LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i High School, dropping both ends of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation second round openers to Kapa‘a on Thursday night, roared back onto the floor on Saturday night when the Red Raiders responded to the dual loss to sweep the visiting Waimea High teams at Kaua‘i High.
Spectator-contributed photos indicate that Kapa‘a High won its second round openers, sweeping Island School at the Wilcox Gymnasium in Puhi. One photo of the final scoreboard showed the junior varsity Warriors claiming a 54-25 win over the Voyager JV, and the Warrior varsity team nailing a 53-34 win over the Island School varsity squad. No other details were available.
Over at the Kaua‘i High, the Red Raiders JV downed the Menehune JV 70-33, despite a strong comeback effort by Waimea, which found a trio of treys, including a pair by Micah Balderas, who dropped his six points in the fourth quarter in a losing effort.
Rhen Punzalan fueled the Menehune JV with 14 points, including a pair of 3 balls, followed by Balderas’ six points.
Keanu Perreira-Inouye peeled off 12 points to lead the JV Raiders, while Shosei Kai and Christian Vito each added eight points to the total. All Raiders on the 13-player roster save one got touches on the ball in the win.
On the varsity court, Waimea outgunned Kaua‘i 29-21 in the second half, but fell short, 55-43, at the final buzzer.
Trailing by 20 points at the break, 34-14, the Menehune came back to tie the Raiders in shooting, 9-9, but came up short by eight points in the final frame to give the Raiders a comfortable 12-point margin at the final buzzer.
Kelani Lewis went the four quarters for Waimea and finished with 13 points to lead the Menehune scoring. He was followed by Jeydon Moises, who finished with nine points, all in the second half, and a pair of treys that ignited the Waimea fans.
Guard Lindcey Constantino finished with seven points, all in the first half, including a second-quarter 3 ball in the effort where scoring was limited to just six Menehune.
At least nine Raiders had points in the win. Joshua Rego topped the Raider scoring with 13 points spread over four quarters, including a pair of treys. Cade Myers finished with nine points, including a pair from outside the 3-point arc in the first half. Hans Leo Carlos opened the night on a 3-ball and finished with six points, along with Syrus Delos Reyes.
Boys basketball next takes the floors on Tuesday when Kapa‘a makes the trek to the Clem Gomes Gym where they face Waimea.
Kaua‘i High hosts Island School. The JV games at both sites tip off at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity contests starting 20 minutes after the end of the JV game.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
