KALAHEO — There was little question on who the star of the night was when the Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association opened its 12th annual Boys 17 Under Invitational, Thursday night. “He’s only in the sixth grade,” said Peter Rayno, coach
KALAHEO — There was little question on who the star of the night was when the Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association opened its 12th annual Boys 17 Under Invitational, Thursday night.
“He’s only in the sixth grade,” said Peter Rayno, coach of the Kalepa Hillsiders.
Kody Takushi, one of the smallest players in the tournament, collected the largest amount of fan support, igniting the capacity audience at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center with each of his shots.
Takushi finished with 10 points to lead the Maui Lani Boyz, but their effort against a stronger, hard-pressing G-Unit team still resulted in a 53-27 loss in one of four games played on opening night. Takushi netted three bombs from the corner and split a charity pair.
“He could’ve gotten more,” said Sean Andrade, coach of a younger Papalina squad. “He’s got the range and the two before his first one bumped out of the rim.”
Maui Lani was not the only visiting team to suffer a loss as Ikaika Basketball with coach Clay Tang, was in the game against Waimea up until the final seconds before dropping 45-39.
“They’ve got a lot of ball handlers, but no tall men,” said one of the Pu‘uloa Bandit players who watched the waning moments of the game. Ikaika had the game in control, but they should’ve gone for the sure basket instead of trying for the three-ball, the player said.
Utilizing four guards and a post, the team based out of Kaimuki worked on passing the ball and took the sure shots, mostly from the outside after being stymied on the inside by the Waimea squad coached by a three-
way combination of Chris Acoba, Alika Smith and Paul Barba.
In the win, two Kaua‘i High School standouts from the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation paced the victory as Justin Ramos, a strong shooting guard, and Kaleo Cummings, whose brother Kapono played for Kalepa, finished with 14 points each.
The Bandits, under coach Ken Tangjian, was the only visiting team that posted an opening night win, taking its match 50-37 against Team Central. Christian Manuel and Austin Gaskinn paced the Bandit win with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
“This is the 10th year I’ve brought the boys to this tournament,” Tangjian said while watching the ending of the Ikaika/Waimea matchup. “This year, the boys are split between two high schools — five from Kapolei and five from Campbell.”
Kapono Cummings finished with a game-high 18 points to lead a Kalepa effort that fell short, 62-38 against a newly-formed Kaua‘i Basketball, coached by Tab Matsumoto.
Balanced scoring from Kalen Kali-Abihai, Paul Oligo and Brendon Cristobal, 12, 11 and 10 points, respectively, highlighted that matchup.
The championship game for the three-day tournament is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. today at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
