KAPA’A — The Kapa‘a High School Warriors went into Saturday night’s game knowing they needed a win over the Waimea High School Menehune in order to force a playoff with the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders for the first half
KAPA’A — The Kapa‘a High School Warriors went into Saturday night’s game knowing they needed a win over the Waimea High School Menehune in order to force a playoff with the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders for the first half title of the KIF boy’s basketball season.
The Menehune would hardly lie down for the Warriors, but through resilient play and solid defense, Kapa‘a came away with a solid 61-42 victory.
Waimea came out and was able to dominate inside the paint.
The Menehune were much bigger inside with Bobby Oliver and Duke Yadao, which really gave the Menehune the edge.
Oliver finished the game with seven points and had three blocks and gave Waimea a presence inside it had lacked against Kaua‘i. Yadao finished with a game-high 16 points and did a bit of everything for the Menehune, including a lot of the team’s ball handling when point guard Peterson Lahip was out of the game.
Thanks to Oliver, Yadao and Lahip, Waimea got out to a 13-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Kapa‘a was still in search of rhythm offensively.
The second quarter had been more of the same for both teams with Waimea’s Yadao surging on offense. The Warriors had a tough time establishing its half court offense, however defensively Kapa‘a was able to keep themselves in the game, trailing 23-20 at the end of the first half.
The Warriors came out in the second half and changed its tempo. The full-court press began to stifle the Menehune and Kapa‘a was able to get easy buckets on the fast break.
Lance Miyashiro did a nice job leading the way for Kapa‘a with 14 points, but it was a complete team effort for the Warriors with 12 of its 15 players scoring at least two points. The combination saw Kapa‘a get out to a 38-34 lead at the end of the third.
The fourth quarter is when the Warriors pulled away, continuing its press against a tired-looking Waimea team. Angelito Roslin led Kapa‘a with five points in the quarter and had nine in the game.
Waimea’s ability to score was neutralized by the scrappy Warrior defense, that coupled with the fatigue the Menehune players were feeling contributed to the low nine-point total Waimea was able to put up in the fourth quarter.
Kapa‘a appears to be playing with confidence, and its ability to share the ball and have multiple scorers throughout the course of a game could be seen as a huge advantage moving forward.
The win moves the Warriors into a tie for first with the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders, whom both are 3-1.
It also forces a playoff, which will take place today at the Kaua‘i High School gym.
Waimea falls to 0-4 on the season and will wait for Kaua‘i on Saturday.
In junior varsity action, Kapa‘a easily dispatched Waimea 69-46.
