Waiakea Dominates Interior to Defeat KS-Hawai`i

Owen Sandstrom’s double-double led a dominant frontcourt effort by the Waiakea Warriors in their 53-35 victory over Kamehameha-Hawai`i in consolation play of the Larry Manliguis Hilo High Holiday Classic.

The senior forward scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the victory. His Warriors out-rebounded Kamehameha-Hawai`i 27-18 for the game, one of the game’s most telling stats.

Cody Kojima’s buzzer-beating layup drew Waiakea even with Kamehameha-Hawai`i at 12 after the end of the first quarter. That’s when the tone of the game began to change. Forwards Lucas St. George and Mark Pacris led the charge for Waiakea in the second quarter, scoring 10 of the team’s 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting. In addition, the private school Warriors committed five second quarter turnovers and shot 2-for-9 from the field, falling behind by a halftime score of 29-16.

Kamehameha-Hawai`i struggled to get back in the game out of the locker room. Seven more turnovers, coupled with a 2-for-8 third quarter shooting slump held them to only 20 points after three quarters, trailing by a 40-20 tally with eight minutes left in the game.

KS-Hawai`i started to find their touch from the outside in the fourth quarter. Blaine-Allen La`akea Manliguis sank a pair of treys in the fourth quarter while Shaun Kagawa added another, the only three pointers they hit all afternoon. Waiakea never allowed them back into the game, however, with Pacris and Sandstrom each putting in a pair of inside baskets to keep the game out of reach.

Pacris led all scorers with 12 points. St. George added 10 points and seven rebounds.

Kamehameha-Hawai`i was led by Kagawa’s nine points on 4-of-7 shooting. La`akea Manliguis followed with his six fourth quarter points.

Kamehameha-Hawai`i will play in Saturday’s 2:00 p.m. seventh place game against the Hanalani Royals, who lost to Kea`au. Waiakea will face the Cougars in the 3:30 p.m. consolation championship game.

In the third place game, Kohala will face the Baldwin Bears at 5:00 p.m. The championship game at 7:00 p.m. will pit host Hilo High against the Pearl City Chargers.

Waiakea 12 17 11 13 – 53

Kamehameha-Hawai`i 12 4 4 15 – 35

Other tournament scores

Kea`au 63, Hanalani 41

Pearl City 36, Baldwin 30

Hilo 84, Kohala 58