KALAHEO — Brayden Miyamoto finished with nine points, but two of them counted heavily as he dropped a bucket in overtime to pull Papalina to a 46-44 win over Hanapepe Thursday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center. The match was one
KALAHEO — Brayden Miyamoto finished with nine points, but two of them counted heavily as he dropped a bucket in overtime to pull Papalina to a 46-44 win over Hanapepe Thursday night at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
The match was one of three played in the county’s Division 3, or boys in the seventh and eighth grade, basketball league.
Earlier in the night, Team Central Black survived the sizzling game-high 18 points from Westside Basketball’s D.J. Pabre to take a 44-32 win off the courts.
Bryce Johnson-Cormack led the Team Central Black effort with 15 points followed by Joseph Cumlat, whose older brother was just named to the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation basketball all-stars, and Brennan Suniga adding seven points each in the win.
Following Pabre’s 18 points, Westside Basketball got five points from Denez Haley.
Karl Jhay Miguel fired off a three-ball in the second period to give Team Central a 10-point lead en route to a 21-6 halftime lead over Westside.
But Pabre and Carter Koetji dropped treys in the fourth period to spark a comeback, the scoreboard reflecting a four-point deficit following four periods of play.
Suniga launched a pair of treys in the fifth frame to lead Team Central Black to a 38-25 lead, from where Westside could not recover.
Mar Cadiz marked treys in the fourth and sixth stanzas, but the effort came up short as Cadiz’s Lepo Ula dropped to Hanakila, 41-49 in another exciting matchup. Hanakila is coached by Roger Domingo, and made up of players from the Hanalei and Kilauea area.
Lepo Ula took the lead 6-5 in the first period, a trey from Hanakila’s Triston Hawelu keeping Hanakila in the fray.
Following a second period slugfest, both teams were deadlocked 10-10 before a trey by Lexton Camat ignited the Hanakila offense for the 21-16 halftime lead.
But Lepo Ula would not relent and a three-ball by Cadiz in the fourth frame kept the action exciting, Lepo Ula chasing a pair, 30-32 following five frames of play.
The boys from the Westside, coached by Steve Decker and Paul Barba, never gave up, Taylon Yadao coming alive with a pair of three-balls. Despite the help of Cadiz’s second trey in the final period, Westside could not overtake Hanakila.
Carl Mecham finished with 13 points followed by Yadao adding eight points, spearheaded the Lepo Ula scoring.
Carl Schmick topped the Hanakila scoring with 17 points followed by Hawelu ending with 16 points.
During the finale, Hanapepe came from a 27-14 deficit to end regulation tied at 44-44 to trigger the overtime.
Hanapepe opened close, the scoreboard showing a 9-7 deficit after the first period before Papalina pulled ahead 21-12 in the second frame.
Reymund Mendoza topped the Hanapepe scoring with a game-high 25 points while Papalina got 10 points from Noah Sasil and nine points from Miyamoto, including the critical overtime pair for the win.
Six games, including four Boys Division 3 and a pair of Girls Division 2 games are on tap for today at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center starting at 9 a.m.
Papalina opens against the Ballers 1 in the 9 a.m. tipoff followed by Westside taking on the Ballers 2 at 10 a.m.
The boys get a break when a pair of girls games feature the Ballers taking on Team Lihu‘e Red in an 11 a.m. match followed by Hanakila taking on Lihu‘e Black in the noon tipoff.
The Hanakila boys go up against Team Lihu‘e Red starting at 1 p.m. followed by Lepo Ula taking on Team Lihu‘e Black in the 2 p.m. tipoff.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
