Boys basketball: Warriors edge Bears
Photo by Kimani Fernandez-Roy
Junior Austin Peters drives past Baldwin High School defenders Saturday Jan. 14 at Kaʻulaheanuiokamoku Gymnasium. Both the Bears and the Warriors kept the fans on the edge of their seats in a close and competitive match-up.
The Kamehameha Schools Maui boys basketball ball team exchanged leads with Baldwin High School in a heated battle Saturday Jan. 14 at Kaʻulaheanuiokamoku Gymnasium, the Warriors came out with a 56-45 win.
The Warriors who, until this season, hadnʻt beaten the Bears since the 2010-2011 MIL season, jumped out to a great and early start. With the help of senior Keomaikalani Chun, who made 7 of his 21 points in the first quarter, the Warriors were able to outscore the Bears to take a 16-7 lead after the quarter.
Darius Pulgados of Baldwin High School had all of his eight points in the second quarter to help the Bears outscore the Warriors 14-11 in the second.
Although the Warriors came into the third leading 27-21, with the help of Kainalu Lacno and Mochi Dukelow, the Bears were able to take their first lead of the game outscoring the Warriors 15-6 in the third.
However, the Warriors would not disappear that easy. With crucial layups made by both Chun and fellow senior Hanalei Hoopai-Sylva, the Warriors took a 6-point lead with four minutes left to play.
Senior Keomaikalani Chun lays the ball up in the fourth quarter to help extend the Warriors’ lead.
The Bears would later cut the lead down to three with just two minutes of play left after a successful 3-point field goal by Mark Villalba. That however, is as close as the Bears would come for the remainder of the game.
With five more games left in the regular season, the Warriors still have much to work on, especially after losing junior Kea Aguirre, who transferred to Maui High School during winter break.
Head coach Angus Peters III emphasized “playing a complete game” as something the Warriors need to work on for future challenges. “We only have spots of glory,” he said, elaborating on how the Warriors played well here and there but not throughout the entire game.
“We really need to push each other, we canʻt ease off at practice,” Sylva said. The Warriors also hope to improve on defense in hopes of holding their opponents to under 30 points a game. They also talked about working even harder in practice to improve for future competition.
