KAPAA — Hawaii Baptist Academy’s BJ Hosaka peeled off five points in overtime to push the Eagles to a 58-54 edge over the Kauai High School Red Raiders on Saturday at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapaa. “This is a
KAPAA — Hawaii Baptist Academy’s BJ Hosaka peeled off five points in overtime to push the Eagles to a 58-54 edge over the Kauai High School Red Raiders on Saturday at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapaa.
“This is a goodwill tournament,” said John Kaneholani, Kapaa’s head basketball coach. “The main objective is to have good basketball, and having fun. There is no first, second, or third places — it’s to have fun.”
Good basketball reigned from the opening tipoff as the visiting Eagles came back from a seven-point halftime deficit to fall short, 47-46 against the host Kapaa Green team.
Friday night, HBA controlled its match against Waimea High School, 54-38 before coming up to face the Red Raiders.
Michael Booth fueled a strong Kauai comeback in the second quarter and fired off nine of the squad’s 19 points to take a 28-20 lead at the half. The Red Raiders trailed 16-9 after the opening tipoff with the Eagles’ opening drive fueled from Micah Mitchell and Isaac Liva each dropping six points.
The seesaw performance continued in the second half as the Eagles forced overtime after coming back from a deficit that teetered at 10 points in the third quadrant.
The score tied at 46-46, Josaiah Coatie’s fade-away jumper with two ticks showing clanged off the hoop to send the squads into a four-minute overtime.
But fouls took its toll on the Red Raiders who lost its inside height. Despite the bombs from outside the three-point arc from Jassem Cumlat and Coatie, the Eagles prevailed behind Hosaka’s OT contribution which helped him finish with a game-total 12 points.
Mitchell topped the HBA scoring at 14 points, including three from outside the three-point arc. Liva added to the mix with 13 points.
“I think we’ll be OK by the time the season starts,” said Kauai coach Ipo Yoshioka. “We might have lost our big boys, but it was an opportunity to see what the remainder of the team could do out there. We still have some work to do, but we’re getting there.”
Booth topped the Red Raider scoring with 14 points, including a trey in his 9-point second quarter, followed by Coatie scoring 13 points, including a three-ball in overtime.
Earlier in the morning, John-ry Tagaca came up with 14 points, including a pair of treys, Jamin Fernandez added 12 points and Theron Shigematsu ended with 10 points to lead the Menehune to its 47-21 win over Hana High School.
“We want to thank Hana High School for coming over to play ball with us,” Kaneholani said. “They’re a small school with an enrollment which is less than 100 students, and to have them travel to play with us is commendable, and we appreciate them.”
