Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
Jalen Carvalho wasn’t ready for his high school career to end.
Hilo’s senior standout scored 36 points Saturday and the Vikings secured the final spot in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division I boys basketball postseason with a 80-74 victory against Kealakehe at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
Austin Dante added 22 points and EJ Narido had 12 for the Vikings (6-5) in the win-or-go-home regular-season finale.
The Waveriders (5-6) had won three straight to get back in contention. Jonah Kaulia finished with 14 for Kealakehe and Justin Freddy added 11.
The Vikings’ victory sets up a semifinal against top-seeded Konawaena (9-2) next Friday in the Division I semifinals at Hilo Civic. In the other semifinal, No. 2 Waiakea (9-2) and No. 3 Kamehameha (7-4) match up. A pair of Hawaii High School Athletic Association spots will be on the line after the Wildcats failed to secure an automatic berth Saturday with a 53-52 loss to Hawaii Prep at home.
Ka Makani (11-0), who finished the season as the lone BIIF unbeaten, are the top seed in the Division II tournament and draw Honokaa (2-9) on Friday in the semifinals at Hilo Civic. No. 2 Kohala (9-2) and No. 3 Pahoa (4-7) meet in the other semifinal. The tournament champion claims and an automatic berth in the state D-II tournament on Oahu. The BIIF runner-up will host the Interscholastic League of Honolulu third-place finisher in a play-in game for the eighth-and-final spot in the state D-II tourney.
Kealakehe 18 14 17 25 — 74
Hilo 19 14 20 27 — 80
Hawaii Prep 53, Konawaena 52: Kellen Gillins made a pair of clutch free throws with 24 seconds left and Hawaii Prep held on in front of a capacity crowd in Kealakekua.
“Our goal was to hang in there until the end, and hopefully make it a possession by possession game, which we were able to do,” said HPA co-coach Dave Huntington. “And then luckily it ended the way it did. It could have gone the other way. Both teams are good teams, and this is how we want these league games to be.”
After relinquishing its halftime lead and trailing by six in the opening moments of the fourth quarter, Ka Makani’s perfect season seemed to be jeopardy. But HPA senior guard Kalan Camaro hit two big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help unbeaten Ka Makani keep its streak intact.
“Konawaena’s a good team, they got a great crowd, and they went on a really big run,” said Camero, who led HPA with 16 points. “We just had to calm down and run our stuff. Play defense, get stops. And that’s what we did.
“Fortunately my teammates got me the ball right when I needed it. It was a great game.
“Now we’ve got to take care of business in BIIF championships, hopefully get to state from there.”
Konawaena looked to have the game under control when Brandon Awa nailed a long 3-pointer with just over 30 seconds left in regulation to give the Wildcats a 52-51 lead. However, Gillins quickly found himself at the free-throw line for Ka Makani after he was fouled while handling the ball. Even though it was a nonshooting foul, the Wildcats already had eight team fouls to put HPA in the bonus, and Gillins came through by making the two biggest free throws of the night. Konawaena coaches and fans were screaming that the call should have been a jump ball.
Konawaena then in-bounded the ball to Awa, who was fouled while trying to set up for a shot. HPA only had three team fouls, so the Wildcats had to take the ball out of bounds. Awa passed the ball in to Jonah Bredeson, who turned and shot but was fouled. However, it was whistled as a non-shooting foul, and Konawaena was again awarded the ball out of bounds with just three seconds left.
Bredeson again caught the in-bounds pass, but had no clear look at the basket. He tried to force a shot around an HPA defender, but the shot bounced off the rim. No foul was called and the final buzzer sounded to a chorus of boos resonating throughout the gym.
“You can’t call that touch foul to give them the lead and then not blow your whistle on the last shot,” said Konawaena coach Donny Awa. “Jonah (Bredeson) got cleaned out down there; everyone in the gym saw the foul. The game can’t end like that, not on a tackle.“
Konawaena started strong and led 6-4 after three quick baskets by Bredeson, but lost most of the early momentum when Gillins fed the ball to Colin Renfro for a dunk down low for HPA. The Wildcats couldn’t get shots to fall and were just 7-of-14 from the line in the first half, and HPA led 29-24 at the break.
However, the Wildcats came out of the locker room smoking hot. Konawaena started the second half with a 10-0 run, highlighted by treys from Awa and Takaki. HPA responded with back-to-back threes from Justas Gecas to stay in the game, but overall were outscored 15-6 in the third quarter.
And after a steal by Bredeson and a basket by Kevin Medeiros to start the fourth quarter, Konawaena had its largest lead of the game at 41-35. But Ka Makani kept battling back, and after two huge three-pointers by Camero they were able to close the gap and sneak away with the win.
HPA 15 14 6 18 — 53
Kona 10 14 15 13 — 52
Waiakea 56, Pahoa 46: At Pahoa, Calvin Mattos scored 14 points and Dillon Rellez had 10 to lead the Warriors, who finished the regular season with five straight victories.
Tolby Saito led the Daggers with 23 points and Keinan Agonias had 10.
In JV play, Waiakea beat Pahoa 63-30.
Kamehameha 57, Keaau 45: Pukana Vincent scored 14 points and Dayson Alip has nine as the Warriors (7-4) went on the road to win their third straight.
The Cougars wrapped up a 4-7 season. Edgar Ventura led the way with 13 points and Isaih Segobia added nine.
Kamehameha won the JV game 72-43.
Kamehameha 12 21 12 12 —57
Keaau 6 10 12 17 —45
Kohala 95, Honokaa 85: Kealen Figueroa poured in 32 points at Honokaa Armory to lead another balanced scoring attack for the Cowboys (8-3)
Mikala Jordan chipped in with 22 points, and Ryan Caravalho and Shaun Ray Ramos contributed 16 and 15, respectively.
Cjay Carvalho led five players in double figures for the Dragons (2-9) with 20 points. Wayne Vaoga added 17, Nathan Gascon 16, Tyson Datuin 13 and Makana Ibanez 11.
In JV action, Honokaa beat Kohala 55-36.
Friday
Ka’u 65, St. Joseph 57: Larry-Dan Al-Navarro scored 25 points Friday night as the Trojans finished their season on a high note at Hilo Civic by earning their first victory.
Brian Gascon contributed 13 points for Ka’u (1-10).
Ben Uhlmann led the Cardinals (0-11) with 25 points, and Michael Silva had 16.
Ka’u 19 12 18 16 —65
St. Joseph 14 11 13 19 —57