Kaiser squeezes out victory over Kahuku on Senior Night

Kaiser's Kenji Toyama drives to the basket in the waning seconds against Kahuku. He made one of two free throws after being fouled on this drive, which was the eventual margin of victory. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Kaiser closed out the regular season with a key 41-40 win over third ranked Kahuku, and in the process sent off its eight seniors with a bang.

Kenji Toyama hit the back end of a two-shot foul to give the Cougars the one point edge, and the Kaiser faithful in attendance held their collective breaths for the next 4.8 ticks as Kahuku inbounded the ball and swung it around to the far corner, where Dre Falls came up with a key deflection leaving just 0.1 seconds left in regulation.

The ensuing inbounds toss was placed at the rim, likely drawn up to go to Kahuku's six-foot-nine post Oscar Cheng, but the trajectory of the pass swished the ball through basket, resulting in the ball being turned over to Kaiser. On the ensuing inbounds, Drummer literally handed the ball to Kahuku's Robbie Sauvao, who threw the ball towards the goal but time had already expired.

Kaiser jumped out to an early 12-5 lead after the first quarter, but watched the margin chip away as the Red Raiders used the inside-outside combo of Amari Westmoreland-Vendiola (19 pts, 2 threes) and Cheng (10 pts, 9 rebs, 3 stl, 2 blk) to claw their way back.

With 34 seconds left in regulation, Gio Flowers missed the front end of a one and one, which led to a transition opportunity for Kahuku.

Two passes later, the ball ended up in the hands of a wide open Westmoreland-Vendiola, who swished through a three from the wing to knot the game up at 40.

On the next possession, Toyama let the clock run down to about 10 seconds before driving towards the key area, getting just a sliver of space on his Kahuku defender after a behind the back dribble, and went up for a layup attempt where he was fouled.

Only four players scored for Kaiser.

Mario Drummer led the way with 13 points and six rebounds, and Cyrus Singelman added 11 points, three rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Nalu Kanaluu chipped in nine points and Toyama had eight to round out the scoring for the Cougars.

Kaiser looks to be slotted in as the fourth seed out of the East, with Kahuku in as the second seed in the upcoming OIA Division I playoffs.