Kahuku advances past Kekaulike into Division I semis


Kahuku's Sam Ching puts up a shot attempt between a trio of King Kekaulike defenders. Greg Yamamoto | SL
Kahuku earned a return trip to the Division I semifinals with a 46-35 win over King Kekaulike in the 7 p.m. quarterfinal of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships at Radford's Alegre Gymasium.

The Red Raiders led 11-9 after the first period and just 16-13 at halftime.

Kahuku's starting front line came up big offensively, with Mekeli Fiso scoring a game-high 13 and Sam Ching adding 10, to account for more than half of the Red Raiders scoring total.

King Kekaulike was led by forward Jacob Havron, who scored 11 in the contest, and Jansen Agapay, who added 9.

A key to the victory may have been at the line, where Na Alii only managed to make 13-of-28 free throws in the contest, while Kahuku fared a bit better, hitting 67% of their attempts (16-of-24).

Next up for Kahuku is Kamehameha-Hawaii, a 39-37 winner over AOP in overtime. Game time for the Kahuku-Kamehameha-Hawaii semifinal is 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live on OC16.