WAIMEA — Waimea High School player Kelani Lewis finished with a game-high 18 points, including a pair of treys, on Wednesday night during a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys basketball game at Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea.
But the effort came up short, as the Kaua‘i High School team downed the Menehune 60-48 behind the lead of Syrus Delos Reyes. He finished with 13 points for the Red Raiders.
The varsity Red Raider win completed a sweep in Waimea as the junior varsity Red Raiders pulled off a 10-point win, 48-38 over the JV Menehune, who outgunned the Raiders 17-13 in the final quarter on a concerted comeback effort.
Over at Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a, a spectator submitted photo of the final scoreboard showed the Warriors claiming a sweep over the Island School teams, the JV match belonging to the JV Warriors, 59-24, and the varsity Warriors making an early night with their 52-26 victory over the Voyagers.
Four seniors from the Menehune varsity squad — Aukai Emayo, Jericho Caabay, Kaiai Phillip, and Makenya Okeigar — shared the blue light shining on the big fans with Lewis at the contest where the production by Menehune tall post Daniel Kaohelauli‘i-Kali and Lewis kept the Menehune close.
But close is not good enough, as Kaua‘i pulled to a 21-11 lead at the end of the first quarter where Camren Holt-Ho got an untimed plus-one for the 10-point lead. Holt-Ho finished with 10 points, all dropping in the first quarter.
Trailing by 14 points, 38-24 at the break, the Menehune responded with their best showing of the night in the third frame where Waimea outgunned the Red Raiders, 19-11, and closed the gap to within four points at one point in the third quarter.
Relying on the trey, the Menehune launched three, led by guard Lindcey Constantino cranking two in the third frame with no answer from the Raiders. Constantino finished the frame leading the Menehune scoring with eight of his game total 10 points, followed by Lewis who launched the third 3-ball to net five points.
Kaua‘i answered the Constantino trey rain with a pair of its own in the final quarter, when guard Kalaikea Esteban bombed a pair from outside the 3-point arc en route to a 11-5 run for an eventual 60-48 win.
Raider high-point honors belonged to Delos Reyes, followed by Noah Louis with 11 points, and Holt-Ho’s 10 points that tied with Issac Mirey’s 10 first half points that included a pair of treys in the second quarter.
Barkley Gillman topped the JV Red Raider scoring with 15 points, including a third quarter 3-ball followed by Christian Vito’s 12 marks spread over four quarters. Kapono Sullivan finished with 10 points.
Waimea JV was led by Mariano Diego’s nine points, including a first quarter 3-ball, followed by Lokahi Delos Reyes going seven-for-10 at the charity stripe. Rhenz Punzalan added five second-half points.
Waimea next travels to Bernice Hundley Gym on Saturday for the Warriors’ Senior Night. Kaua‘i will be at Wilcox Gymnasium for the Voyagers’ Senior Night. The JV contest at both sites tip off at 5:30 p.m. The varsity contests start 20 minutes after the end of the JV game.
