Kayman Lewis scored 15 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:50 remaining, as Roosevelt outlasted McKinley 28-25 on Thursday night.
“It feels good as a team, but there’s a lot of things we’ve got to fix,” the junior wing said. “I didn’t even notice until I looked at the scoreboard and I was like, oh, we’re up, let’s go. Let’s ‘D’ up now.”
Roosevelt suited up just seven players as teams throughout the state march on while adhering to COVID-19 protocols.
“A win’s a win. It was ugly,” Rough Riders coach Steve Hathaway said. “I told our team we’re going to win a lot of ugly games. We’ve got to win games 35-28, 28-25. It sounds like a football score.”
It was the Oahu Interscholastic Association regular-season opener for both teams. Roosevelt survived McKinley’s onslaught of 3-point shooting. The Tigers sank four in the first quarter to open a 14-12 lead, but went cold from long range against the Rough Riders’ zone.
Roosevelt led 24-23 entering the fourth quarter. After Lewis’ trey gave Roosevelt the lead, McKinley had multiple chances to tie the game or take the lead. Ian Venzon’s steal and pass to Rovil Medina led to a missed layup. Medina got the offensive rebound, but the ball was stolen by Roosevelt’s Kainalu Davis. With less than a minute left, Venzon missed a straightaway 3 and the Tigers got the offensive carom, but turned the ball over.
Kainoa Mizukami hit the front end of a 1-and-1 with 33 seconds remaining for a three-point lead. Michael Papa missed a 12-foot bank shot in traffic, but after Kamuela Kaaihue missed the front of a 1-and-1 with 15.8 seconds left, Venzon had another open 3 from the top, but missed with 2.5 seconds left.
Mizukami missed his 1-and-1, but Davis hustled for the offensive board to end the battle.
Anthony Hoang led McKinley with 10 points. The Tigers played two preseason games and Roosevelt had one. Despite the lack of game reps together, Roosevelt looked more comfortable with its zone offense by the second half.
“Our passes. We had a lot of turnovers tonight. It got better, but we like to start like that in the first quarter,” Lewis said. “We’re working hard against each other at practice.”
Veteran Tigers coach Duane Omori is optimistic.
“For the first game, we understood there would be butterflies. It was more about game-time experience that will help us. Although we came out on the losing end, the tight games will help us learn how to play in them,” Omori said. “And finish games the correct way.”
