KAPA‘A — The Kapa‘a Warriors jumped out to another early lead on the Kaua‘i Red Raiders, only this time, they never let it get away in a 76-60 win, Wednesday night at the Kapa‘a High School Gym. After letting a
KAPA‘A — The Kapa‘a Warriors jumped out to another early lead on the Kaua‘i Red Raiders, only this time, they never let it get away in a 76-60 win, Wednesday night at the Kapa‘a High School Gym.
After letting a big early lead slip away in the season opener to Kaua‘i, Kapa‘a remained aggressive and continued to attack the rim until the final buzzer sounded.
Duke Pauli was the team’s high scorer once again, notching a game-high 26 points. His frontcourt partner, Sean Shigematsu, had 14 points for the Warriors, as did Willis Batol, the team’s floor general at the point.
The Raiders had a very balanced scoring output with Joe Duronslet putting up 15 points to lead his squad. Davone Florence scored 14, while Cody Morden and Brian Andres had 13 points apiece.
Kapa‘a took control from the start, coming out of the gate with a 14-3 run, on its way to a 26-7 lead at the end of the first.
That quarter was highlighted by an alley-oop pass from Spam Lindsey to Stephen Greenleaf, plus a late 3-pointer from Lindsey.
Florence cut into the deficit early in the second quarter by knocking down back-to-back threes, a feat which teammate Andres duplicated later in the quarter, making the score 33-21.
But the Warriors made another small run and held a 40-23 lead at halftime.
The teams traded baskets early in the third, with Batol finishing a left-handed layup while drawing a foul, leading to a three-point play and a 51-32 lead.
Kaua‘i made a push with Morden getting out in transition and running past the Kapa‘a defense. One of his runouts led to an intentional foul, after which he nailed both free throws and the ensuing possession resulted in a Florence floater, which brought the game to a 55-44 score.
The Raiders got as close as 10 at 65-55 with five minutes remaining in the game, but would get no closer as the Warriors improved to 3-1 on the season.
The loss also puts the Raiders at 3-1.
In the early JV boys game, Kapa‘a grabbed a 63-39 win over Kaua‘i. Similarly to the varsity, the JV squad jumped out to a 21-10 lead at the end of the first and never looked back.
The Warriors’ Daniel Reis led all scorers with 21 points, while teammate Adam Clark scored 10.
Kerwin Morano and Mikal Moranz each scored nine points for the Raiders.
In the other varsity boys game Wednesday, the Waimea Menehune pulled out a 50-42 win over the Island School Voyagers at Waimea High School.
Waimea now sits at 2-2, while Island is off to an 0-4 start.
Boys action continues Saturday, when Kaua‘i hosts Waimea with JV taking the court at 5:30 p.m.
Kapa‘a will head to Island School for a varsity-only meeting at 6:30 p.m.
