It won’t mean a thing as Waiakea attempts to defend its BIIF Division I boys basketball championship, but the Warriors can stake a claim as the unofficial winner of the Hilo preseason circuit.
On Saturday at the St. Joseph Cardinal Classic, they jumped out to a big lead on Hilo and Kiai Apele, Keegan Scanlan, Elijah Blankenship and company had more than enough to hold of the Vikings, 65-57 at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
Waiakea bounced back from a 46-36 loss to Iolani one night earlier, beating its rival for the second this preseason. The first time came in the semifinals of the Waiakea-Keaau tournament, which the Warriors went on to win.
During the first weekend in December – while Hilo was winning its Holiday Prep Classic – the Warriors went to Oahu and tested themselves in a loss to Punahou while beating Roosevelt and Waipahu.
“Everybody is just trying to figure out their roles, and that’s what the preseason is for,” said assistant Clayton Kaneshiro, who was filling in for coach Paul Lee.
If Hilo looked worn down as it tried to battle back against Waiakea, there was good reason. Earlier on Saturday, the Vikings edged Iolani 42-41, with Guyson Ogata hitting the game-winner jumper with 1.8 seconds remaining.
Hilo’s plan to manage the fatigue factor of playing twice gave way to competitive spirit, coach Bruce Ferreira said.
“I knew we were either going to go easy against Iolani or we were going to be tired” against Waiakea,” he said. “The boys decided to go for it. They said they could do it.”
Waiakea started strong.
Paul Isotani Jr. took a long pass from Apele and scored on a layup to help the Warriors to a 31-14 halftime lead.
“They build a really big lead,” Ferreira said, “but we were able to get some subs in and it was valuable for us.”
Scanlan hit two 3-pointers as Waiakea went ahead by 20 in the third quarter, and his three-point play put the Warriors ahead 62-42 in the fourth quarter.
Hilo cut the lead to eight before Apele hit a runner in the lane to seal it.
“The boys are fired up, they know Hilo is a really good team, and they have so much team speed, we had problems everywhere with them,” Kaneshiro said.
And with that, the Warriors can get started on that title defense. Waiakea hosts Kamehameha (0-1) on Saturday night.
