Posted on: Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Hawai'i teams lose openers
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
|
| Quintin Barfield of Vincent High School in Milwaukee grabs a rebound over Radford's Jordan Rellin during an opening-round game of the Iolani Prep Classic.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser |
The St. Louis School basketball team last night looked like a bunch of football players who have been practicing together on the court for only a week.
Which is exactly what the Crusaders are.
Franklin (Seattle) ran past St. Louis, 75-45, in an opening-round game of the 19th annual Iolani Prep Classic. The loss was one of four by Hawai'i teams yesterday in the Classic, which continues with two more first-round games tonight.
Miami (Fla.) Christian, ranked No. 3 by USA Today, routed Leilehua, 80-43; Archbishop Carroll (Washington, D.C.) stopped Kamehameha, 43-36; and Vincent (Milwaukee) defeated Radford, 49-36.
St. Louis, with nine returnees back from a team that was one game short of qualifying for the state tournament last season, is expected to be a contender for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship this year.
But because most of those returnees were members of the Crusaders' football team which won the state title on Dec. 6, and since coach Delbert Tengan also is head coach of the football team, basketball practice did not begin until eight days ago.
The practices also included tryouts, which focused more on evaluation than learning plays and defensive sets. And to make matters worse, starters Jason Rivers and Wilson Afoa missed two practices last weekend while on a football recruiting visit to Washington State and starters Timo Paepule and Tavita Thompson have been out with football injuries.
The ugly result last night was an effort that included a staggering 40 turnovers.
"We need more time together," Tengan said. "I would say we have only about 20 percent of our offense in, and tonight we basically ran only two plays — a wing screen-and-roll and a corner screen-and-roll."
Franklin, which returns eight players from a team that reached last year's state quarterfinals, led almost from the outset and took a 24-15 lead after one period.
St. Louis closed it to 24-19 on Afoa's layup early in the second quarter, but the Quakers (4-0) turned up their transition game and went on a 16-5 run to take a 40-24 lead into halftime.
"That's the other thing — we're not in good basketball condition," Tengan said. "You could see it late in the half when we got tired and made some lazy mistakes, giving up easy baskets."
Franklin began the second half with an 18-6 run.
Ricky Washington and Kellen Williams each had 14 points to lead the Quakers, and Darryl Taylor and Aaron Brooks each added 10 points.
"We're a long ways from where we need to be, too," Franklin coach Jason Kerr said.
Kerr said the Crusaders showed signs of promise.
"They'll be OK," Kerr said. "They're physical and aggressive, and they have the discipline in place."
• MIAMI CHRISTIAN 80, LEILEHUA 43: Guillermo Diaz scored 24 points and Jesus Verdejo added 22 to lift Miami Christian. The Victors raced to a 39-16 halftime lead.
Angelo Massey led Leilehua with 19 points.
• ARCHBISHOP CARROLL 43, KAMEHAMEHA 36: Darian Townes scored 20 points to lead Archbishop Carroll, ranked No. 25 in Street and Smith's preseason poll.
After Kamehameha took a 12-11 lead in the first quarter, the Lions held the Warriors to just two points in the second period to take a 23-14 lead into halftime.
Aaron Kahaloa scored 11 points to lead Kamehameha.
• VINCENT 49, RADFORD 36: Vincent was led by Nick Polk's 11 points and Jovan Campbell's 10.
Martin Lara scored 14 points and Charles Seanior 13 to lead the Rams.
