Kamehameha picks up offense in picking off Waiakea, 64-52
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Kamehameha Schools boys basketball team suddenly became an offensive juggernaut last night, racing past Waiakea, 64-52, in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines State Championship Tournament at Blaisdell Arena.
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Center Willie Melemai scored a career-high 24 points and guard Caleb Spencer added a season-high 18 points to lead the Warriors, who will play O'ahu Interscholastic Association champion Kalaheo (11-3) tonight at 7:30 in the feature quarterfinal.
Kamehameha's Willie Melemai gets position against Waiakea's Abraham McGrew. Melemai scored a career-high 24 points.
Kamehameha (13-4) had built a reputation as one of the top defensive teams in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, but was not known to score a lot of points. Last night, however, Melemai proved unstoppable in the paint and Spencer ran wild in the open court.
"Usually if the other team scores 50, we lose," said Kamehameha coach Darryl Gabriel. "But our guys came to play tonight. They were ready."
Melemai scored two baskets in the opening minutes to help the Warriors jump to an 11-0 lead and had 12 of his points in the third period, when Kamehameha expanded its advantage to 50-35.
Spencer then scored eight points in the final period to help seal the victory.
"I'm not big on points, I'll just do whatever the team needs," said Melemai, a 6-foot-6 senior. "If it's rebounds, then I'll just do that. Tonight I gotta give credit to my teammates for getting the ball inside. When you get to this tournament, everybody has to take it to the next level, and tonight we came to play. Everybody was feeling it."
Kamehameha never trailed, but Waiakea (9-5) cut the lead to 19-18 midway through the second period. Kamehameha then went on a 13-2 run to take a 32-20 advantage into the locker room.
The Warriors protected the lead in the third period by pounding it inside to Melemai and 6-4 sophomore Waika Spencer (11 points).
"We didn't shoot well, and on defense we just couldn't match up with Willie," Waiakea coach Jay Bartholomew said. "We doubled down on him, played some zone and tried different things, but Willie just dominated."
Defensively, Kamehameha limited Waiakea's top scorer, Levi Bartholomew, to just six points and no field goals in the second half. He had eight points on four field goals in the first half.
"There were two things we wanted to do on defense," Gabriel said. "One was not to let them shoot 3s, so we extended our defense and made them play off the dribble. The other thing was to be aware of where Levi was at all times, and to make him work to get his shots."
