LIHUE — Kauai High School varsity boys basketball improved to 2-0 on the young Kauai Interscholastic Federation boys basketball season with a solid 56-45 win over Kapaa High School before a strong audience that included principal Marlene Leary garbed in Red Raider crimson at the Kauai High School gym, Saturday night.
“We didn’t come out as aggressive as we could,” said Kapaa coach Kamahalu Kauhane. “And, it didn’t help that we couldn’t make our shots.”
The Warriors were outgunned by the varsity Raiders, 16-34 at the half, including a two-for-nine showing at the charity stripe, and no three balls on any of its attempts.
Kauai showed a pair of buckets from outside the three-point arc in the first half, but was empty on its three appearances at the free-throw line.
“We still need work to be where we need to be at this point,” said Kauai coach Ipo Yoshioka. “The team has shown improvement over the past five weeks, but we still need work.”
The Raiders continued its dominance over the Warriors into the second half, and the remainder of the contest, settling for single-digit scoring in the third quarter when the combined efforts of Luke Hunadi and Ricky Malu Ralston accounted for seven of Kauai’s eight-point showing while holding Kapaa to just six points.
Kapaa roused in the fourth quarter when Kurtis Fujito-Pascua was put into the rotation and fired off a trio of back-to-back long balls, awakening the Warrior fanbase and pulling the Warriors back into the game.
“Kurtis was the next man up,” Kauhane said. “We needed the spark — something — to get the boys going.”
But the spark was not enough as Kauai, losing its top scorer and key defender to fouls held on for the 56-45 win.
Fujito-Pascua was held to 11 points, including his crowd-rousing trio of long balls, along with Alaka‘i Gonsalves, who ended with nine points, including a one-for-five showing at the charity stripe.
Overall, Kapaa finished with just the trio of long ball scores and showed three-for-16 at the free-throw line, compared with Kauai, who netted a pair of three-balls — one each from Jim Ehia and Hunadi — and was 10-for-24 at the charity stripe.
“Kauai did a good job,” Kauhane said. “They played good through all phases of the game — we didn’t. It’s back to the drawing board for us. It’s still a young season, and there’s a lot more to play ahead.”
Ralston topped the Kauai scoring on 14 points followed by Ehia and Hunadi each showing 12 points in the win.
“This is just our second game,” Yoshioka said as the team improved to 2-0 on the fledgling season following a win over Island School last Saturday. “We still have a lot of work to do, and we’ve got to get to where we need to be.”
The Red Raider varsity win softened the sting in the earlier 45-38 loss the Junior Varsity Raiders suffered at the hands of the JV Warriors who roared back from an 18-17 deficit at the break.
Solomone Malafu and Poki Tafea took the lead for the JV Warriors, scoring eight and six points, respectively, as Kapaa came back to outgun the hosting Kauai 18-11 and hold on for the seven-point win.
Tafea topped the JV Warriors scoring with 18 points with Michael Questin, scoring four points in the comeback third frame, adding 11 points toward the victory. Malafu finished with 10 points after netting eight marks in the third quarter.
Mareyon Cromartie and Ridge Cerraon topped the Kauai JV effort with 10 points apiece, including Cerraon’s pair of long balls, and Cromartie firing off a trey.
No scores were available from the Island School at Waimea contest at the press deadline.
Kauai Red Raiders basketball team’s next travels to the Clem Gomes Gym, next Saturday to meet the Waimea Menehune, a victor for Kapaa last week, for its first encounter. The Kapaa basketball team will travel to the Wilcox Gymnasium for a matchup against the Voyagers. The JV basketball game at Waimea tips off starting at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity contest. At the Wilcox Gymnasium, there is just a single basketball game when the varsity squads tip-off at 7 p.m.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
