LIHU‘E — In the first half of Saturday night’s KIF boys basketball game between Waimea and Kaua‘i, both teams shot like the lights were turned off. Somebody must have turned on a switch after halftime. For a game that saw
LIHU‘E — In the first half of Saturday night’s KIF boys basketball game between Waimea and Kaua‘i, both teams shot like the lights were turned off.
Somebody must have turned on a switch after halftime.
For a game that saw both teams combine for 26 first half points, the Kaua‘i Red Raiders and Waimea Menehune turned it around and added another memorable finish to this KIF season, with the Red Raiders holding off a late Waimea charge to beat the Menehune, 42-39, at Kaua‘i High School.
The Red Raiders held a 15-11 edge at halftime after both teams struggled to find the net. But the Kaua‘i boys more than doubled their first half output in the third quarter and leaped to a 33-20 fourth-quarter lead.
The fourth quarter was just the opposite. The Menehune suddenly were able to find the net and scorched their way to 19 points in the quarter. Waimea was able to pull within two points with 23 seconds left when Kaili Schumacher-Lagundino sunk a basket following a Niko Delos Reyes steal.
The Menehune fouledl on their next possession, sending the Red Raiders to the line. With 15 seconds left, Donovan Harrison missed both of his free attempts, but the Red Raiders kept possession when Kerwin Morano pulled down the rebound.
Morano was fouled immediately, but couldn’t close the books on the Menehune, as he missed both of his free throws.
The Raiders couldn’t seem to shoot in the clutch, but they sure could rebound. On Morano’s second missed attempt, Angelo Ramento snagged the rebound and was once again fouled with two seconds remaining.
Ramento drained one of his two attempts, giving Kaua‘i a three point edge.Waimea’s Paul Oligo missed on a half court buzzer beater, giving the Red Raiders the win.
“You can’t prepare for games like this,” Kaua‘i head coach Ipo Yoshioka said. “You just have to go ahead and play. You give the kids instructions, and they do the best they can. But in the end, Kaua‘i came out on top and that’s what we were looking for tonight.”
The Red Raiders received a balanced scoring effort, led by Morano with 9 points. Ramento added 8 of his own.
While the Red Raider shooters went cold in the fourth quarter, Waimea’s were icy for the first three.
The Menehune finished 16 of 56 from the floor and struggled at the line. Waimea’s paltry 5-13 at the free throw line came back to haunt them in the final score.
“Our shooting hurt us today,” Waimea head coach Nouveau Naumu said, noting the Menehune were 0-10 on three-point attempts in the first half. “We had a slow start and we had to play catch up and that’s always hard.”
Schumacher-Lagundino led the Menehune with 11 points, while Travis Soares and Brandon Palacio each added 10.
Unlike the Menehune, when the Red Raiders struggled at the line, they were able to get big offensive rebounds. The Red Raiders have a slight height advantage over the Menhune, and Yoshioka said they knew they had to use it.
“We depend on the rebounds and we will all year,” he said. “We have a tiny bit of a size edge out there and if we can take care of those things and execute ,we’ll be OK.”
The Red Raiders improved to 2-1 on the season, while the Menehune dropped to 1-2. The Menehune will take on the 1-1 Kapa‘a Warriors, Tuesday in Waimea.
In JV action, the Menehune beat the Red Raiders 26-24. Job Delos Reyes hit a pair of free throws with seven seconds left to give the JV Menehune the win.
• Tyson Alger, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or by emailing talger@ thegardenisland.com. Follow him on twitter.com/tysonalger.
