LIHU‘E — Hanakila U13’s Kai Marony only scored two points, Saturday.
But it was the biggest two points for the Kilauea team as the basket, which came with 2.9 ticks remaining in the game, gave the division championship to Hanakila in a 23-22 edge at the Rotary Club of West Kaua‘i/ZZ Basketball tournament.
Adam Clark continued to sizzle the boards for the G-Unit in the 14 Under division, leading the blueshirts to a 40-21 win for the championship in that division.
Earlier in the day, the second matchup for third place in the 13U division was called due to players being tied up in traffic from the multi-vehicle accident in Wailua.
The battle for third place in the 14U division went to the Hanakila 14U team, which got 10 points from James Paik and eight from Kala Kauhane in its 32-21 win.
Ariel Lahip, one of the scoring leaders for Papalina throughout the tournament, finished with five points followed by A.J. Martinez adding four points.
Adam Clark finished with a game-high 18 points to lead the G-Unit championship run, getting help from Donovan Harrison who finished with seven points.
During the Friday night playoffs, Clark finished with a dozen points to drive the G-Unit to a two-point margin of victory over Hanakila U14, 34-32, the Kilauea blackshirts getting 11 points from Cy Whitlock and 10 points from Mark Raza.
In the nail-biting 13U championship, Marlon Cudiamat set the pace, scoring 18 of Hanakila’s 23 points against Papalina. The big man for Hanakila paced the Friday night 42-21 win over Westside in the playoffs with a game-high 20 points.
Nail-biters and buzzer beaters were the norm for the tournament with at least one seat hanger taking the slate on each of the three nights.
Friday night, Trystin Gummerus locked up a 44-42 win with four ticks on the clock by dropping both ends of a charity pair, the desperation shot by the G-Unit smacking the edge of the backboard as the buzzer sounded amidst an audience that encouraged both teams with stomping, clapping and cheer.
Gummerus finished with 14 points to lead the Papalina Friday night match that advanced the squad to the title match.
In the championship match, Kelson Andrade finished with nine points to pace the Kalaheo blueshirts with Kainoa Simao and Marcus Brown each adding four points.
With the completion of the three-day tournament, teams return to action in the Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association league starting Monday.
