LIHU‘E — The Kapa‘a Warriors are one of eight squads taking the court today in the opening round of the 2010 Hawaiian Airlines HHSAA Div. II Boys Basketball Championship tournament on O‘ahu. After a hard-fought 54-46 victory over the Kaua‘i
LIHU‘E — The Kapa‘a Warriors are one of eight squads taking the court today in the opening round of the 2010 Hawaiian Airlines HHSAA Div. II Boys Basketball Championship tournament on O‘ahu.
After a hard-fought 54-46 victory over the Kaua‘i Red Raiders in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship game, Kapa‘a (11-2) enters the state tournament not as one of the four seeded teams, but one that has not suffered an on-court defeat since the season-opener to Kaua‘i on Jan. 2.
Leading scorer and rebounder Duke Pauli, a 6-foot-3-inch sophomore, who has been more of an all-court player since the team lost the services of point guard Willis Batol, will be trying to be the inside presence he has been all season against the state’s top competition.
He is flanked in the frontcourt by 6-foot-4-inch savvy center Sean Shigematsu, as well as 6-foot-1-inch Spam Lindsey, usually providing an inside/outside scoring lift off the bench.
Junior point guard Bradley Coloma stepped into the starting lineup early in the season and has run the offense efficiently, with outside support from seniors Kekoa Colipano and Stephen Greenleaf, each capable of double-digit scoring.
Seniors James Padre, Jefferson Harper, Jason Lloreta and Daniel Havea are featured reserves for head coach Phillip Baclayon as Kapa‘a will also have an extended bench for the tournament, naming 16 players on the playoff roster.
Today’s first game will be against No. 4 seed University High School (14-1) of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, tipping off at 5 p.m. at Farrington High School.
Also at 5 p.m. will be No. 2 seed Seabury Hall (10-0) from Maui taking on Academy of the Pacific (15-3) of the ILH at Kalani High School.
Top-seeded Roosevelt High School (13-2) of the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association will face off with Pahoa (6-9) of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation at 7 p.m. at Farrington.
St. Joseph (11-3), the No. 3 seed from the BIIF will take on Kailua (13-4) from the OIA at 7 p.m. at Kalani.
Tournament information will be available at www.sportshigh.com.
Division I action began Wednesday as Punahou, Kahuku, Kamehameha and Mililani all played their ways into the quarterfinals, taking place today at Radford and McKinley High Schools.
No. 1 Iolani, No. 2 Moanalua, No. 3 Hilo and No. 4 Lahainaluna will join the action to face those four victorious squads.
