Kapolei rolls past Saint Francis, 46-32

Kapolei's Christopher Dillard puts up a jump shot over the defense of Saint Francis' Shabir Lynton. Sylvia Lee | SL

MANOA-Joshua Wills and Christopher Dillard combined for 21 points and Kapolei beat Saint Francis, 46-32, in a semifinal of the Merv Lopes Hoops Classic VII Friday night at Manoa Recreation Center gym.

The Hurricanes will play Foothill of Henderson, Nev., in Saturday's championship at 8 p.m. Foothill beat Thousand Oaks (Calif.), 63-54, in the other semifinal.

Dillard led with 11 points, seven coming in the second half, while Wills added 10, six in the first half.

Kapolei took a 20-16 lead into the half, but broke the game open early in the third quarter. Dillard opened with a 3-pointer and Wills scored on layups after making steals to make it 27-18. The Saints could not recover.

The spark from Wills was redemption from the day before, when he scored just six points in a 62-55 win against Kamehameha-Hawaii. He could've easily been the team's scoring leader, but was in a rut, missing a number of "easy" layups.

"I told him he needed to step up his game today, which he did," Kapolei coach Gary Ellison said. "He came through. He responded to the call. He was getting it from the coaches. He missed five easy layups yesterday."

Added Wills: "That was my motivation. I felt like I let the team down. The easy ones, you gotta get 'em to go. I went to the park after, just kept working."

The Hurricanes were looking to shore up their depth. After this tournament, they will open the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red West season by hosting contender Mililani on Thursday.

"Our bench is coming alive," Ellison said. "That's what we've been focusing on a lot. Right now, we've got two starters out in Zach Reeves and Elijah Gipson; one's got a concussion and the other had surgery on his nose. Overall, the team is pulling tougher. We've got players stepping up."

The host Saints also were playing without two starters in 6-foot-6 Matthew Nuumanaia (bruised knee) and 6-3 Blayne Won (stitches near his eye).

"When you don't have your two main players - you're strong post guy and the other guy who does a lot of cutting and rebounding - you put yourself at a disadvantage," Saint Francis coach Sol Batoon said. "We had to with our young guys, put 'em in there (despite) having little playing time. They get lot of jitters so they make a lot of mistakes. We turned the ball over a little too much tonight."

Austin Ursua led the Saints with nine points, more than half from 5-of-6 free-throw shooting.

Saint Francis is prepping for its Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II season.

Wills didn't waste time in redeeming himself from the game before.. He scored Kapolei's first two baskets - both on layups, the second off a steal - to start the game. He is looking forward to next week's season opener.

"We're definitely jelling now," Wills said. "Hopefully, we have a good year."

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].