Kapa‘a makes statement to open 2nd round

LIHU‘E — After stumbling out of the gate during the season’s opening round, the Kapa‘a Warriors served notice that they have their eye on the second-round championship with a 63-58 victory, Wednesday night at the Kaua‘i High School Gym.

Kapa‘a, which lost its first two games of the season but has won its past five, opened the second round by knocking off the first-round champs in a fast-paced game that had plenty of fireworks.

After giving up a 14-point third-quarter lead, the Warriors found themselves trailing 53-52 when the Raiders re-captured the lead on a Donavan Harrison jump shot, completing a 21-6 Kaua‘i run.

But Bradley Coloma responded on the ensuing possession by nailing a 3-pointer from the right wing for a 55-53 edge.

Harrison came back and hit a tough driving runner to even things up at 55-55, which preceded the night’s biggest shot coming from Keane Agoot.

Point guard Willis Batol swung a pass to Agoot in the left corner, who put up the 3-pointer and watched it rattle around all parts of the rim before falling through.

Spam Lindsey then gave Kapa‘a a 60-55 lead with a layup off a Coloma feed.

Kaua‘i refused to give up and Bryan Andres nailed a deep 3-pointer, his third of the game, to bring his team back within two points. But Andres fouled Agoot on the next possession, committing his fifth personal and headed to the bench with 48.8 seconds to play.

Agoot converted 1-of-2 at the line, but then got a steal at midcourt and finished the breakaway layup to create the final score and give Kapa‘a an important win.

Batol led the way for Kapa‘a with 18 points, while Agoot scored 13. Lindsey had 12, Coloma finished with 11 — nine coming on a trio of 3-pointers — and Daniel Reis scored five. Kainoa Colipano rounded out the scoring with four.

Andres had a game-high 24 points for Kaua‘i, while Harrison scored 16. Alden Ho scored eight of his 11 points in the second half during the comeback. Nathan Wong had three points and Kerwin Moreno and Joe Duronslet each finished with two.

Kapa‘a ran up 23 points in a wild opening quarter, 10 scored by Batol as the Warriors held a 23-12 lead at the end of one. They hit four from downtown in that stretch — two from Batol and one apiece from Agoot and Coloma.

The Warriors continued to play stifling defense in the second quarter and gave up just three Raider field goals in the eight-minute period. They were constantly switching on screens and pressuring everywhere on the perimeter, leading to lengthy Kaua‘i possessions.

Kapa‘a also got a number of second-chance buckets and went to halftime with a 37-25 lead.

Lindsey displayed a lightning-quick spin move early in the third quarter, maneuvering past an interior defender for a layup to give the Warriors a 44-30 lead, their biggest of the night.

Back-to-back threes from Andres and Harrison cut the lead to 10 at 48-38 and Ho followed that with a pair of layups to bring the deficit down to six. Moreno then converted a fast-break layup at the third quarter buzzer to make it a four-point game at 49-45 heading to the fourth.

With Kapa‘a leading 48-42 in the third, Batol was fouled by Ho on a drive and both went to the ground hard. After some words were exchanged, the referees brought all 10 players on the court into a circle and instructed them to settle down and play hard.

Ho scored two more quick buckets to open the fourth and Andres got ahead of the pack for a breakaway layup to cut the lead to one at 52-51.

In the night’s junior varsity game, Kapa‘a was a 67-35 winner over the Kaua‘i JV.

The Warriors had 14 players score in the game, James Paik leading the way with nine, while Chester Oikilato and Marlon Cudiamat each had eight.

Kaua‘i was led by Morean Clement’s game-high 10 points, followed by nine from Trey Aguano.

The boys will be back on the court Saturday as Kapa‘a takes on Waimea at the Clem Gomes Gym in Kapa‘a. JV will tip at 5:30 p.m., followed by varsity.

Island School will host Kaua‘i in a varsity-only contest at 7 p.m.