocity saw Papalina claw back from a 25-11 halftime deficit to come up four points short as the buzzer sounded on a 36-32 Hanakila win.
“These are two tough teams,” Selz’s dad said during a time out. “They each beat each other once, and tonight is the third time, and I think Hanakila wants to win.”
Hanakila, coached by Phil Baclayon, pulled ahead from a 13-9 first quarter to shut down the blueshirt shooters, limiting the Kalaheo boys to just a bucke from K. Andrade while the Kilauea blackshirts were sparked by balanced shooting led by Marlon Cudiamat who netted four of the Hanakila’s dozen second-quarter points.
Cudiamat finished with a game-high 12 points, 11 coming in the first half, to pace Hanakila who were outgunned 21-11 in the second half as the Papalina blueshirts roared back.
“We had to keep the boys up,” Papalina coach Shawn Andrade said following the game. “They could do it, but they kept coming down on themselves. Our biggest task was to keep them up.”
Cureen Gasaway led the Papalina comeback effort, netting 7 of his game-total 8 points in the second half. Gasaway led the Papalina scoring followed by Andrade finishing with 7 points. Trey Aguano added 6 points and Tystin Gummerus finished with 4 points, all coming in the second half.
Kyren Rapacon and K. Simao rounded out the effort with pairs.
Cudiamat led the Hanakila effort with his dozen points followed by Justin Apilado, the second tall man in the paint, adding 8 points. Keliikoa Baclayon and James Stevens finished with 6 points each followed by Selz adding 4 points to round out the hard-fought victory.
“The boys just weren’t up to it,” Andrade said. “But wait until Tuesday night when we play at home (Kalaheo Neighborhood Center) for the championship.”
In the earlier Girls 11 Under game that was moved from its original site in Kalaheo, Kawehi Louis Diamond netted a game-high 10 points for the Lihu‘e Kamikaze, but the effort fell short as the Gee’s Angels took a 26-23 win at the buzzer.
Kristle Henry led the Angels with 8 points followed by Lele Hanie, Toafa Paua and Uilani McCabe each netting 4 points. Brook Nakamura finished with 3 points and a pair from Joy Claypoole rounded out the win.
Following Louis Diamond, the Kamikaze got 5 points from Pili Chung, four from Lele Silva, and pairs from Kawai Calderon and Annie Ballesteros. A digit from Shyanne Almarza rounded out the effort.
The third contest featured Team Central controlling the Hanakila 15 Under team on an unofficial (and unconfirmed) score of 98-13.
