Hot start, strong finish powers Radford over Kalani

Radford's Chase Grover goes up for a fast break layup against Kalani in the first quarter. Michael Lasquero | SL

This one finished the way that it finished.

Host Radford dominated the first and final quarters to get past Kalani, 52-41, Tuesday night in the opening round of the OIA Division I Boys Basketball playoffs at James Alegre Gymnasium.

The Rams (12-9 overall, 8-3 OIA), the West's third-seeded team in the 12-team tourney, outscored the Falcons (8-15, 4-8) by 10 in the opening quarter and by 11 in the final period of play.

Rodney Villanueva led the way for Radford with 17 points with three made triples to help the Rams advance to Wednesday's quarterfinals against Kahuku, the East's second seed, in a 6 p.m. contest.

Chase Grover followed with 10 points and Marcus Hill added seven points despite dealing with foul trouble.

The Rams also got solid contributions from the bench with reserves Chris Love and Joshua Balais each scoring six points.

Brandon Chung scored 17 points and made 9 of 10 free throws to lead Kalani in its season-ending loss.

Ball movement and a trapping defense led to many high-percentage buckets for the Rams in the opening quarter as they took a 19-9 lead into the second period.

Kalani struck back in the second and third quarters however with a 2-3 zone defense that puzzled the Rams with Hill sitting with a pair of fouls.

A 3-pointer by Kainoa Lee tied the game at 27 for Kalani with 6:58 in the third quarter and a three-point play by Micah Kouchi just before the end of the period sent the game tied at 36 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Rams scored the first seven points of the final stanza and never looked back the rest of the way. Chung stopped the run with a bucket with 4:25 remaining to make it a 43-38 game, but the Falcons couldn't generate any momentum as Radford played solid team ball and defense down the stretch.

Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].