Kohala guard Layden Kauka, center, raises the state championship trophy towards their crowd in the Hawaii Army National Guard/HHSAA Division II Boys Basketball State Championships at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. CJ Caraang | SL

×

[email protected] - CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase this image
4x5 5x7 8x10 image download

Happy trails, Layden.

The closing of a profilic chapter in Division II boys basketball concluded with an undefeated run to a third state title for Layden Kauka and a fourth one overall for Kohala, taking down Seabury Hall in wire-to-wire fashion 49-35.

"This one was for the whole community, they are a huge part our of program," said Kauka, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player for the third time in his illustrious prep career. "We just like to represent them, they bring a lot of energy to every game and we feed of off it."

A run to a fourth title in school history was also sweet revenge on a team that knocked the Cowboys out of the state tourney a season ago.

"After we lost in that semifinal game, I was devastated, our whole team was," said Kauka. "We was just hungry after that, we just wanted to go out and just dominate everybody."

And that they did, winning every game in the regular season by nearly a 36 point differential on average, as well as jumping out in front of each of its opponents during its title run.

The Cowboys galloped to a 5-0 lead out the gate and finished the period up 18-2, and the Spartans never quite found its footing in the contest throughout, thanks to a suffocating display of defense put on by Kohala.

"Our defense starts our offense and we all believe in that," said Kauka."And for me, I take on the challenge of guarding the best player on the team. But it was a whole team effort to stop Seabury, they're very well coached."

That defense held the Spartans' leading scorer Sebastian Peterson to just seven points on 3 of 16 shooting, his lowest output of the season.

Kauka, on the other hand, scored 11 points in the opening quarter alone, and capped off his stellar prep career with a usual Layden-eque stat line, 28 points, five rebounds and three assists. He also hit 11 of 12 free throws.

It was an upclimb from the jump for Seabury Hall, who just never found its footing in the first half, hitting just 4 of 23 shots from the field and 0-11 from three.

The Spartans did make a move to open the half, going on a 10-4 run, but the Cowboys closed out the quarter with a five point run of their own to keep the lead largely intact.

With every inch gained by Seabury Hall it seemed like Kohala had a response to match, though the lead did get trimmed to as small as 13 in early in the fourth before free throws down the stretch sealed the deal.

An unsung hero for much of the season, if not for his career, Estavon Garcia Morales put on his hard hat one last time as a Cowboy, to the tune of seven points, six rebounds, a steal and a block.

"I'm just here to help us succeed, get the board boards, be there anytime we need a stop, just be a role player for what we need," said Morales.

Kohala sent off seven seniors in style, including Dillon Oandasan, who also was on the roster for all three state titles during his tenure along with Kauka.

"Been playing with these guys since I as a very young age, always learning and growing with these guys," remarked Morales. "It was a big for us to go out (with a title) and do our thing, but we just wanted to bring it home for them."