OIA Boys Basketball
Kahuku holds off Moanalua in OIA East opener, 60-55


Wes Nakama
January 3, 2012, 5:24am

  


Mon, Jan 2, 2012 @ Moanalua

Kahuku

60

Moanalua

55

Final 1 2 3 4  
Kahuku (16-1, 23-8) 19 12131660
Moanalua (11-5, 19-11) 13 14 18 1055
K. Puulei-Auld 19 pts  5 3pm
M. Fiso 15 pts
Mikeli Fiso and Kawe Johnson each scored 15 points last night to help visiting Kahuku hold off Moanalua, 60-55, in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division boys basketball opener for both teams.

The game was a rematch of the past two OIA championship games. Under the league's new single round-robin regular season format, the teams will not meet again until the OIA playoffs, if at all.

"They're always scary," Kahuku coach Darren Johnson said of Na Menehune. "I'm glad we don't have to play them two or three more times."

Once was more than enough for him, after watching Moanalua take a 49-46 lead on Kahanu Pu'ulei-Auld's layup with 5:56 remaining. But he felt better after son Kawe drained a 3-pointer two minutes later to start an 11-1 run capped by Evan Ramirez's layup that put the Red Raiders ahead, 57-50, with 1:08 left.

Na Menehune closed it to 58-55 on Pu'ulei-Auld's 3-pointer with 11 ticks showing, but Mason Kuali'i-Moe sank two free throws one second later to effectively seal the victory.

"Johnson hit that 3 and we never recovered," Moanalua coach Greg Tacon said. "We were supposed to be in a zone, but three of our guys were playing zone and two thought we were in man. But I will say we rarely play zone. We went to it tonight because we knew it would be a physical game and we thought it would give us a break."

Na Menehune started quickly enough, with Pu'ulei-Auld swishing a 3-pointer just five seconds into the contest. But Kahuku answered with a 12-3 run topped off by Kuali'i-Moe's jumper to make it 12-6 midway through the first period.

Fiso then scored seven straight points to push the lead to 19-11 before two free throws by Kreig Kepa closed it to 19-13 entering the second quarter.

Moanalua hung tough and cut the lead to 31-27 on Dillon Turk's layup at the halftime buzzer, but suffered a blow earlier when starting post Shane Ratledge left the game with a left knee injury and did not return.

"He's tricky inside, so not having him does hurt," Tacon said.

Eliet Donley bookended an 8-0 run to start the second half with a 3-pointer and layup to give Na Menehune a 35-32 lead, and Pu'ulei-Auld's 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining in the third period put Moanalua up, 45-44, entering the fourth.

"I didn't like how we played in the first half -- I thought we didn't match them physically or in intensity," Tacon said. "But I like how we played in the second half. We dove for balls, we hustled."

But Kahuku also responded, in a way Darren Johnson described as "relentless."

"Give all the credit to the kids," Johnson said. "They were relentless, and that carries over from football. Kahuku is always relentless, and that's our playing advantage."

Johnson said the Red Raiders' strong finish can be attributed to a busy non-league schedule that included 11 games in 23 days, including two in one day.

"We needed that, because you cannot really get your game legs in practice," Johnson said. "We're already behind because of football, so we had to get in shape mentally and physically, because the regular season can be tough."

Pu'ulani-Auld led all scorers with 19 points, including five 3-pointers. Kuali'i-Moe added 12 points for Kahuku.



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