LIHU‘E — Following its loss to Kapa‘a last week, Kaua‘i High stayed in the hunt for the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation first round title by taking victories over Waimea High on Tuesday night at Kaua‘i High.
Undaunted by the rain that sprinkled the Raider kingdom, the junior varsity Red Raiders rebounded from a second-quarter scare to post a 53-46 win ahead of the varsity 52-40 victory that was highlighted by a crowd-pleasing dunk from Joshua Rego to assert the win.
Scores from the Kapa‘a High games at Island School were not available at press time.
Facing a 14-12 deficit following the opening frame, the JV Menehune outgunned the JV Red Raiders 13-10 in the second quadrant to take a 25-24 edge at the break, the Menehune scores being led by Lokahi Delos Reyes and Kaleb Parraga, who each chipped in five marks.
The JV Raiders responded to the threat by coming back with a 29-21 second half to wrap up the win behind the high scoring of Kapono Sullivan, who put away 17 points, and Christian Vito adding nine marks — all in the second half — including a trey in the fourth stanza.
Isaiah Sarmiento, going scoreless in the second quarter, topped the JV Menehune effort with 14 points, followed by Delos Reyes finishing with 13 points, including a 3-ball in the third frame. Parraga ended the contest with eight points, including a pair of treys.
The lead eluded the varsity Raiders through the first half, and halfway through the third period before the Raiders finally found the lead behind a bucket from Camren Holt-Ho with less than five minutes showing in the third quarter.
Prior to that, the physical Menehune dogged out a 27-23 lead at the break behind strong contributions from Lindcey Constantino and Kelani Lewis, with each marking nine points, including a combined nine points from 11 appearances at the charity stripe. That included four successful free throws after technical fouls assessed against Kaua‘i High.
The Raiders responded, not with the usual run-and-gun fast break, but keeping the pace manageable and limiting Waimea to just 13 points in the second half, and scoring 29 points in the win that was marked by Rego’s dunk, which was his only bucket in the fourth quarter.
Rego, limited to just a bucket in the first half, finished by leading the Raiders’ scoring with 14 points, followed by Holt-Ho, Kaiaiakea Esteban and Isaac Mirey each bucketing eight points.
Constantino topped the Menehune scoring with 13 points, including a third-quarter trey, and Lewis finished with 13 points.
Waimea High next hosts Kapa‘a High on Saturday at Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea. Island School will make the trip to Kaua‘i High in Lihu‘e. Both the JV contests tip off at 5:30 p.m. The varsity contests starts 20 minutes after the completion of the JV games.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
