HILO – It was uptempo basketball at its finest for Konawaena, which relied on its punishing defense and ran past Hilo in a showdown of unbeatens.
The Wildcats stormed by the Vikings 62-32 in a BIIF game on Friday night, remaining atop the Division I standings and showing their championship experience.
Austin Akau scored 15 points, Kamakana Ching 12 while Austin Ewing and Hauoli Akau had nine points each for the Wildcats (3-0), who hit 45 percent (22 of 49) from the field, frequently working the ball inside for clean looks.
Lawrence Padasdao and Liko Medeiros scored six points each while Isaac Liu was held to just two points for the Vikings (2-1), who shot 30 percent (10 of 33) from the floor, including 1 of 8 in the third quarter, often missing turnaround jump shots.
Konawaena forced 27 turnovers and capitalized with a 22-2 scoring advantage of free gifts. The Wildcats, who won BIIF titles from 2013 to ’15, had 22 giveaways but often raced back on defense to deny any easy baskets.
“We had guys run off (after turnovers), and we’ve got some pretty fast guys,” Konawaena coach Donny Awa said. “And they can finish.”
When Konawaena trapped, the Viks either committed a turnover or failed to find the open shooter, one reason for their low shooting percentage.
It was close for a quarter. The Wildcats were ahead 14-11 after they first eight minutes. And it appeared to be a competitive game.
Then it got lopsided. Konawaena outscored Hilo 22-6 in the second quarter and 12-5 in the third period. The visitors led 48-22 heading into the fourth quarter.
“Hilo came to play, and they were beating off us the dribble,” Awa said. “But it was team effort on both side of the ball for us.”
Konawaena went charging into halftime with a 36-17 cushion, keyed by a 17-0 run in the second quarter.
In the middle of that scoring spurt, the Wildcats scored six straight points set up by an intentional foul. Akau was intentionally fouled on a layup attempt. He converted the layup and the two technical foul free throws.
The Wildcats got the ball back, and Ching scored on an inbound play for a 25-14 lead. It was a 6-0 run that still wasn’t finished. Konawaena added another nine unanswered points for a 34-14 cushion with under a minute left in the second quarter.
For most of the game, Konawaena frequently attacked the rim either in transition or half-court sets, drew fouls and made 15 of 24 free throws.
Hilo didn’t shoot any free throws in the first half and finished 7 of 14 from the line in the second half.
Ching was an early highlight when he scored eight points in the first half, including six in the first quarter, dropping in a pair of layups off turnovers to start the avalanche.
Konawaena 14 22 12 14 — 62
Hilo 11 6 5 10 — 32