Hawaii Kai – McKinley used pressure defense and clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch to hold off Kaiser, 57-50, at Kaiser Gymnasium.

Leading the way for the Tigers was senior guard Dayton Lee who finished the game with 19 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
 
"We moved the ball around and shifted the defense and were able to find the open man," remarked the 6-foot-2 Lee about the win.

McKinley moved the ball around well, as they were able double up Kaiser in the assist category with 12 assists in the game.

The Tigers were able to keep the game at their pace utilizing pressure defense to take a 15-9 lead at the half.

In the second frame, Kaiser got as close as 22-16 at the 4:25 mark before Mckinley went an 8-3 run to end the half and took a 30-19 lead into the break.

It was a tale of different halves for the Cougars, as they went to a smaller line in the second half and played with more energy.

With 3:55 to go in the third quarter trailing by eleven, 38-27 Kaiser turned it up defensively and went on a 7-2 run to end the quarter, which included a 3-pointer from junior guard Kelsey Lewis II.

Lewis II finished the game as the Cougars' top scorer with 14 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Kaiser ran an alley-oop play for Chance Kalaugher to open the fourth quarter and the 6-foot-5 forward finished the play for his first field goal of the game. Coming into the game Kalaugher was ranked sixth in scoring in the OIA White with a 13.8 point per game average. In tonight's contest Kalaugher was held to just 7 points, 4 rebounds and was frustrated by foul trouble.

"Chance is a great player he can score from the outside he can definitely score on the inside, we just made it known to all the players on the team that when he gets the ball we either double him or we put a lot more focus on him, we'd rather him give up the ball and have the others execute," said McKinley head coach Duane Omori.

At the 6:43 mark, senior guard Melvin Kahunanui would get back-to-back steals and make a brilliant pass to sophomore guard Nicholas Tom on the second steal for a fast break lay in and pull the Cougars to within two points of the Tigers.

Kaiser got no closer however, as McKinley's Lee was perfect from the line down the stretch to help the Tigers oeld on for the victory.

In addition to Lee's production, McKinley got 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals from junior guard Macjun Otarra.

"We didn't cherish the basketball, we were very lose with our passes very lackadaisical and the bottom line is when you got a quick team like McKinley everything has to be sharp," commented Kaiser head coach Branden Kawazoe.

The pressure and quickness of the Tigers forced Kaiser into 11 steals in the game and 17 turnovers in the game.

"We knew Kaiser was going to be a very tough team it's a big confidence boaster for us it showed that we're able to play different kind of styles of opponents. It's a tough road in the East, on any given night you just got to be prepared," commented coach Omori.

McKinley improved their record in the OIA Red East play to 4-2, while Kaiser fell to 3-4 but is still tied for the top spot in the OIA White East