Kaimuki pulls off another surprise, beating Lahainaluna
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
In this state high school boys basketball tournament, Cinderella wears green and yellow with high black socks.
Kaimuki, a team that finished fourth in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association, is in tonight's semifinals after pulling off its second straight upset yesterday.
The Bulldogs rallied past Maui Interscholastic League champion Lahainaluna 44-40 at Radford's gym to set up a showdown tonight with OIA champion Kalaheo, which won last year's state title.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Blaisdell Arena.
Following that game will be Iolani, the state runner-up last season, against Mililani at 8:30.
Kaimuki reached the quarterfinals by stunning Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up Punahou 61-47 on Wednesday.
"These kids don't worry about who they're playing; they just want to play ball," Bulldogs coach Stephen Lee said. "They just worry about executing, because they know if they execute, they can win."
Unseeded Kaimuki (11-4) executed particularly well down the stretch, outscoring the No. 3 seeded Lunas 10-4 in the final five minutes.
The most impressive clutch performance came from sophomore guard Jimmy Miyasaka, who made 6 of 6 free throws in the final 4:44 and finished with a team-high 14 points.
"He's the guy I was most afraid of," Lahainaluna coach Rick Brooks said. "I watched them in the preseason, and I thought he was the smartest player on their team. He knew they were in the bonus and he knew how to draw the foul."
As in Wednesday's upset, the Bulldogs took the lead early. They jumped out to a 20-14 halftime lead after outscoring the Lunas 14-7 in the second period.
"They feed off emotion," Brooks said. "They hit a couple 3's, and that really gave them confidence."
Lahainaluna (13-2) came back to take a 28-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter, and the Lunas led 36-34 after Robin Goltze's jumper with five minutes remaining. But Miyasaka's free throws tied it with 4:44 left and Daniel Tautofi's jumper gave Kaimuki the lead for good with three minutes remaining.
"I've been saying all season that this is a special team," Lee said. "I'm very proud of them."
Kalaheo 64, Kamehameha 53: Ikaika Alama-Francis scored 23 points and DC Daniels added 19 points to lead the No. 2 seeded Mustangs (14-0) past the unseeded Warriors (10-6).
Nalu Perkins led Kamehameha with 16 points, Eric Shaver added 15 points and Willie Melemai had 14 points.
Kalaheo led almost from the outset and was up 32-22 early in the third period. But the Warriors cut it to 36-34 midway through the quarter on Perkins' 3-pointer.
The Mustangs stretched the lead to 58-45 midway through the fourth period, but Kamehameha rallied again and narrowed it to 60-53 with three minutes remaining. That was as close as the Warriors would get, however.
• • •
WEDNESDAY
- Kamehameha 30, Kealakehe 28
- Kaimuki 61, Punahou 47
- Castle 70, Baldwin 60
- Mililani 61, Waimea 45
YESTERDAY
At Radford
- Kaimuki 44, Lahainaluna 40
- Kalaheo 64, Kamehameha 53
- At Kekuhaupi'o Gymnasium
- Mililani 75, Waiakea 58
- Iolani 70, Castle 57
TODAY
At Blaisdell Arena
- Game 9: Noon, Baldwin (10-4) vs. Waimea (7-3)
- Game 10: 1:45 p.m. Kealakehe (11-5) vs. Punahou (9-4)
- Game 11: 3:30 p.m. Waiakea (11-4) vs. Castle (11-5)
- Game 12: 5:15 p.m. Lahainaluna (13-2) vs. Kamehameha (10-6)
- Game 13: 7 p.m. Kalaheo (14-0) vs. Kaimuki (11-4)
- Game 14: 8:30 p.m. Mililani (14-1) vs. Iolani (13-0)
TOMORROW
At Blaisdell Arena
Consolation
- 3 p.m. winners of games 9 & 10
Fifth place
- 4:30 p.m. winners of games 11 & 12
Third place
- 6 p.m. losers of games 13 & 14
Championship
- 8 p.m. winners of games 13 & 14
Tickets
$7 adults; $5 students (K-12)
Note: Blaisdell Arena adds a 50-cent surcharge to every ticket sold.
Parking at the Neal Blaisdell Arena parking structure is $3.00
TV/Radio: KGMB (channel 9, cable 7) will broadcast the championship game live. KQNG (570) will cover all Kaua'i games; KHLO (850) and KIPA (620) will cover all Big Island games; KMVI (550) will cover all Maui games. KHNR (650) on O'ahu will cover semifinals and finals.
• • •
Quarterfinals
At Kekuhaupi'o Gym, Kamehameha Schools
MILILANI 19 5 22 29—75
WAIAKEA 12 14 8 24—58
Mililani—Thompson Ah Loo 0, Jordan Woolsey 0, Brandyn Fidel 2, Gary Deliz 11, Rashaun Broadus 19, Robert Cacace 2, Mitch Rose 6, Jose Santos 1, Andrew Min 0, Trey Brown 6, Alex Patykula 2, Kaipo Patoc 12, Simeon Tavares 14, Tony Gabriel 0. Totals 29 17-23 75.
Waiakea—Abe Costa 2, Branden Kawazoe 13, Tyler Nishimura 9, Sean Soriano 0, Cody Aragaki 0, Levi Bartholomew 6, Kevin Takeyama 1, Jomo Young 7, Chase Sakamoto 2, Shannon Camero 0, Ronnie Loeffler 0, Martin Hall 3, Justin Pascual 0, Charles Huihui 13, Levi Naehu 2. Totals 19 15-19 58.
3-point goals—Waiakea 5 (Nishimura 3, Kawazoe 2).
Castle 6 11 17 23—57
Iolani 25 20 12 13—70
Castle—Justin Bruhn 6, Jacob Medeiros 0, William Harvest 2, Michael Proctor 9, Emmett Aberilla 9, Charles Teixeira 2, Nelden Torres 0, Ryen Isip 0, Joel Botelho 21, Pookela Craig-Rodenhurst 6, Kurtis Kanekoa 0, Jordan Ukauka 2, Tim Wiitala 0. Totals 19 16-19 57.
Iolani—Jon Grobe 13, Derrick Low 13, Zach Tollefson 2, Bobby Webster 12, Robert Mageo 2, Matt Choy 0, Bobby Nash 16, Joe Udell 2, Chad Miller 0, Kawika Nakoa 0, Gage Eberlin 0, Todd Blankenship 0, Tyler McCready 10, Donny Mateaki 0. Totals 26 13-15 70.
3-point goals—Castle 3 (Botelho 3). Iolani 5 (Grobe 2, Webster 2, Low 1).
At Radford High gym
Kaimuki 7 13 7 17—44
Lahainaluna 6 8 14 12—40
Kaimuki—Jesse Wong 3, Tino Caires 0, Daniel Tautofi 8, Faaloloi Maiava Jr. 6, Jimmy Miyasaka 14, Alex Lauriano 5, James Davis 8. Totals 16 9-10 44.
Lahainaluna—Brandon Webb 0, Kekuhi Mokiao 0, Cheyne De La Garza 7, Ma'afu Finau 16, Chris Kodani 0, Robin Goltze 9, Tevita Finau 4, Richard Murta 4. Totals 16 5-6 40.
3-point goals— Kaimuki 3 (Wong, Tautofi, Lauiano). Lahainaluna 3 (Finau 2, Webb 1).
Kamehameha 9 13 17 14—53
Kalaheo 14 16 17 17—64
Kamehameha—Pono Enos 2, Eric Shaver 15, Nalu Perkins 16, Sean Uyehara 5, Caleb Spencer 1, Aaron Kahaloa 2, Waika Spencer 0, Willie Melemai 12. Totals 16 17-24 53.
Kalaheo—Charles Elliot 3, Michael Gayle 10, James Robertson 5, Shaine Harada 2, Ikaika Alama-Francis 23, Justin Pedrina 2, DC Daniels 19, Michael Garcia 0, Sam Wilhoite 0. Totals 19 21-31 64.
3-point goals— Kamehameha 4 (Perkins 2, Shaver 1, Uyehara 1). Kalaheo 5 (Gayle 2, Elliott 1, Robertson 1, Alama-Francis 1).
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story erroneously named runner-up Punahou as the ILH champion.
