Reserve fuels Leilehua's win over Waimea
By Kyle Sakamoto
Advertiser Staff Writer
Leilehua's Angelo Massey played his sixth-man role to perfection yesterday, scoring 24 points in a 52-45 win over Waimea in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines Boys State Basketball Championship Tournament at the Blaisdell Arena.
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Massey, a 6-foot-3 junior, hit 10 of 15 field-goal attempts, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range.
Leilehua's Tyrell Couch, right, beats Waimea's Joshua Vinzant to a loose ball in the second quarter at Blaisdell Arena.
"Angelo carried us tonight," Mules coach Keith Spencer said. "Angelo is a big-time player. He should be starting, but I asked him during the season if he could come off the bench and give us a spark, and that's what he did."
Like any good reserve, Massey is on the bench analyzing the action.
"I can see what's going on on the court first," said Massey, who hasn't started all season. "I look at the plays, the kind of defense they're running and see if I can get through their defense or not."
Massey scored 12 points, including two 3-pointers, during a 16-7 run to open the second half as the Mules took a 36-25 lead with 2:02 remaining in the third quarter.
"No. 20 (Massey) went off on us," Waimea coach Matthew Taba said. "He hit a number of shots. Some of them were contested, some weren't."
Leilehua's largest lead was 48-34 on a floating bank shot from the left side by Massey with 1:50 left in the game. The Menehune closed to five with seven seconds left.
"I just got the ball from my teammates and shot it," Massey said. "I didn't feel like I was in the zone. I was just the hot man."
Massey picked up the slack for Leilehua's starters, who combined to score 18 points. Excluding Massey, Leilehua (12-2) was 10-of-28 from the field, including 0-of-5 from 3-point range.
"He had to carry the team because we didn't have any firepower on the offensive side today," said Spencer, who added Massey will likely start next season.
Waimea (8-1) shot 17-of-40 from the field and committed 16 turnovers.
"It was our turnovers," Taba said. "That's been a big problem for us all year. In key situations we turn the ball over too many times."
The Mules, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's second-place team, will play Maui Interscholastic League champion Maui (14-0) today in the championship bracket.
