Kauai High School’s varsity boys basketball team defeated Hawaii Preparatory Academy in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Snapple Boys Basketball Championships – Division II state tournament.
Unseeded Kauai upset No. 4 HPA of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation, 53-50, on Wednesday at Saint Francis School in Honolulu.
Kauai trailed 28-19 at halftime. Then the Red Raiders opened the third quarter with a 16-0 run to take a 35-28 lead. Kauai outscored Hawaii Prep, 21-6, in the third quarter.
“We told them at halftime our shots weren’t dropping like it normally does,” said Kauai head coach Ipo Yoshioka in a phone interview. “I said, ‘You just got to keep working and keep believing in yourselves. Keep shooting the ball like you did all season.’ They started dropping.”
That lead didn’t hold, however, as Ka Makani took a 50-48 lead late in the fourth quarter.
“Our kids played hard. Our defense, at times, they were very good. And at times, it was not so good,” Yoshioka said. “We let them back in the game.”
Tied at 50-50, Red Raiders senior guard Gunnar Burkman hit a 3-pointer to give Kauai High the lead. Kauai held on until the final buzzer to advance to the tournament semifinals.
“We were tied, 50-50, with about 16 seconds left, or 18 seconds,” Yoshioka said. “We ran a play that we worked on all week. It worked, and Gunnar nailed a 3. We got the win.”
He added: “HPA called a timeout with 1.3 seconds left on the clock. … We went into man (defense), but we didn’t play it aggressively. We didn’t want to foul them. We set up in man and put pressure a little bit. They threw a ball that Kaimani Tecson had a tip on it. It wore down the clock. That was it after that.”
Kauai will play the winner of the quarterfinals game between No. 1 Saint Francis of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu and unseeded Roosevelt of the Oahu Interscholastic Federation.
Final result of the Saint Francis-Roosevelt game was not available by press time.
Burkman totaled 15 points for Kauai. Junior guard CJ Cromartie led the team with 19 points. Senior guard Christian Manera scored 11.
Ka Makani sophomore forward Michael Hughes scored 13 points for Hawaii Prep. Sophomore guard Javan Perez had nine points. Senior forward Michael Hanano and freshman guard Kelsen-Jaye Walker each had seven points.
Randy Dela Cruz contributed to this story.
Information from ScoringLive.
