Kamehameha earned the weekend off while Hawaii Prep gained top billing heading into the BIIF boys basketball playoffs.
In Kailua-Kona, Izayah Chartrand-Penera continued his big season with 18 points Thursday as the Warriors beat Kealakehe 59-51, avoiding a play-in game and locking down the third seed in the Division I tournament.
Kaupena Yasso added 13 points to complement Chartrand-Penera, who was 10 for 10 from the free throw line.
“When he’s aggressive and playing downhill, he’s a tough cover, because he can also shoot,” Warriors coach Mea Wong said.
The Waveriders (7-5) fall into the playoff tiebreaker with Konawaena and will head to Kealakekua for 6 p.m. Saturday contest to decide the fourth seed.
The better spectacle Thursday might have been in Waimea, where Ka Makani handed Kohala its first loss, 69-59, in front another amped-up crowd at Castle Gym.
”The environment was amazing, I don’t think there have ever been more people in our gym,” HPA coach Fred Wawner said. “Good sportsmanship and just a good night for high school basketball.”
And a good night for Ka Makani (11-1). KJ Walker scored 16 points and Michael Hughes added 15 for HPA, which led by eight at halftime and 10 heading into a high-scoring fourth quarter – each team posted 20 points – to clinch the top seed in the Division II tournament.
“We handled their pressure for the most part pretty well,” Wawner said. “We got some key stops and kind of were able to push the lead a little bit, and then we hung on for dear life.”
Kamehameha (8-4) made its move in the third quarter, doubling up on Kealakehe 14-7 to take an 11-point lead into the fourth en route to its third win in a row and eighth in 10 games.
“We made small adjustments in how we were defending their ball screens, and it helped us out a lot,” Wong said.
Howard Robert scored 14 points for the Waveriders, who beat the Wildcats 39-33 on Jan. 20 and will have to do so again to reach the BIIF tournament for the first time since 2015. The winner draws No. 1 Waiakea (10-1) in Tuesday’s semifinals at the Waveriders’ gym, followed by a contest between No. 2 Hilo (9-3) and Kamehameha.
The Vikings controlled Kamehameha 53-45 in a BIIF opener at Hilo’s gym in December in what was only the Warriors’ third game of the season.
“We’re headed in the right direction and have a few days to prepare for Hilo,” Wong said. “If we can execute our game plan, we should be successful.”
If the seeds hold in D-II, the Cowboys and Ka Makani will see one another gain next week
O’Shen Cazimero led Kohala (10-1) with 13 points and Koby Agbayani had 12. The Cowboys finish the regular season Saturday against Waiakea in Kapaau. A Cowboys loss would give HPA and automatic state berth as the outright regular season D-II champion, but either way Kohala will be the second seed and play Pahoa in the semifinals.
HPA draws Honokaa, which secured the final playoff spot Friday with a 57-42 win at Parker.
“We feel like our best basketball is ahead of us,” Wawner said. “We’ve been in a lot of different scenarios and we want to learn from those.”
