The 60-point club is an exclusive place to be.

With his Nanakuli Golden Hawks in a battle for top seeding in Oahu Interscholastic Association West Division II boys basketball, Kukilakila Kahalekai rose to the challenge. The 5-foot-11 senior scored 61 points in a win over Waialua last Wednesday, becoming one of the few to venture into that territory.

Jim Nicholson of Saint Louis scored 60 in a win over Mid-Pacific on Feb. 5, 1966. Ah Chew Goo of Hilo is said to have scored more than 70 for the Hilo Vikings in a game nearly a century ago.

Kahalekai had been on a scoring tear of late with 27 against Campbell and 26 on Aiea prior to the Waialua game.

“He gets it. He’s learned a lot from the beginning of the season,” Nanakuli coach Wes Pacheco said. “He kind of was passive. He wasn’t taking what they were giving him.

“We were up against Waianae and Leilehua in the fourth quarter, and he kind of slowed down, so our strategy moving forward is be a dude, we’re going to James Harden you. It’s a gamble, but I’m willing to do that because he’s a good kid, 4.0 GPA.”

Many of Kahalekai’s buckets came on the receiving end of passes from point guard Kaipo Burnett, who had 10 assists. Kahalekai also dished out his share with eight assists.

“We needed the win,” Kahalekai said. “The whole day, I was banking on this game. I told my teammates I wanted to go for a lot of points, and they said, we want you to go for it, too.

“I knew I was going to keep going and going until the game was over. My point guard, Kaipo Burnett, is doing everything for me, drawing defenders and making the correct reads.”

The Golden Hawks are chasing Waianae for the top seed in the OIA West Division II standings. OIA D-II is often a mini-gauntlet. This year, Farrington and Kaiser have stepped up in the East, and Kaimuki has started to gain momentum after wins over Kaiser and Castle.

After the 61-point game, Kahalekai was limited to a modest 10 points in a key 52-42 win over Waipahu on Saturday. Nanakuli is 3-5, just behind Waianae (3-4) with two games left in the regular season.

Kahalekai’s ambition is tied to his team’s championship dream, not a scoring average. When teams box-and-one against him, it frees up other Golden Hawks to make plays and score.

Pacheco marvels at the senior’s year-round work ethic. Kahalekai spent hours with assistant coach Joseph Atimua getting 6 a.m. shooting reps in at Mahiko Gym during the summer, and at the school gym in the fall.

“He puts in so much work. All of the work he’s doing, he understands the examples we’ve given him,” Pacheco said. “Guys like Kameron Ng (of St. Francis) being in the gym at 5 a.m. He’s a focused kid, a darn good kid.

“If they keep playing the way they’re playing now, I think our kids are understanding it. We’ve just got to peak at the right time. We want that 1 (in the West) because this team deserves to be in states.”

The unseeded can rise

The vault of state-tournament information meticulously catalogued by Thomas Yoshida is a treasure for basketball historians like Frank Mauz, who was there for the first girls state tournament in 1977 and has rarely missed a moment in the four decades since.

The retired math instructor and former basketball writer for the Honolulu Advertiser took in the ‘Iolani-Kamehameha game on Saturday, and with the Raiders’ first girls basketball title since 2012, Mauz mined this information.

The eventual state champion has been the No. 1 seed on 23 occasions. Ten times, the champion was the second seed and in six other years, the champ was a No. 3 seed. A No. 4 seed has never won the girls state title (D-I).

Three times, an unseeded team won the state crown. Kamehameha was Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up in ’88 before taking home the koa trophy. The Warriors did the same in ’93. In ’01, Aiea was unseeded out of the OIA, then won the state title.

Having to play an extra game while seeded teams get an opening-round bye is a major factor for unseeded contenders. Playing on back-to-back days has a direct affect on endurance. However, in recent seasons, the HHSAA has scheduled those opening-round games on a Monday, with the next round three days later. It’s the same time frame for this year’s Snapple/HHSAA Girls Basketball State Championships, which will begin Feb. 4.

If ILH runner-up Kamehameha is going to make a title run with standout scorer and rebounder Kalina Obrey, this is a golden opportunity.

HPA going strong

Hawaii Prep is the only team with an unblemished record in the BIIF at 9-0.

Ka Makani showed their potential in preseason, beating a talented Hilo squad 51-48, losing to Saint Louis 59-53 and Moanalua 61-56, then beating then-No. 7 Mid-Pacific 38-32. They also lost to Roosevelt 46-37 before returning to the Big Island to start the regular season.

Since then, it’s been dominance, including a signature win at Waiakea, 61-50, on Wednesday. Ka Makani did not receive any votes from the coaches and media panel of the Star-Advertiser Top 10, but Waiakea did. In fact, the Warriors were just two points behind No. 10 Saint Louis in the balloting last week. For reference, Waiakea beat Kailua in preseason at the St. Francis Holiday Hoops Classic.

Coach Fred Wawner’s HPA squad might not climb into the poll this week, but with a tiny enrollment on the bucolic slopes of the Kohala mountains, the BIIF’s best team as of right now could eventually become the third designated Division II team to land in the rankings. The other two are Damien and Farrington.