KAPA‘A — The Kaua‘i Red Raiders used a big second half to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and come away with a 67-62 win over the Kapa‘a Warriors in Wednesday night’s season opener at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
KAPA‘A — The Kaua‘i Red Raiders used a big second half to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and come away with a 67-62 win over the Kapa‘a Warriors in Wednesday night’s season opener at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
Trailing 46-41 late in the third quarter, Kaua‘i went on a 23-9 run to take its biggest lead of the night at 64-55 and held on from there, despite missing a number of free throws down the stretch.
Brian Andres led the Raiders with 20 points, 14 coming in the second half. Donavan Harrison did much of his damage in the first half, scoring 14 of his 16 before halftime.
Joe Duronslet had 11 points, while Cerwinh Moreno had 10, including a pair of 3-pointers. Nathan Wong and Dane Bautista had four points apiece and Anthony Gurrero added two.
Willis Batol had a team-high 16 points for the Warriors, knocking down four 3-pointers on the night. Daniel Reis had 15 points, while Spam Lindsey had 11.
Kainoa Colipano had 10 points, all in the first half, while Keane Agoot and Brentten Rapozo had three points apiece. Bradley Coloma and Jundel Sagucio completed the scoring, each with two points.
Lindsey, the Warriors’ main interior presence, found himself in foul trouble for much of the game and picked up his fourth personal with 2:06 to play in the third, which put him on the bench. This was the exact point when the Raiders began their 23-9 run.
Tied at 46-46 to start the fourth, Moreno hit a three to give the Raiders their first lead since a 19-18 edge in the second quarter.
Lindsey came back early in the fourth, but picked up his fifth foul on a Bautista lay-up off a feed from Andres. Bautista converted the three-point play for a 52-51 Kaua‘i lead.
Andres nailed a big three off a Harrison feed to give the Raiders a 57-53 lead and force a Warriors timeout at the 4:38 mark.
Leading 58-55, Kaua‘i got three straight buckets, the first on a Moreno fast break lay-up. Andres followed that with a floater in the paint off a dribble-drive, then Moreno got himself another transition hoop for the 64-55 lead.
Batol hit a pair of threes to get Kapa‘a back in the game at 65-61 with under a minute to play, but the Warriors were unable to get another field goal.
They were stifled by the Raiders’ zone defense and unable to get many good looks in the second half, though they did counter by getting a number of steals and easy baskets off the full-court press.
Kapa‘a played efficiently on the offensive end to start the game, knocking down three 3-pointers in the opening quarter. Yet its interior defense gave up three easy buckets, all coming from Harrison on out of bounds plays under the basket. Lindsey had a three-point play off an offensive board to end the period with Kaua‘i leading 15-14.
Leading 27-26, Kapa‘a got a three-point play in transition when Reis threw an alley-oop to Colipano, who finished with a lay in and the foul. The Warriors then closed the period with three straight buckets — all lay-ups — coming from Colipano, Batol and Lindsey to take a 36-29 halftime lead.
The teams played evenly for much of the third with Kapa‘a maintaining its lead until Kaua‘i began its strong run late in the period.
In the evening’s other season opener, the Island School Voyagers came away with a 40-37 win over the Waimea Menehune at the Island School Gym in Puhi.
Details from that game were unavailable as of press time.
In the Kaua‘i-Kapa‘a junior varsity game, Kapa‘a was a 48-34 winner behind 12 points from James Stevens. Lance Miyashiro and James Paik each added eight for the Warriors.
Randin Napeahi led Kaua‘i with 11 points, while Trey Aguano and Mikal Moranz had six apiece.
The boys are back on the court Wednesday, as Waimea (0-1) will host Kapa‘a (0-1) with JV beginning at 5:30 p.m., followed by varsity.
Kaua‘i (1-0) and Island School (1-0) will have a varsity-only matchup at Kaua‘i High School, tipping off at 7 p.m.
