Keanu Akina is still relatively new to match-play pressure.

But the sensations that arise toward the end of a tight match have a familiar feel for the former high school basketball standout turned Division I college golfer.

“When it’s coming down to the wire it feels almost the same as the fourth quarter of a basketball game when you’re tied with a couple minutes left on the clock,” Akina said.

“I think all those games help ease that feeling a little bit.”

Akina got his first experience in match play last summer when he made his debut in the Manoa Cup and ended up on the short end of Hunter Hughes’ comeback in their first-round duel.

This year’s bracket set up a rematch on Wednesday at Oahu Country Club and this time Akina held off Hughes, a former University of Hawaii quarterback, for a 3-and-2 victory to advance to the round of 16 in the Hawaii State Golf Association’s amateur match-play championship.

“I was up the whole round but I never felt like I really had the match secured,” Akina said. “It was a fight all day. It was the same thing last year.

“When I saw his name matched up with me today I was pretty excited because I knew it would be a good match.”

Akina, who recently completed his sophomore year at Brigham Young, will take on University of Hawaii sophomore Tyler Ogawa in today’s 7:18 a.m. tee time at OCC. Ogawa advanced with a 6-and-5 win over four-time Manoa Cup champion Brandan Kop on Wednesday.

Up until a couple of years ago, Akina was far more focused on shooting 3-pointers than counting up his shots on the course.

The Kahuku guard was twice a Star-Advertiser All-State honorable mention pick while helping the Red Raiders reach the state semifinals in 2015 and ’16.

He had dabbled in golf as a youngster, taking lessons with renowned local coaches Casey Nakama and Lance Suzuki and tagging along with future pros Tony and Gipper Finau when they were practicing at Turtle Bay. After basketball season, he played golf for Kahuku and placed 27th in the 2015 high school state golf championship and 29th in 2016

“When I was playing golf as a small kid, I didn’t really love it because I wasn’t good so I didn’t stick with it,” said Akina, who turned his focus to basketball at age 12. “But golf is all mental and sometimes something just clicks.”

He enrolled at Pleasant Grove High School in Utah for his senior year coming off a strong summer basketball tour. The school’s basketball coach also led the golf program and invited Akina to try out for both sports. Despite not picking up a club for three months, Akina ended up shooting the low score in tryouts and his numbers continued to plummet as he picked up playing experience.

“That whole season was a turning point,” Akina said. “I started to shoot numbers I didn’t even know were possible. I shot a 65 and never imagined scoring like that. When you do it one time then it’s like, ‘I can do it.’”

Akina continued to rack up impressive numbers on the basketball court, including a 34-point outburst highlighted by eight 3-pointers in a shootout with Chino Hills, led by LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball.

As he began to collect college basketball offers, BYU’s golf coaches also took notice of Akina’s scores as he rose into the top 10 in Utah and offered him an opportunity to walk on with the Cougars.

“I was weighing my options. I could play D-II or D-III basketball or I could go to a school that I really like that has the major I know I want and play D-I golf, so I decided to try to do that,” Akina said.

“I felt kind of bad because some of the coaches were flying out to Utah to watch me play basketball and they would come over to the house and they would say, ‘what’s this thing going on with golf?’ and I would say, ‘Oh yeah, it’s kind of just for fun.’ But then I ended up choosing to play golf full time so I felt bad for those guys.”

Akina served a two-year mission in Slovakia, Czech Republic, and joined the Cougars as a walk-on for the 2020-21 season. He was put on scholarship this season and last month he tied the course record at Thanksgiving Point in Utah with a 62., matching the mark previously set by 2018 Sony Open in Hawaii champion Patton Kizzire

On Wednesday, Akina was 2-up at the turn against Hughes and took command with a sand save birdie on No. 10 followed by a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 11th hole.

“So solid today, putting was fantastic and he wanted redemption, didn’t you, bro?” Hughes said within earshot of Akina after they ended their match with pars on No. 16, drawing a smile and a nod.

Today’s schedule also include a rematch of last year’s final with top-seeded and defending champion Peter Jung taking on Remington Hirano. UH senior Zachary Sagayaga upset No. 2 seed and qualifying round medalist Keita Okada 2 and 1 on Wednesday and will face Noah Daher today.

The women’s semifinals feature top-seeded and rising Punahou senior Raya Nakao taking on Moanalua’s Mia Hirashima at 8:21 a.m. followed by Kalani’s Kara Kaneshiro meeting Punahou graduate and George Fox sophomore Alison Takamiya.