When fourth-ranked Kahuku visited Pete Smith Court to take on second-ranked Kalaheo Wednesday night, it led to an unlikely comeback by the home team, as well as an unlikely reunion.

Kahuku seniors Hyrum Harris and Tamamoko Green, along with Kalaheo senior Kaleb Gilmore were teammates at Maryknoll two seasons ago. The trio helped the Spartans to a runner-up finish (losing to Kalaheo in an overtime thriller) in the Division I boys basketball state tournament.

Harris and Green fell off the rader, so to speak, following that season, but resurfaced as Red Raiders just prior to the start of the preseason this year.

Gilmore's Mustangs got the better of Harris' Red Raiders, 62-56, in the matchup of 1-0 OIA East teams.

Both players were pivotal to their teams Wednesday night. Gilmore scored a team-high 22 points — including 8 of Kalaheo's 12 points in overtime — while Harris scored 16 points and pulled down 17 rebounds.

Kalaheo rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit and took advantage of Kahuku's instability at point guard without Alohi Gilman (who coach Alan Akina says is still recovering from a football injury).

"That hurt us a little bit because we couldn't sub our normal rotation," Akina said.

Harris concurred.

"They just put more pressure on our guards than we wanted and they adjusted and we didn't adjust," Harris said. "I guess it's just the learning curve that we have to adjust for next time."

The good news for Kahuku — and consequently, the bad news for the opposing eight teams left on the Red Raiders' regular-season schedule — is that the sky is the limit for this unit.

"We haven't been together that long. We still a long ways to go — as you saw in the last quarter — but we're going to work at it," Harris said. "We'll come back stronger as a team."

As for seeing his old teammate again — albeit in the opposing uniform — Wednesday, Harris was reminiscent.

"It was good to see him. I miss him on the court as well, but it was good to play against him, too," Harris said of Gilmore. "It's a good competition. He's a good guy."

Gilmore was all smiles when asked about reuniting with Harris.

"Honestly, it was a big surprise. I never thought I'd see them again, but it was good to see them," Gilmore said. "In the beginning of the game when we were warming up a little bit we metat the halfcourt and kind of said, 'What's up?' It was nice to see them."

Green has yet to appear in a game for the Red Raiders.