Cyrus Kama posts 19 points to propel Lahainaluna to the Holiday Hoops Classic title game, Tuesday at Saint Francis School gym. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 1 of 1

Mon, Dec 29, 2014 @

---

Lahainaluna

72

Radford

30

Final	1	2	3	4
Lahainaluna (14-0, 26-3)	21	12	27	12	72
Radford (6-5, 11-13)	12	4	6	8	30

J. Gober 9 pts  1/2 FTs

C. Kama 19 pts  3/7 FTs

MANOA - Despite missing one of its bigs, Lahainaluna still dominated inside in sinking Radford, 72-30, in a semifinal of the Holiday Hoops Classic Monday at Saint Francis School gym.

The Lunas will play the Chestermere Lakes of Alberta, Canada, for the tournament championship at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Chestermere beat Kailua, 53-45, in the other semifinal on Monday.

Cyrus Kama, a 6-foot-3 center/forward, led the Lunas with 19 points, 16 of which came inside the paint. Guard Josh Chapital added 16 points, 10 coming in the second half.

Lahainaluna was without 6-4 forward Ryan Madera, who sustained an elbow injury against Kailua on Saturday. He is expected to ready for the Maui Interscholastic League season opener this Saturday.

"We're actually missing Ryan Madera, who in the Kailua game, had 12 stitches in his elbow," Lahainaluna's first-year coach Jason Justus said. "Our inside game's good. We really didn't show a lot of outside tonight because of the fact we couldn't shoot the ball well.

"Radford's pressure defense - they were in our faces like a swarm of bees - so it was really hard to get a shot off."

The Rams were plagued by turnovers that allowed the Lunas runs of 12-0 in the first quarter, 8-0 to open the second, 17-2 to end the third and 8-0 to start the fourth.

Kama had a team-leading seven rebounds of the team's 24. He also blocked four shots. Marvin Sidon, who had 12 points, had five rebounds and two steals.

"He missed quite a bit of layups, though," Justus said of Kama. "He would've done a lot better if that was the case. But it's good to see Cyrus actually come out and do well for us."

The title game against Chestermere will be the Lunas' final tuneup for the Maui Interscholastic League season, which opens this weekend. Justus is cautiously optimistic.

"It's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sometimes," Justus said. "We never know what we're going to get when we come out. Our physical game, we're pretty good. Mentally, we have a lot of work to do. That's where we're at. We want to instill a lot of mental toughness in these kids. And it's not just in basketball, but in life."

Justus, a program director at the YMCA, had been officiating MIL basketball games the past eight years before taking on the coaching job for the Lunas.

"It's good to know the game, so I get to scream at them, instead of being screamed at," joked Justus.

Jordan Gober led Radford with nine points and six rebounds. Jordan Riley followed with eight, including his team's sole 3-pointer and Maleek Walker had seven plus three steals.