Konawaena's Chase Takaki puts up a layup against Mililani. Evan Asato | SL

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Konawaena's Zane Gray makes a layup against Mililani. Kristen Izumigawa | Special to SL

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Konawaena's Jonah Bredesen scored 21 points for the wildcats against Mililani. Evan Asato | SL

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Thu, Dec 12, 2013 @ Kalaheo

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Konawaena

71

Mililani

61

Final	1	2	3	4
Konawaena (11-2, 17-3)	21	17	13	20	71
Mililani (10-3, 15-12)	17	13	16	15	61

C. Sison 12 pts  6/6 FTs

J. Bredeson 21 pts  7/8 FTs

KAILUA — Short on players but not on conditioning, Konawaena ran past Mililani, 71-61, in an opening-round game of the Pete Smith Basketball Classic at Kalaheo Thursday night.

Jonah Bredesen scored a game-high 21 points and Brandon Awa added 19 as the Wildcats advanced into Friday's semifinal round of the eight-team preseason tournament. Konawaena, which suited up just eight players, led for nearly the entirety of the game.

Bredesen scored 14 of his points in the first half, including 10 in the opening quarter, and made seven of his eight free-throw attempts. He was held scoreless in the third quarter, but finished strong with seven points in the fourth. Brandon Awa, the son of the coach, also played well in the final quarter with nine points and was 7-of-10 from the charity stripe.

"We needed to hit free throws down the stretch and get the ball in Brandon's hands," Konawaena coach Donald Awa said. "He's the more polished of the point guards — Chase (Takaki) and (Pookela Hanato-Smith), they’re getting there, but they still make some mistakes here and there — and we didn’t shoot the ball well in the first half, so we weren’t able to pull away."

Mililani was whistled for 24 fouls to 17 for Konawaena. The Wildcats shot 21 of 32 from the free-throw line, while the Trojans were 9 of 13. Konawaena scored numerous easy baskets on fastbreaks, thanks in large part to some poor transition defense by Mililani.

"We can't slow it down with bigger teams — our biggest guy is about 6-1," Brandon Awa said. "Mililani is way bigger than us — so is every team — so we had to push the tempo a little more, get back into our full-court game and start taking some of the mismatches. We had to attack the mismatches, which is the pick-and-rolls with the big guys guarding our centers. Our big guys can shoot and the pick-and-pop is perfect for us."

The Trojans held an early lead at 6-4, but the Wildcats used a 9-0 run to separate midway through the first quarter. Konawaena led 21-17 to start the second quarter and stretched it to an 11-point lead — its largest of the game — midway through the period on a Kevin Medeiros basket off an assist from Hanato-Smith. Mililani's Jeremy Rozmeski banked in a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first half to cut the Wildcats' lead to 38-30 at the intermission. 

Mililani cut the deficit to five points after three quick baskets — including a steal and coast-to-coast layup by Elijah Butler — early in the third quater. Konawaena maintained a 51-46 advantage after three quarters, but Mililani pulled within 53-51 with 5:34 remaining on an Ian Namu basket off an Elijah Gambol assist.

However, the Wildcats answered with a 13-2 run in the next 3:01, including nine points by Brandon Awa, to make it 66-53. Mililani got within eight points at 69-61 in the game's final minute, but got no closer.

Kekoa Fields and Cody Sison led the Trojans with 12 points apiece and Butler added 10.

Bredesen made seven of Konawaena's 19 field goals, including five in the first half.

"He’s our scorer, he’s the guy we look to give us points when nothing else is working," Donald Awa said of Bredesen. "He's the guy who can create his own shot when we attack off the dribble. He can be that inside-outside guy; If they put a big guy on him, I want him taking him off the dribble, and if they put a small guy he can post 'em up."

Coach and son agreed that free-throw shooting was a key factor in the game.

"Free throws (are) key, especially now when they're calling more fouls on the ball, so we're trying to shoot more free throws in practice," Brandon Awa said.

Donald Awa said he has three other players who did not participate in Thursday's game.

"I have 11 (players) on the varsity, but one of them has a broken arm — he's a freshman and he's usually part of my eight-man rotation — and I have two others that I left behind (on the Big Island) because they don't play much," he said.

Konawaena will play reigning Division II state champion Saint Francis in a 7 p.m. semifinal Friday. The Saints beat Campbell Thursday, 51-43.