Mattos Leads Waiakea to Hilo Classic Title

Waiakea celebrates its championship win at the Hilo High School Holiday Prep Basketball Classic. Photo credit: Brandon Kauhi.

For the second consecutive night, the Waiakea Warriors needed some late game heroics to pull off a victory.

A night after Calvin Mattos found Louie Ondo for a three-pointer to defeat Kea’au, Mattos sank a floater in the paint with just over four seconds left in overtime to lead Waiakea to a 71-69 win over Baldwin to claim the Hilo High School Holiday Prep Basketball Classic boys championship.

“The kids just fought to the end. I’m just so proud of them,” said Waiakea head coach Paul Lee. “They are starting to buy into what we are trying to do.”

Mattos was in a familiar role for Waiakea, leading his team through early foul trouble and cold shooting to make a run at the tournament title. He scored a game-high 33 points, with 19 of those points coming in the final 12 minutes of the game.

“Calvin’s game is getting a lot better,” Lee explained. “He’s starting to trust everybody on the team. He’s not trying to do everything. Tonight, he played well.”

Baldwin (4-5) lost a nine-point lead with :54 remaining in regulation The Bears, visiting from Maui, also held a 67-63 lead in the final few minutes of overtime. But a combination of turnovers, missed free throws, and a gritty Waiakea offense turned the game in favor of the Warriors.

The play that led to Mattos’ game-winning floater started with some controversy. With 22 seconds left in overtime, Louie Ondo caught the inbounds pass on his team’s end of midcourt, but came down to the ground on the opposite side. The officials working the game did not call a backcourt violation, and Mattos ended up hitting the game-winning shot with :04.3 left in the extra period..

Baldwin’s ensuing inbound pass was rifled the length of the floor and knocked out of bounds. The clock ran down to :0.9 remaining, but the officials ruled that extra time inadvertently wound off of the clock. Over two seconds of time was put back, setting the clock at three ticks left, drawing the ire of Lee. The Bears would have one more chance, but Warren Feike’s leaner from 13-feet away drew the back iron, giving the Warriors another tight win.

With under a minute left in regulation, Noah Ferreira started the late comeback with a three-pointer, snapping a streak of 10 consecutive missed shots to cut the score to 58-52. After a turnover, Ferreira sunk a floater in the paint, and another Baldwin turnover game Waiakea the ball back with :24 seconds remaining.

Mattos calmly sank two free throws after the Baldwin turnover. On the other end, Baldwin broke the full court press, but Louie Ondo blocked Sam Balantac’s shot underneath to keep the score tied. Mattos would be fouled again going for a rebound after two missed free throws from Warren Feike, and the junior hit both shots from the charity stripe to even the game with :11.7 remaining in regulation.

Baldwin held its four point advantage with less than two minutes remaining in OT, but Mattos once again stole the spotlight, hitting a three to cut the lead to one with 1:45 remaining. After a basket by Chayse Akaka pushed the Bears’ lead back to three, Mattos tied the game at 69-69 with his fourth triple of the game, going in with just under a minute left.

Balantac led a dominant inside presence for Baldwin, scoring 30 points on 10-for-21 shooting, with 17 of those points coming in the second half and overtime. He was one of the Bears’ steadier free throw shooters, going 10-for-13 from the charity stripe. As a team, however, the visitors from Maui shot 20-for-33 from the line.

Waiakea (7-3) got 14 from Ferreira to supplement Mattos’ stellar performance. Kahinu Alapai battled foul trouble to score seven points, and Wes Amuimuia added six.

Waiakea 16 11 4 27 13 – 71

Baldwin 15 12 11 20 11 – 71