West Linn's Ty Cleland puts up a shot against Iolani II. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 1 of 5

Iolani's Marc Ma grabs a rebound against West Linn. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 2 of 5

Iolani's Preston Kamada puts up a shot against West Linn. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 3 of 5

Iolani's Kameron Ho-Ching soars in for layup against West Linn. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 4 of 5

West Linn's Anthony Mathis puts up a circus shot against Iolani II. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 5 of 5

Tue, Dec 17, 2013 @ Iolani

---

West Linn

84

Iolani II

26

Final	1	2	3	4
West Linn	26	23	12	23	84
Iolani II	7	2	8	9	26

P. Kamada 7 pts  0/2 FTs

A. Mathis 15 pts  1 3pm  0/0 FTs

The Lions from West Linn, Oregon overwhelmed 'Iolani II, 84-26, in the opening day of the 'Iolani Classic on Tuesday night at 6:30. The Lions are making their first appearance in the 'Iolani Classic while the 'Iolani II Raiders make an appearance after a five year absence.

"We were told it's one of the best tournaments in the country and we want to match up against the best and hopefully it will make us better in the long run for our season," said West Linn coach Eric Viukhola.

The Lions escaped the cold, winter weather in Oregon and have been enjoying their stay on O'ahu for the past couple days.

"It's been awesome, we had great hospitality and the weather been great. Our weather has been 20 degrees for the past two weeks. We're finally happy to play a game because we've been here since Sunday. We practiced everyday and we kept saying we want to get better. We want to make it fun, but we also tell them that our goal is to win a state championship. It's the whole team's goal and they're fired up about that so we just remind them what our purpose is and they're a focused group," said Viukhola.

In the first quarter, the Lions got off to a quick start and scored 26 points and hit three three-pointers. Ty Cleland scored 8 points and had 2 of the team's 3 three-pointers in the first quarter. Anthony Mathis also poured in 7 points in the first quarter. 'Iolani II's Danny Tan made a layup just before the buzzer sounded.

"That's our style and our trade mark is to get up and down and pressure them and make them play our style so that's what we're focusing on," said Viukhola, on their fast start.

"Everything we talked to our kids about, we just got exposed. They (West Linn) did a great job moving the ball and cut without the basketball well. Our guys came out tentative and so that's the end result. When you play against a good team and when you're tentative and not together, you get exposed," said 'Iolani II coach Neil Tamabayashi.

The Lions went on a 22-0 to start the second quarter and pressured the Raiders using a full court press. Kameron Ho-Ching broke the scoring drought as he made the team's only basket of the quarter at around the 1:28 mark. Cody Coppedge scored 10 of his 12 points in the quarter. He finished the game with 14 points.

West Linn outscored the Raiders 35-17 in the second half.

"Second half I think the boys played better and did a better job competing. Playing against a mainland team, I think it's butterflies and nerves. It took a while to get through that and we got punched in the mouth and we have to learn how to come back and deal with adversity better. I definitely think that it taught us and our guys what we need to work on. I think tonight it was an excellent learning experience for our guys and the things we were talking about we were exposed tonight so we have to move on.

Four West Linn players scored in double digits. Anthony Mathis led the Lions with 15 points, Payton Pritchard scored 12 including two three-pointers and Ty Cleland added 10 and two three pointers.

Preston Kamada led the Raiders with 7 points and Jase Kugiya added 5 points and absorbed two charges, and Marc Ma added more than 8 rebounds.

West Linn advances to play 'Iolani on 12/19 at 5 pm while 'Iolani II plays Radford at 11 am on 12/19.