'Iolani advances past Radford, 60-39

Iolani's Zachary Buscher goes up for a shot as Radford's Absolom Henry defends. Greg Yamamoto | SL

HONOLULU – The home team jumped out to an early 10-0 lead and never looked back, cruising past Radford 60-39 in the first round of the 30th annual ‘Iolani Prep Basketball Classic.

“It was good to have our guys come out with some fire, knock down some shots and come out with this win and move into the winner’s bracket,” ‘Iolani coach Dean Shimamato said after the game.

'Iolani, ranked fourth in the inaugural ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, continued their winning ways in the preseason, going 7-0 since their first exhibition game.

“The whole preseason we’re just trying to prepare for the regular season,” said Shimamato. “Everytime we come out here and get to play against somebody --no matter who it is --it’s an opportunity for our team to get better and to get one step closer to being ready for Jan. 4 (and the start of the regular season).”

It was a total team effort displayed by the Raiders Tuesday night, seeing ten of their players connect on at least one field goal. The Raiders’ bench actually outscored the starters 35-25, led by reserves Pikai Winchester and Shane Lay who scored 14 points and 11 points respectively. Winchester connected on three of his four three-point attempts and Lay completed all four of his field goal attempts.

“(My job is to) bring some energy to the team, get some shots up. Basically (to) try and get my teammates to pick up the tempo and run the plays,” Winchester said explaining his mindset coming off the bench.

“We’re twelve strong,” Shimamato said regarding his bench’s strong effort. “All our guys are ready and we tell them to be ready. We expect to play a lot of our guys over the course of our season (and) we expect those (kinds of) contributions from our bench. It’s good to see them come in ready and step up. They did a great job.”

Ball movement was key for the Raiders, having assisted on 11 of their 22 made baskets with junior guard Erik Yamada leading the way with four dimes. The selfless ball movement helped the Raiders shoot 44.9 percent from the field, 47.1 percent behind the arc.

“They were taking good shots; we talk a lot about focusing on the process” Shimamato said on the team’s good shooting performance. “We got a lot of inside out looks from our threes. They were balanced, their footwork was good and they knocked them in.”

'Iolani was also won the turnover battle, 26-17, as well as outrebounded Radford by three boards.

“(I’m) real proud of our guys for focusing on the things in practice,” said Shimamato.

Tobias Powell was a bright spot for the Rams, working his way into the starting lineup after coming off the bench in the Jim Alegre tournament two weeks ago. Powell finished with a game-high 15 points, and also accumulated six rebounds and one steal. Other Radford notables were Derrick McLamore’s game-high four steals, and center Absolom Henry’s game-high nine rebounds and two blocked shots.

‘Iolani advances into the winner’s bracket and will take on the Lions of West Linn (Ore.) Thursday, Dec. 19 in a quarter final matchup. Radford slides on over into the consolation bracket and will face the Raiders’ Division II team, who lost to the Lions 84-26.

The Raiders are hoping to get back the services of their freshman center, Hugh Hogland, who sat out of Tuesday’s game with a cold.

Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].