KALAHEO — Red smoke punctuated by an occasional tongue of flame brought excitement to the final games of the county’s 13 and Under Boys Winter Basketball League, Monday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center. The blaze was from a house
KALAHEO — Red smoke punctuated by an occasional tongue of flame brought excitement to the final games of the county’s 13 and Under Boys Winter Basketball League, Monday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
The blaze was from a house which ignited shortly after the start of the third game, but the excitement overflowed to the players from earlier games as the tanker from the Kalaheo Fire Station rumbled into the parking lot.
As the hoses filled with water from the Papalina Road hydrant, players and parents were kept captive in the parking lot until the blaze was extinguished and the hoses could be cleared.
Following the distraction, attention returned to the hardwoods where the Flyin’ Hawaiians wasted little time claiming a 73-31 win over Team Lihu‘e, Ho‘ouila escaped with a 37-33 edge over the Kaua‘i Ballers, and Westside Basketball went out on a winning note, 47-32 over Papalina-White.
“He’s paying for it now,” said Jonah Howard’s dad, Tuesday morning during an American Savings Bank presentation at Kapa‘a High School. “He played really hard last night, and took ill at school this morning. I just had to go pick him up and take him home.”
Howard finished with 12 points, the third-leading scorer for the Flyin’ Hawaiians. Michael Booth and Keali‘i Colipano topped the scoring with 18 and 16 points, respectively, the Flyin’ Hawaiians building up its lead early in the second half with unchallenged layups.
Kelvin Ganotisi topped the Team Lihu‘e scoring with a dozen points, followed by Daniel Tutop and Andrew Vetter each netting four points in the effort.
Ho‘ouila low post Melvin Tinzon arrived just as the ball was ready to tip off and missed the opening period.
But Tinzon and guard Arick Yasay combined to lead the scoring of the yellowshirts with 11 and eight points, respectively, as the Hanama‘ulu boys held off a late comeback by Kaua‘i Ballers.
The Kaua‘i Ballers’ Willo Batol opened the fifth frame and gave the purpleshirts their first lead of the game only to have the yellowshirts answer in a see-saw battle for the lead as the game wound down.
Merrel Kaious overcame problems with his shoelaces to drop four of his game-total points in the fifth frame to put Ho‘ouila up by five points.
Justin Poskin topped the Kaua‘i Ballers’ effort with eight points, followed by Solomone Manupule and Mosese Fifita netting six and five points, respectively, Fifita matching up with Ho‘ouila’s Tinzon thoughout the night.
Joseph Cumlat finished with a game-high 13 points to lead Papalina-White who were out-sized by Westside Basketball in an effort that saw the whiteshirts play catch-up throughout the night.
Cumlat was joined by big man Nate Herbig with 13 points and Trey Taba, one of the smaller players on the court, netting six points, the first being a three-ball that opened the scorebooks for the Kalaheo team.
Reymund Mendoza topped the Westside Basketball win on a dozen points, followed by Jamin Fernandes with 10 and big man Theron Shigematsu adding nine.
With the completion of the county’s 13 and Under program — the girls having finished last Wednesday with a make-up game — the Parks and Recreation Department launches its 11-team 11 and Under program starting Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
