WAIMEA —Kapaa High School held off a Waimea comeback for a 59-50 win in boys varsity basketball Wednesday night at Clem Gomes Gym. Waimea’s DJ Pabre dropped 11 of his game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter. The Menehune, celebrating
WAIMEA —Kapaa High School held off a Waimea comeback for a 59-50 win in boys varsity basketball Wednesday night at Clem Gomes Gym.
Waimea’s DJ Pabre dropped 11 of his game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter. The Menehune, celebrating Senior Night, got six points from senior Levi Sagucio and four from Briggs Agu.
“We missed at least 20 shots in the first half,” said Dino Pabre, a Waimea assistant coach. “They were all inside shots, and if we had made even half of those, it would have been a different story. We dug ourselves into a hole again. The boys worked twice as hard, but when you’re in that hole, it’s hard to come out. We had a lot less turnovers. We made our free throws — if we made half of those inside shots. The first half did us in.”
Kapaa took a 29-19 lead at the break behind seven points from Tristen Hawelu-Inanod.
“We missed shots,” said John Kaneholani, Kapaa head coach. “We had the opportunities, but we missed six, seven easy shots — layups. But credit to Waimea because they came back, strong. In the second half, especially the fourth quarter, they were near 100 percent at the free throw line. At one point, we had an 18-point margin. They came back because of those free throws. They’re gonna hurt someone, yet.”
Waimea finished 13 of 16 in second-half free throws compared to 5 of 6 for Kapaa.
Kaneholani said the Warriors were fortunate to have that margin because it served as a buffer against the Menehune comeback.
“We had some very good practices,” Kaneholani said. “But the boys weren’t playing the way they practiced. We worked on several areas, but the boys played a different game. Waimea took away our short corner and we just worked to keep the lead. It was fortunate we had that two-figure buffer, if it was a single digit lead, it would have been different.”
Kapaa finished with Hawelu-Inanod posting 14 points followed by Christopher Yam coming off the bench for 10 points. Carson Schmick added seven to round out the scoring leaders.
Agu posted 13 points, followed by Sagucio with seven points.
Earlier in the evening, Chysen Barretto netted 16 points and Lexton Camat added 10 points to lead the Kapaa junior varsity to a 52-42 win over the Waimea JV, who got 10 points apiece from Joel Soriano and Taylon Yadao.
With the win, Kapaa next travels to Kauai High School on Saturday with the JV game tipping off at 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity.
“We know we’re going to play them (Kauai), again,” Kaneholani said. “If we win, or lose, either we play them once, or twice. But watch out for Waimea. As I said, they’re gonna hurt somebody.”
Waimea enjoys a bye until Tuesday when they travel to the Kauai High School gym.
“It’s not over, yet,” Pabre said. “We gotta keep trying. We’re still in it. Tuesday, we find out if we keep on playing. When everything is said and done, it’s like our seniors Agu and Seaton Farias said, ‘In the end, what we take away is valuable life lessons.’ Basketball is just a game, but it is a part of life.”
