KALAHEO — Solid play from equally-matched teams overruled the inconvenience of a scoreboard that refused to cooperate in the county’s 11 and Under boys basketball games, Monday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center. With the cold north winds blowing outside,
KALAHEO — Solid play from equally-matched teams overruled the inconvenience of a scoreboard that refused to cooperate in the county’s 11 and Under boys basketball games, Monday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
With the cold north winds blowing outside, the gym was heated by the tough play from two Papalina teams, the White and the Blue, battling to a 26-20 edge taken by the Blue team in the opener.
Hanakila, traveling in from the North Shore, scrapped against a tenacious Westside Hornets team to take a 30-18 win in a game that was interrupted by a troubleshooting call to try and fix the uncooperative scoreboard.
“It was all them, tonight,” said Hanakila coach Mike Stevens following the game. “The boys were hustling tonight.”
Reymund Mendoza, netting high-point honors for the Hornets with 12, opened with four to lead the Westside team to a 6-3 opening frame, only to have Hanakila come back with a 4-2 second frame behind buckets from Kai Maroney, his only score in the game, and Dante Dikeman. The Hornets were limited to just a bucket from Ned Ardino, his only score of the game.
That exchange continued through the final period when Hanakila came up with its most productive frame behind two buckets from Sabre Fairbanks, Hanakila’s top scorer with nine points. Dikeman added another bucket to finish with eight points in the game.
Following the leaders, Hanakila got four points from Jacob Dykehouse, five points from Daniel Yabes and pairs from Maroney and Lawrence Abela.
Mendoza topped the Hornets’ scoring with 12, followed by pairs from Ardino, Manu Lee and Keoni Gaoiran.
Papalina-Blue set the stage for the opener, pulling out to a 12-2 opening frame behind eight points from Kamea Palama-Alquiza.
But the Papalina-White would not falter, persistently working its game with a final push in the last period when it outscored the Blue team 10-6 behind a pair of three-point bombs from its point guard Noah Sasil.
That effort fell short as the boys kept looking to a darkened scoreboard in the waning minutes of play, unable to judge the remaining time on the court.
Sasil topped the Papalina-White with 11 points, followed by Daniel Fee adding four points. A pair from Taylon Yadao and a digit from Bill Souza rounded out the effort.
Palama-Alquiza topped the Blue scoring with eight points, followed by Braden Pagador lending seven points. Trey Taba was 5 for 8 at the charity stripe and pairs from Joseph Cumlat, the Blue’s point guard, Scott Cushnie and Nate Herbig rounded out the win.
The Kaua‘i Ballers take the court against Lihu‘e in the opening game at 6 p.m. tonight, followed by Westside going up against Team Central starting at 7 p.m.
