Kapa‘a starts Round 2 with a victory

KAPA‘A — Kekoa Prem scored a season-high 27 points, leading the Kapa‘a High School Warrior boys basketball team 71-54 victory over the Waimea High School Menehune on Wednesday at the Bernice Hundley Gym.

Prem also finished with six rebounds. Nine of his 27 points were from the three-point range. Thomas Gausepohl added 13 points, five rebounds, a steal and an assist. Duke Pauli finished with nine points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

The Round 1 champs of Kapa‘a (1-0 Round 2, 4-1 Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation) were back in action after a week off from competition and showed no signs of rust against Waimea (0-1 Round 2, 2-3 KIF) as the Warriors dominated the first half. Cody Abigania started the Warriors scoring with a layup at the beginning of the first and Lewis Lindsey closed it with a three-pointer.

The Warriors were up 41-22 at the half.

Kapa‘a at one point led as much as 23 points. Despite a strong effort my Waimea’s Malcolm Carter, things just didn’t seem to go the Menehune’s way. Carter had four steals, but each time, Kapa‘a’s defense came up with a play to keep the leading scorer from making any baskets. Still, Carter led the Menehune with 18 points and was 4-of-5 from the free throw line. He also added four rebounds. V.J. Carineo finished with seven points and five rebounds.

Micah Rita scored six points — both shots from the three-point range.

Junior varsity: Kapa‘a 38, Waimea 37 OT

Kapa‘a and Waimea’s boys junior varsity teams were tied at 33-33 with 46 seconds left to go, and then tied again at 35-35 with 11 seconds left.

The two would go into overtime. Bradley Coloma would lift the Warriors to score first and Kapa‘a eked out the win. The Warriors were led by Adam Clark who finished with 13 points. Coloma and Arnell Tangonan scored eight points each.

Waimea was led by Kaili Lagundino who finished with 12 points.