Seeds set for OIA boys basketball tourney
Advertiser Staff
Kalaheo and Mililani, both 10-0, will be the No. 1 seeds when the O'ahu Interscholastic Association boys basketball tournament begins Thursday.
Kalaheo is the Eastern Division's top seed, and Mililani is No. 1 in the West. They will receive first-round byes, along with East No. 2 Kaimuki (8-2) and West No. 2 Radford (8-2).
Other seeds in the East are No. 3 Castle (7-3), No. 4 Roosevelt (6-4), No. 5 Kaiser (5-5) and No. 6 Kailua (4-6). There was a four-way tie for sixth in the regular season standings between Kailua, Farrington, Kahuku and Moanalua. The first tiebreaker was "record among tied teams," in which Kailua and Moanalua were 2-1, and Farrington and Kahuku were 1-2.
The second tiebreaker was "head-to-head," and Kailua defeated Moanalua 52-43 in the final regular season game.
In the West, the other seeds are No. 3 'Aiea (8-2), No. 4 Leilehua (7-3), No. 5 Pearl City (6-4) and No. 6 Waipahu (6-4). Radford and Pearl City won tiebreakers with head-to-head victories over 'Aiea and Waipahu, respectively.
The quarterfinals will be played Friday, the semifinals Feb. 13 and the final Feb. 15. First-round and quarterfinal games will be played at sites of higher seeds; the semifinals and final are scheduled to be played at Blaisdell Arena.
Another BIIF upset: The wild, wacky Big Island Interscholastic Federation boys basketball season took another strange turn last Friday when Kea'au shocked league-leading Waiakea, 63-45.
It was the second huge upset this season for Kea'au, which is in its third year as a high school and second year of varsity competition. Last month, senior-less Kea'au stunned Hilo, 34-32.
Ironically, in a year full of upsets, perennial powers Hilo and Waiakea still ended up atop the regular season standings with 9-2 records. They meet at 7 tonight at Waiakea in a playoff for the title and one of the league's automatic state tournament berths.
Both teams and four others will compete in the BIIF tournament, which starts Friday. The tournament will decide the league's second state tournament berth and potentially the overall champion.
