HILO – Kaua’i High School settled for the consolation championship by downing St. Joseph 55-44 at the 12th Annual Big Island Candies/Hilo High School Holiday Prep basketball tournament played at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
Futi Tavana chalked up 19 points with Aukai Dennis firing a dozen markers to lead the Red Raiders.
Paul Wright picked up 12 points to lead the St. Joseph loss.
Kealakeha who handed the Red Raiders their only loss 64-60 on the opening day of the tournament, ended their tour in third place as they handled Maryknoll 56-38 behind a 10-point showing by Michael Kaniho.
Three Kalaheo Mustangs sizzled for 20-plus points each to lead the Mustangs to a 74-69 win over Waiakea for the tournament championship.
Theo Fujita-Lukachyk led the Mustangs with a 24-point showing with Sam Wilhoite and William Elliott showing 21 and 20 points in the victory.
Tyler Nishimura and Sean Soriano led Waiakea with 18 points each in the losing effort with Levi Bartholomew contributing 17 points.
Kalaheo’s William Elliott fired 13 treys in a minute to lock up the 3-Point Shootout on Friday as team mate Sam Wilhoite sewed up the Dunk Contest on Friday.
Wilhoite also brought the Most Outstanding Player trophy back to O’ahu with Kaniho of Kealakehe awarded the Kaleohano Hustle Award for the tournament.
Tyler Nishimura (Waiakea), Kawika Calizar (Maryknoll), Levi Bartholomew (Waiakea), and Elliott (Kalaheo) made up the tournament all-star team.
The Waimea High School Menehunes, playing in Laihaina, Maui, picked up a 41-47 win over the Lunas on Thursday before falling 52-40 to visiting Provo on Friday.
Joyce Evens, a Menehune teacher, said she got a call from coach Matt Taba who reported those scores as well as noting that Jordon Dizon was averaging 17 points a game on Maui.
The Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation (KIF) boys’ basketball season starts on January 7 as Kaua’i travels to the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea.
Tipoff for the JV game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. with the varsity game to follow 20 minutes following the completion of that game.
