HILO – Kohala freshman O’Shen Cazimero made it look so easy, scoring and setting up his teammates against Hilo, which didn’t have any defensive answers for the smooth-dribbling point guard.
Cazimero scored 22 points, and the Cowboys ran past Hilo 63-51 in a BIIF game on Tuesday night at the Vikings gym.
Dawstin Hoopai added 12 points for the Cowboys (5-1), who shot 54 percent from the floor and finished with just 15 turnovers.
Jonah Tominaga muscled his way for 12 points, and Rayson Padilla added 12 points while Kaukahi Alameda battled through foul trouble and had seven points for the Vikings (4-2), who shot 51 percent.
For most of the game, whenever Hilo made a run, the Cowboys forced turnovers, 18 in all, and did their ball-sharing best to get easy baskets.
Cazimero finished with two 3-pointer and four layups, he finished 9 of 14 from the floor and streaked down the court in transition to feed his teammates.
The Cowboys shot a scorching 56 percent from the field to grab a 36-26 halftime lead.
They worked the ball for clean looks and often dribbled past Hilo’s ball pressure.
Cazimero scored 10 points in the first half and made 3 of 4 shots. The Viks assigned freshman Kasen Mehau on Cazimero, who raced to the rim when he got mismatches off ball screens.
Kohala converted three 3-balls, the last for a 28-15 lead late in the first quarter.
Tominaga cleaned the glass and dominated the boards for eight points in the first half for the Vikings, who shot 48 percent. Hilo couldn’t get its transition going but started to find its long-distance mark. The Viks drained two 3-pointers in the second quarter, the last by Padilla to cut the score to 30-23 with 1:54 left.
Under the heading: You don’t see this every day. A Viking scored for Kohala to give the Cowboys a 32-23 lead. It was an inbound play, and most of the players were running down the court toward Hilo’s basket.
In the third quarter, the pace slowed down, and the Cowboys outscored the Vikings just 12-9, running a lot of time off the clock.
Kohala opened the final quarter with consecutive 3-pointers, one by Cazimero and another by Laakea Kauka for a 42-28 cushion.
Alameda picked up his fifth foul with 3:15 remaining.
Kohala 20 16 12 15 — 63
Hilo 11 15 9 16 — 51
Hawaii Prep 66, Konawaena 50: Valentinas Ulinas scored 22 points and Matija Vitorovic added 17 in Waimea as Ka Makani made its move in the second half to run their record to 5-0.
Ethan Neru scored 16 to lead the Wildcats (4-3), who have lost two in a row and are 3-3 against D-II teams this season.
HPA led 25-24 at halftime, but it increased its lead to nine after the third quarter and won going away.
Parker 48, St. Joseph 27: Conner Brown scored 24 points as the Bulls won at UHH gym to improve to 2-3 in the tight D-II race.
The Cardinals fell to 0-6.