BY BOB HOGUE
DIGITAL SPORTS HAWAII
SENIOR SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
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Konawaena made history Thursday night by holding off Kamehameha down the stretch, winning 54-53 to win their quarterfinal round matchup in the HHSAA boys basketball state tournament at Radford.
“This is a big win for Konawaena and the Big Island,” said Auston Lazoff, who scored a game high 16 points in the one-point victory for the Wildcats. “We’ve never made it to the semifinals before.”
BIIF champion Konawaena broke open a close game in the third quarter with a suffocating zone defense, holding Kamehameha scoreless for several minutes, and building up a double digit lead. Besides Lazoff, Darryl Milana played extremely well during that stretch and finished with 15 points on the night. Midway through the fourth quarter, Konawaena led 48-37.
But then the Warriors, who finished third in the tough ILH race, stepped up their own defense and finally started knocking down some big shots. Kamehameha scored seven straight points in a span of about a minute to pull within four points at 48-44.
That’s when Lazoff made a big three-point play for Konawaena and Milana hit a key free throw to push the lead back to seven points. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they missed several key free-throw opportunities after that, thus giving the Warriors a chance to rally.
In the final seconds, Chaz Bajet knocked down a long three-pointer to bring Kamehameha to within one point, 5-4-53 with 4.3 seconds on the clock. The Warriors called a quick time-out, then fouled on the inbounds play, but after two straight missed free throws by Konawaena, the Warriors could only get off a desperation half-court heave at the buzzer and the Wildcats prevailed with the one-point victory.
“It got a little crazy there at the end,” said Konawaena head coach Donny Awa, “but we were able to hold on and that’s the most important thing.”
Konawaena now faces ILH runner-up Punahou Friday night at the Blaisdell Arena in the HHSAA semifinals. Kamehameha moves on to the consolation round.
BOX SCORES FROM OTHER D-I TOURNAMENT ACTIONS:
Results from Day 2 of the Hawaiian Airlines Boys Basketball State Championships.
DIVISION I
BOYS DI @ McKinley
Game 5 (consolation semifinal): Campbell (11-6) def. Kalaheo (14-3)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Kalaheo 23 12 17 22 74
Campbell 10 22 20 23 75
Kalaheo – Cheynne Lishman, 24 points; Campbell – Michael Makinano, 30 points.
BOYS DI @ McKinley
Game 6 (quarterfinal): KS-Hawaii (14-2) def. #4 KS-Maui (12-4)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
KS-Hawaii 13 15 13 11 52
KS-Maui 7 8 10 13 38
KS-Hawaii – Colton Collins, 12 points; KS-Maui – Kekoa Turbeville, 12 points.
BOYS DI @ McKinley
Game 7 (quarterfinal): Moanalua (13-5) def. #1 Iolani (11-3)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Moanalua 10 11 20 17 58
#1 Iolani 8 12 15 20 55
Moanalua – Stevie Austin, 23 points; Iolani – Taylor Mounts, 21 points.
BOYS DI @ Radford
Game 8 (consolation semifinal): Kahuku (12-5) def. Lahainaluna (11-6)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Lahainaluna 15 8 18 8 49
Kahuku 11 15 16 20 62
Lahainaluna – John Craig, 15 points; Kahuku – Mikeli Damuni, 18 points.
BOYS DI @ Radford
Game 9 (quarterfinal): #2 Konawaena (15-1) def. KS-Kapalama (12-5)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
KS-Kapalama 14 6 11 22 53
Konawaena 15 17 8 14 54
KS-Kapalama – Blake Viena, 11 points; Konawaena – Austonn Lazoff, 17 points.
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