University Lab grinds out win over Mid-Pacific in ILH Division I opener

Greg Yamamoto | SL

Familiar faces, new roles.

A balanced attack held University Lab notched a season opening win over Mid-Pacific in grind-it-out fashion, 44-29.

Alika Ahu scored 12 points, six of them in the final frame alone, but the output from sophomore reserves turned junior year starters Avari Zion-Branch and Ethan Kanahele-Tolbert, who scored 12 and 9 respectively, was key.

"At the end of the day it just comes down to how physical you are," said Kamahele-Tolbert. "And it's just, you know, (we got) a few football players, Avari, Todd being one of them too. It just helps on all the rebounds, all the loose balls."

The pair, who both played on the gridiron for PAC-5 this season, have brought that same kind of effort and tenacity to the hardwood.

"I just sort try to think of it like I'm playing football," said Zion-Branch. "Just go for the ball even if someone's in front of me."

Zion-Branch is actually the team's leading scorer through 11 contest at 13.7 per outing, just ahead of Alika Ahu and Todd McKinney at 12.5 and 12.1 respectively.

Its quite a different lineup than a season ago, with the team needing to fill the void created in the absence of Koa Laboy (graduation), Trey Ambrozich (transferred to Vermont Academy) and Kenna Quitan (season-ending injury), all starters in 2024-25.

And this season, an exceedingly earlier start to the regular season left even less room for adjustment, especially if the Bows were hoping to not play from behind like they did a season ago, where University Lab dropped its first two games, 59-54 to Iolani and 44-37 to Saint Louis.

"Last year we started 0-2, coach reminded us about that before the game," said Zion-Branch.

The Jr. Bows built an early margin of 11-6 after the first and extended that steadily in the second to lead 23-13 at the break. The Owls rallied in the third quarter to get within five, but never found enough sustained momentum in the contest.

Darius Chizer and Troy Higashi scored 21 of the teams' total.