Bishop O'Dowd downs Kamehameha-Hawai'i, 59-44


Bishop O'Dowd guard Kendall Jackson puts up a shot attempt as Kamehameha-Hawaii guard Lanaki Apele defends. Greg Yamamoto | SL
Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) started the second half with an 8-2 run and ended the third period with an 8-0 spurt to pull away from Kamehameha-Hawai'i en route to a 59-44 victory yesterday in the opening round of the 28th Annual 'Iolani Prep Classic.

The Dragons, who finished second in last season's California Division III State Championships, will play Fairfax (Los Angeles) in tomorrow's 6:30 p.m. quarterfinals.

The Warriors will face Kahuku at noon in Monday's consolation bracket.

"People might have thought we would lose by 50 or 40, but our guys play all summer and our guards have gone to Las Vegas (for summer tournaments), so they've gone up against guys with height before," Kamehameha-Hawai'i coach Dominic Pacheco said. "If we hit a few shots here or there, it might have been a different game. We needed to value our possessions more and run our offense instead of making just one or two passes and turning it over. But I'm proud of our team, they played Warriors-style basketball until the end."

Kamehameha-Hawai'i led 10-7 with 3:26 remaining in the first period after a layup by Kekoa Turner, but Bishop O'Dowd responded with eight straight points on four consecutive layups to go up, 15-10, some 90 seconds later.

The Warriors cut it to 16-15 on Micah Carter's free throw three minutes into the second quarter, but the Dragons answered with three straight fast-break baskets in the next minute to make it 22-15 and later took a 26-20 lead into halftime.

Bishop O'Dowd then began the third period with an 8-2 run, and after Shaun Kagawa's 3-pointer cut it to 39-32 with 2:49 left, the Dragons ended the quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 47-32 lead into the fourth. After Kagawa opened the final quarter with another 3 to cut it to 47-35, Terrence Daniel Jr. responded with a layup and slam dunk to start a 7-2 run that pushed the lead to 54-37 with 2:44 remaining, and Kamehameha-Hawai'i could not get closer than the final score.

"They're a class group of guys, their players are well-disciplined and they're going to beat a lot of people because those two guards (Kagawa and Lanaki Apele) are super quick," Bishop O'Dowd coach Doug Vierra said. "I think they frustrated us early with their traps, but then we were able to get the ball to the middle and the sides and we started using our height by going inside and finishing. And defensively, we did a better job on those two guards."

Kaeo Alapai led the Warriors with 12 points.