Kapa‘a drops opener to Red Raiders

KAPA‘A — The Kapa‘a High School Warriors fought valiantly but dropped their league opener, 40-37, against the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders Saturday night at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.

Kaua‘i is now 2-0.

There was little scoring in the first half with both teams struggling from point-blank range and missing a number of putbacks and lay-ups.

Kapa‘a was able to hang on to a 16-13 lead at the end of the first half, getting contributions from Angelito Roslin and Lance Miyashiro who combined for 9 of its 16 points.

Miyashiro turned in a solid game, showing he could hit jump shots from mid-range, mix it up inside the paint and even step out beyond the three-point line. He finished the game with a game-high 15 points, which included a couple of clutch jumpers toward the end of the game.

The Red Raiders would bounce back in the second half with another good performance from Angelo Ramento, who led Kaua‘i with 14 points. Despite getting into some foul trouble early on, Mikal Moranz pitched in with 9 points with 7 of those coming after the first half. Moranz’s biggest bucket of the night came with under one minute to play, where he was set up by an excellent pass from Ramento for an easy lay-up, which gave Kaua‘i a 37-36 lead.

The Red Raiders went on to hit three more free throws to close out the game and walk away with the victory.

A big reason Kaua‘i was able to come away with the win was due to its guard play. Jassem Cumlat and Kerwin Morano combined for 14 points but more importantly distributed the ball well, and broke the Warrior full court press without turning the ball over frequently.

With the loss Kapa‘a falls to 0-1 on the season as they begin to prepare for Wednesday’s match with the 0-1 Waimea Menehune.

Kaua‘i moves to an unbeaten 2-0 and will wait for Waimea on Saturday.