KAPAA — Mason Broyles used to drop bombs from the bleachers, shredding the basketball nets.
Thursday night, Broyles shredded the net with a game-high 25 points to lead the Waimea High School boys basketball team to a 49-46 edge over Kapaa High School during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation boys basketball games at the Bernice Hundley Gym.
Earlier in the night, Kapaa took the junior varsity contest 43-39 with Michael Questin leading the scoring on 14 points, including a fourth-quarter three-ball that kept the JV Warriors a step ahead of the challenging Menehune whose Ty Tsukayama led the charge on 12 points, including a pair of treys.
“It’s always good to get one,” said Waimea coach Brandon Moises. “But we still have a lot to work on.”
Waimea stumbled off the blocks, being held to just four first-quarter points from Broyles while Kapaa hammered out a 12-4 quarter behind four points from Alaka‘i Gonsalves and pairs from Justin Failey, Jhencer Cummings, and Akela Nu‘uhiwa-Gonda.
The Menehune recovered from the game delay created by a technical foul involving roster confusion when Eilon Jamorabon knotted the contest 19-19 on a charity pair. He followed that with a three-ball that put Waimea up 23-22 for the first time in the night.
“I’m proud of the way the boys handled the adversity,” Moises said. “This is a new look for the boys. We worked a lot on understanding tradition and culture. We got good support from the other coaches, the parents, and the JV level players. The mindset changed, and today, we have a new look.”
Waimea broke the lead see-saw in the final four minutes when Wade Pimsaguan hit the closing end of a charity pair followed by Jamorabon dropping his second of two treys for the 47-42 go ahead.
“We did emphasize defense during our practice,” Moises said as Maka Shigematsu iced the win on a bucket, his only one in the game, with just 14 ticks showing.
Kapaa’s Faidley answered with a charity pair for the only response until Kana Gonzalez bucketed a two with 1:26 showing in regulation play.
“So, that was the start?” said Kapaa coach Kamahalo Kauhane.
“Waimea is a tough team, and they always start hot. This shows us what we need to work on, like hitting the free throws, playing more aggressively. The boys started off with a big bang, building up that nine-point margin, but they ended up doing what they had to do. You can expect a lot of competitive basketball, and we’re right there.”
Broyles topped the scoring for Waimea with his 25 points, including one from outside the three-point arc. Jamorabon followed with 13 points, and Pimsaguan finished with nine points.
Faidley topped the Warrior scoring on 13 points, followed by Gonsalves finishing with 10 points.
Kauai High School will enter the arena, today, when the Red Raiders visit Wilcox Gymnasium to face the Voyagers who will be taking the floor under new head coach Matt Taba. The single-game KIF conference basketball tips off starting at 7:30 p.m.
