Sixth-ranked Kailua went on a 17-3 run in the third quarter to rally for a 65-47 win over Kaimuki on Wednesday night.
The win keeps the Surfriders in contention for the top seed in the OIA East. Kailua is 8-1 in league play and will visit Kahuku (9-0) on Friday. A Kailua win could lead to a three-way tie among Kailua, Kahuku and Kalaheo, if the latter wins both of its games this week.
“Winning against Kaimuki tonight now makes it worth something on Friday. I’ll make sure I go look at what the (tiebreaker) parameters) are,” Surfriders coach Walter Marciel said.
The top two teams in the East will earn first-round byes in the OIA Division I playoffs.
Sophomore Maddox Pung led the Surfriders offensively with 24 points on Senior Night, including 6-for-6 shooting at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. Senior Noa Donnelly had
16 points, 18 rebounds and two blocks. Skyler Unten tallied 10 points, all in the second half, as Kailua (19-4 overall) rallied from a 26-22 deficit against the dangerous Bulldogs.
“The first half, we were taking good shots and they just weren’t going in, but they were open looks,” Marciel said. “What we wanted to do in the third quarter was take better shots, good percentage shots that we work on in practice, and we brought the (full court) press back in.”
Jeremiah White had 17 points and Daysen Lupica added 13 for Kaimuki (11-12 overall). Sophomore ManDuy Pham connected on three treys and finished with 12 points.
“Every game we go into, we want to make it winnable. We were close, but close is not good enough,” Kaimuki coach Greydon Espinda said. “We just had a bad third quarter and we couldn’t recover. We just didn’t hit our shots. Kailua’s a good team. This was our last opportunity to try and beat a Top 10 team and it didn’t work out.”
Kaimuki will close regular-season play against Roosevelt on Saturday, then embark on the Division II playoffs. There will likely be at least one Top 10 team in the D-II state tourney if the Bulldogs make it that far.
“We try not to look at us as a D-II team. We have the personnel to compete at the D-I level. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it tonight. Hat’s off to Kailua,” Espinda said.
Kaimuki’s zone defense stifled the Surfriders for more than one half. Trailing 31-26 in the third quarter, Kailua woke up and began to dominate the offensive glass. After a cold-shooting first half, the home team got in sync. Dylan Kunz swished a 3 and Donnelly stole the ensuing inbounds pass
for an easy layup. After a jumper by Unten and a jump hook by Maddox Pung,
Kailua had a 43-34 lead going after three quarters.
The Surfriders then scored the first six points
of the fourth quarter to open a 49-34 lead. Kaimuki got within 59-46 on another 3 by Pham, but got no closer.
“That’s a good Bulldog team. From the beginning of the year, I watched their scores. Jeremiah is a phenomenal player. Can play inside and out. They’ve got a good group that blends in with him,” Marciel said.
Despite eight turnovers before intermission, Kaimuki stayed close then surged ahead in the final 3 minutes of the first half. Daysen Lupica fed Iosefa Letuli, who rattled home a 3-pointer at the buzzer to open Kaimuki’s lead to 26-22.
Free throws by White opened the lead to 31-25 early in the second quarter, but Kailua went to another level. The Surfriders’ man-to-man defense limited Kaimuki to 2-for-13 shooting from the field in the third stanza.
In the junior varsity game, Kailua prevailed over Kaimuki, 47-30.
