Peter Caldwell | SL

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_22121109_20221210-Kamhoops8637a.jpg - Peter Caldwell | SL

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SALT LAKE — Kamahiwa Molitau scored 20 of his game-high 22 points after halftime to help Kamehameha-Maui rally to a 44-38 win over Kamehameha-Hawaii on the final day of the Moanalua Boys Basketball Invitational Saturday afternoon. 

Molitau, a 6-foot-3 junior center, was the lone KS-Maui player to score in double-figures and helped the Maui Warriors take advantage of their distinct size advantage over the Big Island Warriors, who were led by sharpshooter Kaleb Guerrero's 20-point effort; the 6-foot junior guard made six of his team's 10 3-pointers. 

Both teams were searching for their first win of the tournament after KS-Maui fell to Iolani Thursday, 43-34, and Maryknoll Friday, 62-32, while KS-Hawaii lost to host-Moanalua, 52-39, and Kailua, 59-54. 

Angus Peters III's team was hampered by ball-handling issues early, to the tune of 12 first-half turnovers, including eight in the opening quarter alone, when KS-Maui was outscored 10-5. He noted that starting guards Pookela Aiu and Dylan Schnitzer were unavailable for the game. 

"They're kind of dealing with some injuries so they weren't here tonight, but it was a good opportunity to get our back-up guards some reps and get comfortable and settled in," Peters said. 

Justin Ondo and Logan Enos each hit from beyond the arc for KS-Hawaii in the first quarter. It took its largest lead at 19-7 with two minutes and 37 seconds until halftime on Guerrero's third triple of the second stanza. 

However, the Big Island Warriors went scoreless the rest of the way until the break, while their brethren from the Valley Isle closed out the second quarter on an 8-0 run, capped by Imai Kramer's buzzer-beating finish at the bucket to cut the KS-Hawaii lead to 19-15 at the intermission. 

The third quarter belonged to Molitau, who scored 15 of KS-Maui's 20 points in the period; KS-Hawaii managed only nine total third-quarter points. 

Molitau put the Maui Warriors ahead, 21-19, with his three-point play, but Enos drained a 3 a few minutes later to tie it at 22. Molitau answered with a baseline spin and bucket to push KS-Maui back ahead for good with 3:24 until the fourth. 

"We knew we had the size so we just encouraged our boys to be more aggressive and find our bigs down low and feed the post, feed the post and he was a hot one tonight, so we just kept going to him," Peters said. 

Molitau hit a 17-foot jumper early in the fourth quarter that stretched KS-Maui's lead to 37-28, its largest of the game. 

KS-Hawaii cut it to a one-possession game with 2:05 to play when Kramer drove the lane and laid it in to pull his team to within 41-38. However, KS-Maui drew fouls to get to the free-throw line and made three of four in the final 1:38 to close it out. 

"Kamehameha-Hawaii, they're a tough team," Peters said. "They're scrappy, they work hard — they're our sister school — so it was just a matter of staying in it, working hard and we lost to Kapalama already this season, so we had to beat one of the Warrior teams and we pulled it out."

KS-Maui shot 14 of 26 from the free-throw line, while KS-Hawaii was just 2 of 4. 

"We're undersized, Maui's big and physical so we talked about gang-rebounding, trying to keep them off the boards, but this game, the physicality wore us out," KS-Hawaii coach Mea Wong said. 

The Big Island Warriors had just six turnovers at halftime, but 16 by the end of the game. Like his counterpart, Wong was also short-handed Saturday. 

"Our point guard is at home, he's not here — Nixis Yamauchi — so with what we had, I think we played really well," he said. "We're young, so all the experience we can get in these types of games is good. I was very surprised with some of our play, but we're young so we got mental errors, that's what we're making now. Hopefully we get to come back in February and not have as many mental errors as young teams normally have."

KS-Hawaii (3-0 BIIF) departed Moanalua shortly after the game and went directly to Daniel K. Inouye Airport for its 6 p.m. flight back to Hilo. The Big Island Warriors will return to Oahu after Christmas for the Punahou Invitational, Dec. 27-30. 

KS-Maui (1-0 MIL) returns to league play Tuesday, when it hosts Maui at the Kaulaheanuiokamoku Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.