KALAHEO—The Boys & Girls Club (Kapa`a) knew the task at hand was a large one when they entered the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center Monday night in quest of the title for the Kaua`i Youth Basketball Association’s 10 & Under summer program.
KALAHEO—The Boys & Girls Club (Kapa`a) knew the task at hand was a large one
when they entered the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center Monday night in quest of the
title for the Kaua`i Youth Basketball Association’s 10 & Under summer program.
They were intensely quiet in their concentration of the task that lay ahead of
them.
“Not tonight,” coach Ed Phillips said quietly to a youngster who
wanted to mix in with the team during warmups. And, that aspiring basketball
player understood as he backed off to the wall, watching the boys go through
their drills.
Lihu`e And 1s’ coach Billy Ramos, on the other end of the
court was deep in thought as he readied his rosters while the boys deftly and
quickly worked their warmup drills, occasionally punctuated by bursts of
nervous laughter.
The active, fast-moving press of the Lihu`e And 1s headed
by Pono Perez, Michael Julian, Micah Alayvilla, and Kupa Gray Cochea kept the
Boys & Girls Club under control, limiting the Kapa`a squad to just a field goal
and a pair of charity points in the entire first half as Lihu`e went on to wrap
up a 37-16 victory for the title.
Kapa`a went to the bulldozing offensive
power of Elijah Phillips, and the quickness of David Kiefer with Urijah
Phillips coming in strong in the second half, but could not overcome the Lihu`e
pressure.
Scott Taylor and Gray Cochea took high point honors for the
Lihu`e And 1s in the win with 11- and 10-point showings while Devin Saiki
topped the Boys & Girls Club (Kapa`a) scoring roster with 6 points.
Earlier
in the evening, TGI Kalaheo Lakers and the Kaua`i Magic battled for third place
as the Magic stayed with the Lakers, 6-6 in the opening frame, 10-10 in the
third frame, and outgunning the Lakers 14-9 in the final quarter. But, they
couldn’t overcome a 2-13 second quarter as TGI Kalaheo Lakers took the third
place win 38-32 behind a torrid 22-point showing from Sam Schur.
Schur also
sparked TGI Lakers’ defense with two key roofs of Braxton Garma’s shot attempts
in the second period while Keelan Sakuda and Giancarlo Belen helped Schur
generate a 11-0 scoring run, holding the Magic at bay until Jake Kuzen, the
tiniest player in the league, dropped a charity pair to the cheers of the
championship audience with 48 seconds showing in the period.
Joining Schur
in TGI Kalaheo Lakers’ scoring were Keelan Sakuda with 6 points, and Jordan
Sato and Belen ending the night with 5 points apiece.
Garma topped the
Magic’s scoring with 14 points with Peyton Navarro and Livingston Rowan
dropping 6 points each.
TGI Kalaheo Lakers 38,
Kaua`i Magic
32
Score by quarters
Kalaheo Lakers 6 13 10 9 38
Kaua`i
Magic 6 2 10 14 32
TGI Kalaheo Lakers scoring: Reggie
Vigilia 5, Jordan Sato 0, Keelan Sakuda 6, Sam Schur 22, Harold Shimono 0,
Giancarlo Belen 5.
Kaua`i Magic scoring: John Powell Santos 0, Jake Kuzen
2, Sean Inouye 0, Braxton Garma 14, Randy Charlson 4, Peyton Navarro 6, James
Yamamoto 0, Livingston Rowan 6.
Lihu`e And 1s 37,
Boys & Girls
Club (Kapa`a) 16
Score by quarters
Lihu`e And 1s 6 12 13 6
37
Boys & Girls 2 2 6 6 16
Lihu`e And 1s scoring:
Pono Perez 4, Daniel Victor 0, Chris Longboy 2, Seth Quisel 0, Kupa GrayCochea
10, Jonathan Gebauer 2, Micah Alayvilla 3, BJ Gaitos 2, Scott Taylor 11, Teila
Huni 0, Michael Julian 0, Justin Ramos 3.
Boys & Girls Club (Kapa`a)
scoring: Micah Yee 0, Elijah Phillips 2, Bryson Gonsalves 0, Devin Saiki 6,
Tyler Yee 2, Halem Medina 2, Kori Pang 0, Urijah Phillips 0, David Kiefer
4.