LIHU‘E — Cameron Perez snagged a rebound and capped a coast-to-coast play by rolling the ball in at the buzzer, Thursday.
That broke a 36-36 stalemate to give ZZ a 38-36 win in one of two Boys Under 14 games played at the Rotary Club of West Kaua‘i/ZZ Basketball boys tournament that opened at the Kaua‘i High School gym.
“Kahuku had a girls team and we were planning on a girls division, but that didn’t work out,” said Leland Tottori of the Rotary Club of West Kaua‘i. “The primary goal of this tournament is to try and get more off-island teams to come here so our teams have other people to play against.”
Tottori hinted that due to the economic uncertainty that is prevalent across the state, he understood why the teams had to cancel out.
But that did not stop the basketball action from being competitive as the final-second Perez bucket demonstrated.
Throughout the first half, ZZ played catch-up to Hanakila, succumbing to bad passing and turnovers. But with seconds ticking down to the half, Cameron snagged a turnover and tied the match 17-17 at the buzzer.
Following a see-saw third quarter, Hanakila was down 34-32 with 1:44 remaining, generating stepped-up efforts on both sides. But a 2-for-6 Hanakila showing at the charity stripe in 33 seconds could only tie the match 34-34 with 1:11 showing.
Kerwin Morano’s bucket at the 1:00 mark pulled ZZ ahead 36-34 only to have ZZ lose the ball on a bad pass with 39.2 seconds showing.
Mark Raza put back a Hanakila three-ball attempt to tie the contest at 36-36 before Cameron’s buzzer beating go-ahead.
Perez topped the ZZ squad with 13 points followed by Morano netting nine points to lead the victory.
Raza topped the Hanakila effort with 13 points followed by Daniel Reis adding 10 points and Kala Kauhane finishing with seven points.
Earlier in the evening, Papalina controlled the Westside 37-18 and the U12 Hanakila topped the G-Unit 32-26.
Tystin Gummerus fired a trey in his nine points for Papalina, followed by Kelson Andrade adding seven points and Kainoa Simao finishing with six points.
Keali‘i Colipano and Chavis Garma topped the Westside showing with six points apiece.
Marlon Cudiamat topped the U12 Hanakila with 13 points and James Steven finished with a dozen marks.
Levi Bethel finished with nine points and Frezno Masaniai added eight points for the G-Unit.
In the second U14 boys matchup, Donovan Harrison finished with a game-high 16 points to lead the G-Unit to a 45-37 showing over Papalina.
Adam Clark and Kea Nacolatabua each finished with 10 points to aid Harrison’s efforts in the win.
Brandon Palacio and Ariel Lahip finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively for Papalina.
Action at the Rotary Club of West Kaua‘i/ZZ Basketball tournament continues this evening starting at 5 p.m. at the Kaua‘i High School gym. The championship rounds will be played Saturday starting at 11 a.m.
