KAPA‘A — In a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship game that proved to be as exciting and entertaining as it was meaningful, the Kapa‘a Warriors got to celebrate on their home court after a 54-46 victory over the Kaua‘i Red Raiders,
KAPA‘A — In a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship game that proved to be as exciting and entertaining as it was meaningful, the Kapa‘a Warriors got to celebrate on their home court after a 54-46 victory over the Kaua‘i Red Raiders, Saturday night at Kapa‘a High School.
Spam Lindsey was the game’s high scorer with 16 points. It was Lindsey on the free-throw line in the closing minute who put the game on ice and secured the Kapa‘a league title.
Leading 48-46 with just 52.5 seconds to play, Lindsey was fouled and went to the line to shoot a one-and-one. His first attempt rattled around the iron and ultimately fell through the net, prompting a look to the sky from Spam.
The second went much smoother and Kapa‘a led by four. A Davone Florence missed 3-pointer was followed by another trip to the line for Lindsey. He calmly swished both attempts and gave the Warriors a six-point edge with just 37.7 seconds remaining.
The Raiders were unable to cut into the deficit and a Sean Shigematsu layup created the final tally, which sent most of the Kapa‘a gym into a frenzy as the Warriors (11-2) claimed the 2010 KIF league championship.
Duke Pauli was unable to dominate the interior in the early going, but continued to fight his way to the offensive glass and ended the night with 14 points.
Shigematsu scored 10 points in the first half and ended the night with 12. Stephen Greenleaf was solid once again and scored eight. Kekoa Colipano battled foul trouble all night and had to head to the bench with 6:16 left in the fourth quarter after his fifth foul. He rounded out the Kapa‘a scoring with four points.
Kaua‘i (9-4) guard Bryan Andres gave one of his best performances of the season and led the Raiders with 12 points.
Austin Simao worked hard on the inside and finished with nine points, eight coming in the first half.
Florence was held in check scoringwise, but was a creator for his team’s offense, both in the half-court set and on the break. He ended up with eight points.
Joe Duronslet provided a big second-half spark and totaled seven points. Cody Morden was again a pest defensively, coming up with steals and loose balls while scoring six points. Cody Iwasaki added four points to complete the tally.
Kapa‘a built a 10-point lead midway through the third quarter at 36-26, but Kaua‘i used strong defense and transition buckets to cut the deficit back to two before the quarter ended.
Much of the Raiders’ success throughout the game came from their defensive pressure and getting points off turnovers. However, this also hurt them a number of times when Warriors found themselves wide open for layups after a defender sold out for a steal.
Kapa‘a kept trying to create some separation in the first half, grabbing leads at 14-9 and 20-14, but Kaua‘i came back each time and a Florence runner knotted the contest at 22-22.
The teams went to halftime with Kapa‘a holding a 30-24 lead after a Pauli offensive rebound and putback just before intermission.
Kapa‘a ended the season with a 4-1 record against Kaua‘i, winning the team’s final four meetings.
The Warriors will now head to the Hawaiian Airlines Div. II Boys Basketball Championship tournament, which takes place from March 3-6 on O‘ahu.
