Kamehameha escapes with 53-52 win over Marykoll

Kamehameha's Alohi Robins-Hardy puts up a shot against Maryknoll. Greg Yamamoto | SL

In a battle of ILH unbeaten teams, Kamehameha led by as many as 20 points in the second quarter, but had to hold on for dear life to eke out a 53-52 win over Maryknoll at Kekuhaupi'o gym.

Kamehameha improved its league record to 4-0, while Maryknoll dropped to 2-1.

"Just fell short" said Maryknoll's animated coach Chico Furtado, who worked as hard as any player on the court. "Check the scoreboard. I don't know about their math up here-but don't print that" he jokingly added, sounding like a coach who had reason to be proud of this team's effort.

Maryknoll trailed 24-4 with six minutes left in the second quarter with Furtado admonishing his team to "quit playing passive."

"I had to coach them, because I couldn't find a rock to hide under." he explained.

The Spartans got his message using a press that caused six Warrior turnovers and outscored Kamehameha 19 to 6 the rest of the quarter to cut the margin to seven, 30-23 at the half.

"There was nothing Kamehameha did that we didn't prepare for. They (his players) have just gotta believe" added Furtado.

Kamehameha had started the game on a 9-0 run holding Maryknoll scoreless for nearly five minutes. The Warriors lost starter Brachelle Nueka, who injured her left knee four minutes into the game and did not return. Tori-Jean Cambra came off the bench to score five of her nine points to aid the Warriors' fast start.

"We got lackadaisical You cannot do that against a quality team like Maryknoll" said Kamehameha coach Darold Imanaka, explaining how his team lost its big lead. "I have to do a better job coaching. This was a good lesson for us." he added.

After the teams battled on even terms in the third quarter, Kamehameha expanded its lead to eleven, 49-38, on Tiare Kanoa's basket with 5:33 left in the game. The Warriors did not score a field goal and missed 8 of 12 free throw attempts the rest of the way.

Still, their lead appeared safe, when after calling a time out with 2:47 left, Kamehameha effectively played keep-away to take a minute and five seconds off the clock.

But Maryknoll, which never led, rallied making six of six free throws down the stretch. When Cianna Ochoco hit a three-pointer to make the score 53-52 there were 3 seconds to play. Kamehameha missed a pair of free throws with 1.9 seconds to go, but Maryknoll threw a pass out-of-bounds as the game ended.

Kanoa's second of two free throws with 10.3 seconds left provided the winning margin. "The crowd made a lot of noise and I had to focus" said Kanoa, who along with teammates Taira Robins-Hardy and Lilia Maio each scored 10 points to lead the Warriors.

For Maryknoll, Ochoco had 15 points, including a pair of treys, to lead all scorers. Maia Laboy added 11, including a layup and 4 of 4 free throws in the final 1;24.

Kamehameha won despite being a woeful 6 of 17 from the free throw line. By contrast, Maryknoll was an impressive 19 of 23 from the charity stripe, including 13 of 14 in the second half.

The two teams meet again on January 23rd at Maryknoll.