KALAHEO — The G-Unit won its match Sunday night, but failed to advance to the playoffs of the Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association Boys 18 and Over summer league. “We’re going to win,” coach Cecil Gee said while watching the G-Unit
KALAHEO — The G-Unit won its match Sunday night, but failed to advance to the playoffs of the Kaua‘i Youth Basketball Association Boys 18 and Over summer league.
“We’re going to win,” coach Cecil Gee said while watching the G-Unit work through its warm-ups. “If we win, and make it to the playoffs, my boys said I have to color my hair like theirs.”
Winston Gee, one of Gee’s sons, sparked the G-Unit win on a 15-point note, getting help from guard Willis Batol who finished with 13 points, and Thomas Gausepohl adding a dozen marks in the 57-48 victory over Team 1 at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
Throughout the night, coach Peter Rayno of the Kalepa Hillsiders, 64-42 winner over Notorious earlier in the evening, kept checking with the scorer’s desk to see which team the top-seeded team would play.
“If Gee wins, then we play the G-Unit. If Team 1 wins, we play Mixed Plate,” Rayno speculated.
When the dust finally settled, the G-Unit victory pulled that team into a tie with Mixed Plate, which dropped a 50-40 contest to Illmatic earlier in the night, for the No. 4 seed.
G-Unit and Mixed Plate finished the summer league with identical 3-5 records. Mixed Plate got the No. 4 seed after allowing 349 points, while the G-Unit allowed 417 points through the eight-game series.
The Cummings brothers, Kaleo and Kapono, netted 18 and 17 points, respectively, to lead the Kalepa Hillsiders in its 64-42 win over Notorious. That win puts Kalepa in the No. 1 seed with a 7-1 record, allowing 364 points and netting 451 points.
Notorious, getting 14 points from Silas Tacsiat and 13 points from Lester Alacar, finished out of the running with a 2-6 record, allowing 383 points and netting 308 points.
Nouveau Naumu was 6-6 at the free throw line in the final 30 seconds of the game to pull Illmatic to a 50-40 win over Mixed Plate in a see-saw battle through most of the match.
Naumu finished with nine points, matching Mike Lindsey in the win that saw guards Tab Matsumoto and Devon Takenaka, back after a sorely missed absence, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The win puts Illmatic in solid second seeding with a 5-3 record, its three straight losses coming just ahead of Sunday night’s win. Illmatic finishes the season with 354 points allowed and 401 points scored.
Mixed Plate, getting 10 points from Kekoa Colipano in Sunday’s loss, and nine points from Koa Navarro, finishes the season with a 3-5 record, allowing 349 points while netting 357 points.
Team 1, despite its loss to the G-Unit, finishes the season as the No. 3 seed with a 4-4 record, allowing 348 points while netting 323 points. James Sagucio topped the Team 1 scoring, Sunday, with nine points followed by Sean Inouye and Brendan McDaniels each netting eight points.
No. 2 seed Illmatic will match up against No. 3 Team 1 starting at 6 p.m., tomorrow (Tues) as KYBA opens the playoffs for the Boys 18 and Over league. That match will be followed by top seeded Kalepa Hillsiders matching up against Mixed Plate on a 7 p.m. tip-off.
Championships for the league will take place Aug. 9 starting at 6 p.m.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
