KALAHEO — Putbacks by Wailua Boyz’s Leevi Bethel and Matthew Cummings put the cap on a 43-27 win over Ho‘ouila, Monday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center. Fresno Masaniai netted a game-high 22 points, including 2 of 3 at the
KALAHEO — Putbacks by Wailua Boyz’s Leevi Bethel and Matthew Cummings put the cap on a 43-27 win over Ho‘ouila, Monday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
Fresno Masaniai netted a game-high 22 points, including 2 of 3 at the charity stripe, to lead the Kaua‘i Ballers to a 41-31 edge in the early game of the county’s 13 and Under Boys Basketball league.
Joining Masaniai, Tyler Fernandez, the perky ball-handler for the Ballers, came up with two from outside the three-point arc en route to a 14-point game. Leslee Aki and Laakea Hocson added four and one point, respectively, Aki’s sole bucket coming in the sixth period.
Westside jumped out to a 12-5 first-period lead behind six points from Mark Abalos, but was outscored for the remaining five periods.
Abalos finished the night with eight points along with Derron Sagucio. Christian Acob added seven marks, Jed Lagoc had four and pairs from Briggs Agu and Bobby Oliver rounded out the effort.
Ho‘ouila came up with a 10-5 fifth period to start the sixth and final period with a new game as the scoreboard locked on a 23-23 stalemate. Ho‘ouila’s efforts were led by four points from its no-fear guard, Kelvin Ganotisi.
But the height advantage put forth by Wailua Boyz proved the downfall for the Hanama‘ulu yellowshirts as Leevi Bethel and Matthew Cummings controlled the paint, shutting down the Ho‘ouila inside game and sweeping rebounds through most of the period.
With under three minutes remaining in the fifth period, Michael Kaneko’s bucket pulled Ho‘ouila into the leader’s column for the first time.
That lead see-sawed through the period before Ganotisi locked up the match with a charity pair after the buzzer sounded.
A Bethel bucket at the 4:14 mark deadlocked the contest for the final time before Wailua went up 29-25 behind a Bethel bucket, followed by a turnover generated by Keali‘i Colipano, who passed to Cummings for the lead as the Ho‘ouila guards scrambled against the two Wailua low posts.
Bethel and Cummings paced the Wailua win with 14 points each followed by Michael Booth adding six points. Brooks Bethel added four, Rashaan Kuhaulua and Solomon Manupule each paired and a digit from Colipano rounded out the win.
Ganotisi topped the Ho‘ouila scoring with eight points, followed by Arick Yasay adding five. Tommy Paulwin and Kaneko finished with four and pairs from Marrel Kajous, Marcus Carvalho and Aron Yosgene rounded out the effort.
The county’s 13 and Under girls league takes the floor Thursday night with two games at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center starting at 6 p.m. when Westside tips off against the Angels. The Kamikaze tangle with Kaulupono starting at 7 p.m.
The Kilauea Neighborhood Center is the site for the next boys’ outing, Saturday starting at 10 a.m. when the Kaua‘i Ballers go up against the Papalina-Blue, followed by Hanakila, opening its season on a winning note last weekend, taking on undefeated Papalina-Grey starting at 11 a.m.
