WAIMEA — The Waimea High School’s boys basketball team got its first win of the season, defeating Kapaa 56-47 at home on Saturday night. Waimea head coach Chris Acoba said the team’s first loss to the Warriors was a wake
WAIMEA — The Waimea High School’s boys basketball team got its first win of the season, defeating Kapaa 56-47 at home on Saturday night.
Waimea head coach Chris Acoba said the team’s first loss to the Warriors was a wake up call for his players and helped them prepare for the rematch.
“It made us realize what we had to work on, playing against Kapaa the first game,” he said. “Taking care of the ball, blocking out and rebounding.”
The Menehune were ahead 12-3 at the end of the first period and maintained its lead throughout the game.
Waimea forward Kiliono Russell-Moe said the team’s improved turnover ratio compared to the last game against the Warriors was a huge factor in the victory.
“We turned the ball over way too many times the first game,” he said. “We just came out and tried to play smart.”
Russell-Moe finished the game with 15 points, nine of which were scored during the fourth quarter.
Acoba said he hopes the first win will be the spark needed for his team to be a serious threat for the conference title, but doesn’t want his players overconfident at the same time.
“I don’t want them to be lackadaisical coming to practice thinking they got it,” he said. “Still got to put pressure on them.
“A win is a win, but the season is still young.”
Kapaa head coach John Kaneholani said a possible reason his team didn’t perform as well as the first game was that it didn’t recover from the loss to Kauai the previous week.
“We did good things in practice, but I think [mentally] they didn’t get over that loss,” he said. “It’s not an excuse we should rely on … Waimea came prepared and showed their home-court advantage.”
In addition, Kapaa was without forward Denmark Aladin.
Kaneholani said he injured his ankle during the loss to Kauai and wasn’t cleared by the team’s trainers to play, but expects him to be available for the next game.
“He’s a big plus,” Kaneholani said. “That’s about 10 points right there, but no more excuses.”
Kapaa forward Matt Cummings said he and his teammates overlooked Waimea because they won the first match by a wide margin.
“We came out flat,” he said. “We won that first game by a lot. We took them lightly tonight … We’ll come back to practice and work extra hard.”
Cummings finished the game with 13 points, nine of which were scored during the final period.
Though Waimea won by a nine-point margin, its lead could have been larger.
Kapaa was in foul trouble since the first half. Three players fouled out at the end.
Waimea was sent to the free throw line several times, but converted just 22 of 44 attempts.
Acoba said he expected Kapaa to make a run at some point, which did happen.
The fourth quarter was the only period in which Kapaa outscored its opponent, getting 27 points to Waimea’s 22.
With Kapaa’s offensive surge toward the end, Acoba said missed free throws could have been costly but is glad it didn’t come to that.
“With free throws, you can either win or lose a game,” Acoba said.
Kapaa hosts Kauai High School Wednesday, while Waimea goes to Kauai Saturday. Both games start after the 5:30 p.m. JV game ends.
