Game of the Week
No. 13 Sierra Canyon romps Kamehameha, 83-34


Ira Lee was one of four Trailblazers to score in double figures. Lee had a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. Greg Yamamoto | SL

The No. 13 team in the nation looked the part Thursday night.

Four players scored in double figures as Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) cruised to an 83-34 win over Kamehameha in the nightcap of the opening day of the 32nd annual Iolani Prep Classic.

Adam Seiko scored 16 points, Ira Lee had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, Terrance McBride added 13 points and Joseph Wallace 10 for the Trailblazers, who advanced to Saturday's second round of the 16-team tournament where they will play Martinsburg (W.Va.), a 73-48 winner over Kahuku Thursday.

Sierra Canyon (6-1), which won the California Interscholastic Federation Division V state title last season and is ranked 13th in the latest USA Today Super 25, led throughout and was never threatened by the Warriors (2-4).

It is the Trailblazers' sixth consecutive victory since a season-opening loss to 11th-ranked Moreau Catholic.

Seiko scored all of his field goals in the first half and had 11 points by the intermission. He also recorded four steals, two rebounds and an assist.

"Adam is a very, very good basketball and he didn't have one of his best games tonight," Sierra Canyon coach Ty Nichols said. "He's an all-around shooter, penetrator, defender — he guards the best player on the other team — he's a very good player."

As a team, the Trailblazers made 30 of their 36 free throws.

"That's a big-time accomplishment, because that's the first time actually that we've shot that well from the free-throw line," Seiko said. "In practice we really focus on free throws because we're such a quick team and aggressive team, so we know that we're going to get to the free-throw line for most of the game so just knocking them down is all that matters."

Nichols was happy with his team's 83 percent free-throw shooting, but still saw room for improvement.

"I was really pleased with how we shot from the free throw line — 30 for 36 — will work and other than that we did some OK things and some things not OK.," Nichols said. "We could look more fluid on offense. Defensively, I feel we could have gotten our hands on more balls and we need to do that."

Sierra Canyon was 55 percent (21-of-38) shooting from the field and out rebounded Kamehameha, 41 to 17.

Marcus Feinberg had 11 rebounds, four points, four steals and a block off the bench. University of Nevada-Reno commit Devearl Ramsey chipped in nine points. All 10 of the Trailblazers who played scored at least two points.

Sierra Canyon opened the game on an 8-2 run and led 16-5 following Seiko's outback. It held an 18-9 advantage after the first quarter.

The score was 29-19 before Seiko knocked down an eight-foot jumper near the midpoint of the second quarter to ignite an 18-0 run.

"Our whole season focus is one game at a time and one possession at a time and if we can string some possessions in a row like that then we're going to be all right," Nichols said.

Kamehameha went scoreless for more than seven minutes and trailed at halftime, 61-26.

The Trailblazers, who arrived in town Wednesday night, opened the second half on a 6-0 run led by as many as 50 points.

The late start time — tip off was at approximately 8:30 p.m. — didn't affect Sierra Canyon much.

"No, it wasn't tough," Seiko said. "This morning we got a shoot around at 10 o'clock and then after that we had a practice at 12:35 (p.m.) and we practiced at the gym also, so for the most part we were pretty warm. We were ready to go and we were motivated. We're always motivated to come in and play hard, so I don't think there's ever a time where we're ever waiting. We were ready today."

Kamehameha shot just 6 of 27 (22 percent) from the field and got to the free-throw line just eight times. It was whistled for 25 fouls to 13 for Sierra Canyon.

Jayden Zarriello had nine points and Kaeler Kahana eight fot the Warriors, who committed 27 turnovers — 16 in the first half alone.

Both teams have the day off Friday before returning to the court Saturday. Kamehameha will play Kahuku in an 11 a.m. consolation game, while Sierra Canyon will face off with Martinsburg (W.Va.) in a 5 p.m. quarterfinal.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].