Kamehameha's Jaycob Smith drives to the basket against Santa Margarita. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Santa Margarita's Blake Oosdyke secures a rebound in traffic against Kamehameha. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kamehameha's Jordan Paulo heads to the basket against Santa Margarita. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Santa Margarita's Novak Topalovic puts up a shot over Kamehameha's Kayson Smith-Bejgrowicz. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kamehameha's Noa Kinimaka puts up a shot against Santa Margarita. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Mon, Dec 30, 2013 @

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Santa Margarita

35

Kamehameha

40

Final	1	2	3	4
Santa Margarita	7	4	15	9	35
Kamehameha (6-6, 18-10)	13	8	8	11	40

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. Smith 13 pts  2 3pm  1/3 FTs

B. Oosdyke 9 pts  1 3pm  0/0 FTs

J. Smith 5 tot

B. Oosdyke 8 tot

N. Kinimaka 1 ast

D. Klines 1 ast

MANOA – The Kamehameha Warriors are looking primed and ready for the regular season.

Kamehameha, ranked No. 5 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, held off a furious Santa Margarita (Calif.) Eagles’ rally to take top honors in the 8th annual Saint Francis/Merv Lopes Hoops Classic Monday night. The Warriors end the preseason with a seven game win streak to finish 12-4 in non-league play.

“I’m happy for our kids,” Kamehameha coach Greg Tacon said on winning the tourney. “In the big scheme of things it means nothing, but it’s great for our confidence.”

Jaycob Smith led the Warriors with 13 points and five rebounds. The junior swingman came up with some clutch plays in the fourth quarter, hitting a tough layup to retake the lead for good. He also put back a teammate’s missed shot in the final minute to put the game out of reach.

“We played together as a team,” Smith said on the win. “There were times when we had our ups and downs, but we just came right back and picked each other up.”

Kamehameha also benefitted from an inspiring performance from Noa Kinimaka off the bench, contributing ten points and four rebounds. Kinimaka played with a heavy heart, dealing with tragedy prior to the championship game.

“First of all I wanted to dedicate that whole game to my grandma,” said Kinimaka. “I know she would have loved to be at this game; she’s been at all my games. I just came out here and I knew what needed to get done, and I think I would have made my grandma proud tonight.”

While the Warriors' offense wasn’t on point consistently, their effort on the defensive end was relentless. They held the visiting Eagles to 29.8 percent shooting and forced them to commit 19 turnovers.

“The main thing was we helped (out) on the post,” Tacon said on his team’s defensive performance. “We tried to challenge shooters, made sure we didn’t foul them, and we boxed out as much as we can.”

Santa Margarita got the first scoring going with a quick bucket after winning the opening tipoff. However, Kamehameha answered with eight unanswered points to give them the lead, one that they would not give up for majority of the game. Smith’s deep 3-pointer gave the Warriors a 13-7 lead after the first quarter.

The second quarter was more of a defensive struggle, with the Eagles only able to muster four points in the quarter. Kamehameha was also held in check, only able to get going offensively after a Kinimaka trey with less than two minutes remaining in the first half. Just like the first quarter, the Warriors closed out the second quarter with a triple, this time from Fatu Sua-Godinet’s buzzer beater. Kamehameha led 21-11 at the break.

A trip to the locker room seemed to give the Eagles new life as they outscored Kamehameha by seven points in the third quarter. Devonte Klines’ steal and dunk capped a 10-0 Eagles’ run to make it a one-possession game. Kamehameha’s Nakoa Pauole hit a free throw just before the end of the quarter to make the score 29-26.

To start the fourth quarter, Santa Margarita’s Colin Ferrier hit a corner 3-pointer from the corner to tie things up at 29-all. Kinimaka split a pair at the free throw line to break the tie, but Joe Furstinger got a bucket in the lane to put the Eagles up by one. Smith answered with a tough layup and the Warriors were able to outscore Santa Margarita 10-4 the rest of the way.

Leading the way for Santa Margarita was Oosdyke with nine points and eight rebounds. Furstinger, a University of New Mexico commit, was limited to seven points after scoring 18 in the semifinal round.

Kamehameha opens up Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I play at ‘Iolani Saturday, Jan. 4. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m.