WAIMEA — Menehune Casey Kaohelauli‘i and Jeremy Manuel finished in double-digits to lead Waimea to a 51-22 win over the Kapa‘a Warriors Tuesday night. But, the buzz in the audience was over who besides Kamu Kawaihalau was not on the
WAIMEA — Menehune Casey Kaohelauli‘i and Jeremy Manuel finished in double-digits to lead Waimea to a 51-22 win over the Kapa‘a Warriors Tuesday night.
But, the buzz in the audience was over who besides Kamu Kawaihalau was not on the court as the Menehune played without the services of Lanikai Kanahele, Jordon Dizon, and Adam A‘ana.
Kaohelauli‘i finished with a game-high 14 points with Manuel adding 13 markers in the win that saw Waimea control the contest from the tipoff, holding Kapa‘a scoreless until the final six seconds of the first quarter when Ryan Cram broke the ice with a field goal.
Throughout, the defense gave Kapa‘a trouble as the Menehune capitalized on turnovers and bad passes.
Kapa‘a, like their JV squad lacked the intensity they demonstrated against Kaua‘i, and despite an attempt to break double digit at the half, fell short, 22-7.
Kaohelauli‘i opened up the second half with a pair of buckets before Kapa‘a answered, but it was not until the 3:34 mark when they entered double digits in the scorebooks on a Kaylan Dolor bucket.
An Aaron Hesapene trey with a minute left to play iced the win for Waimea, the guard following it up with a bucket for insurance as the clock ran out.
Dayna Tayco finished with 14 points, and Brendon McDaniels added 11 points as the Waimea JV squad took a 60-35 win into the locker rooms.
Junnel Calpito topped the JV Warriors scoring with 10 points.
Waimea will travel to Kaua‘i on Friday with the KIF championship at stake. A Red Raider win Friday night will force a playoff for the second round, the Menehune having secured the first round.
The big question – who will be there?
