Kalaheo High School’s Alika Smith believes if you have shooters on your team and you can make the extra pass to get them wide-open looks, only good things can happen.
On Saturday night, the extra pass helped the hot-shooting Mustangs drain 10 of 18 3-pointers on their way to a 62-45 win over Konawaena in the Waiakea/Keaau Boys Basketball Tournament championship game at the Warriors’ gym.
Josh Ko scored 18 points, Kalei Zuttermeister had 14, and Derick Morgan nine points to spark the red-hot Kalaheo performance. Ko hit 3 of 6 treys, Zuttermeister hit 4 of 6, and Morgan added two treys in the explosive attack.
The Oahu Interscholastic Association powerhouse jumped to an 11-0 first quarter lead and held a 29-point advantage midway through the fourth period before senior Kenan Gaspar fueled a late Konawaena run that chopped the final margin to 17. Gaspar scored 18 of the Wildcats’ 25 points in the fourth quarter.
He was the lone Konawaena player in double figures in a nightmarish shooting evening for the Wildcats, who were 1-for-11 from the field in the first half.
Smith, the Kalaheo coach and a former standout for the Mustangs and University of Hawaii, was pleased with his team’s effort against.
The Mustangs finished the four-day, 14-team tournament with a 4-0 record.
“We wanted to push their big guy (6-foot-7 Brenton Shropshire) out from the paint and guard their shooters,” Smith said. “I thought we accomplished that, and Derick Morgan had a terrific defensive game for us.”
The Mustangs’ defense suffocated the Konawaena shooters through three quarters before Gaspar finally heated up and finished with a scoring burst. Shropshire, the Wildcats’ center who had 19 points and 15 rebounds in the win over Kamehameha-Hawaii, was constantly harassed by Kalaheo’s defenders and wasn’t a factor on Saturday.
“It was a good tournament for us,” Smith said. “We did what we needed to do, and we’ll try to build on our momentum.”
In other final round games Saturday at the Waiakea High gym, it was: Kamehameha 57, Hawaii Preparatory Academy 49; Honokaa 45, Ka‘u 39; and Kealakehe 47, Kohala 43.
In earlier games at the Keaau High gym, it was: Keaau 48, Pahoa 46 in overtime; Hilo 72, Kalani 47; and Waiakea JV 34, St. Joseph 30.
Kalaheo 14 14 16 18 — 62
Konawaena 6 8 6 25 — 45
c Kamehameha-Hawaii 57, Hawaii Prep 49: Senior Shaun Kagawa scored 20 points, including 13 in the second half, and Blaine-Allen Manliguis had 16 points, including three treys, to lead the Division I Warriors.
Senior Javon Crnic led the Division II Ka Makani with 26 points, including 17 in the first half. He also had two crowd-thrilling dunks in the opening half, when Kamehameha carried a 27-25 lead into the intermission.
Senior Kama DeSilva added 10 points for Hawaii Prep.
Hawaii Prep 11 14 14 10 — 49
Kamehameha 20 7 15 15 — 57
c Honokaa 45, Ka‘u 39: Keanu Freitas scored 16 points, and Darus Ignacio added 15 to lead the Division II Dragons to a come-from-behind win.
Gregory Javar topped the Trojans with 13 points.
Dragon shooting guard Isaiah Meyer had the shot of the night, banking in an off-balance 30-foot 3-pointer at the end of the third period to give Honokaa a 28-27 lead.
Ka‘u 11 13 3 12 — 39
Honokaa 7 10 11 17 — 45
c Kealakehe 47, Kohala 43: Senior guard Deion Utrera scored 23 points to lead the Division I Waveriders.
Maikala Jordan led the Division II Cowboys with 10 points.
Kohala 14 9 7 13 — 43
Kealakehe 10 6 15 16 — 47
At Keaau
c Keaau 48, Pahoa 46 (OT): Davin Alviento scored 20 points, and Edgar Ventura added 15 to lead the host Cougars.
Senior Nick Fisher led the Daggers with 17 points.
Keaau led 30-17 at the intermission, and the game was tied at 42-42 at the end of regulation. The Cougars then outpointed Pahoa 6-4 in the extra session to earn the win.
Pahoa 7 10 21 4 4 — 46
Keaau 13 17 8 4 6 — 48
c Hilo 72, Kalani 47: Jalen Carvalho scored 19 points, and Jodd Carter had 18 to lead the Vikings to a convincing win.
Dallas Asuncion led the Falcons from Oahu with eight points.
c Waiakea JV 34, St. Joseph 30: Kahinu Alapai scored nine points to lead the young Warriors.
Ben Uhlmann had a game-high 15 points to top the Cardinals.
Waiakea JV 9 9 7 9 — 34
St. Joseph 2 11 11 6 — 30
All-tourney team
Kalaheo’s Josh Ko was named the tournament’s most valuable player on the Hawaii Tribune-Herald’s all-tournament team.
He was joined on the all-tournament squad by teammate Derick Morgan, Konawaena’s Kenan Gaspar, Kamehameha’s Shaun Kagawa, Hawaii Prep’s Javon Crnic and Honokaa’s Keanu Freitas.
