Guards Louie Ondo and Cody Kojima led Waiakea into the championship game of the Hilo High Holiday Prep Classic. Ondo scored 18 points and Kojima added 16 on Friday night as the Warriors beat Keaau 54-48.
Waiakea advanced to play Pahoa at 8 p.m. Saturday in the final in a game that ended after the Tribune-Herald’s deadline. The Daggers, who beat Honokaa 53-42 in the other semifinal, will be playing in their third preseason tournament championship game in as many weeks.
Calvin Mattos chipped in with 12 points for Waiakea while Charles Caldwell had 10 for the Cougars.
Jo-Joe Villa made a basket midway though the third quarter to give Keaau its first lead of the second half at 35-34, but Kojima and Ondo, the reigning Big Island Interscholastic Federation cross-country champion, hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Warriors the lead for good.
Waiakea 20 10 16 8 —54
Keaau 13 15 12 7 —47
Pahoa 53, Honokaa 42: Keinan Agonias and Kili Olivera took some of the scoring load away from Tolby Saito, scoring 20 and 14 points, respectively, as the Daggers took control in the second half.
Shyrome Batin led all scorers with 24 points for the Dragons, who trailed 23-21 at the break.
Saito led Pahoa to the championship at the Waiakea-Keaau tournament two weeks ago, and then the standout guard guided Pahoa to a runner-up finish last week at the Cardinal Classic.
Batin is averaging 26.5 points per game at the tournament for Honokaa, which faced the Cougars at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the third-place game.
Pahoa 8 15 18 12 —53
Honokaa 13 11 10 8 —42
Kohala 52, Hilo 39: Maui Hook scored 11 points as the Cowboys reached the fifth-place game.
Dominic Padasdao led the Vikings with 23 points.
Kohala 12 13 11 16 —52
Hilo 7 11 8 13—39
St. Joseph 57, Ka’u 47: Cody DeSilva paced the Cardinals with 24 points and Manato Fukuda had 18.
Brian Gascon scored a game-high 26 for Ka’u, and Damon Hertz had 11.
St. Joseph 6 17 16 18 —57
Ka’u 8 8 13 20—49
GLANCE
Thursday
Pahoa 46, St. Joseph 11
Honokaa 68, Ka‘u 60
Waiakea 55, Kohala 38
Keaau 42, Hilo 40
Friday
St. Joseph 57, Ka‘u 49
Kohala 52, Hilo 39
Pahoa 53, Honokaa 42
Waiakea 54, Keaau 47
Saturday
Final: Waiakea vs. Pahoa, late
Third place: Honokaa vs. Keaau, late
Fifth place: St. Joseph vs. Kohala, late
Seventh place: St. Joseph vs. Hilo, late
For more on Saturday’s games, visit www.hawaiitribune- herald.com
