Kahuku's Samuta Avea drives to the basket against Roosevelt. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Fri, Jan 9, 2015 @ Roosevelt

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Kahuku

52

Roosevelt

44

Final	1	2	3	4
Kahuku (12-2, 18-6)	19	9	12	12	52
Roosevelt (5-6, 10-13)	17	10	8	9	44

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

K. Foster 19 pts  13/18 FTs

H. Harris 16 pts  2/2 FTs

K. Foster 3 tot

H. Harris 9 tot

K. Foster 2 ast

S. Avea 2 ast

MAKIKI — It was far from the best performance of the young season for the Kahuku boys basketball team Friday night, but it was enough to win.

Hyrum Harris scored 16 points and Samuta Avea added 15 to lead Kahuku to a 52-44 win over a scrappy Roosevelt squad in a pivotal league game at the Rough Riders' gym.

The Red Raiders, ranked fourth in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, rebounded from a six-point overtime loss to second-ranked Kalaheo Wednesday to improve to 2-1 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division.

"Those guys are pretty good. They played us really good and they've got some guys that can score the ball. I give them credit," Kahuku coach Alan Akina said of Roosevelt. "They played great against us, they were ready and we didn't execute. We came out lackadaisical, they were just chilling — it looked like they just came back from swimming at the beach — and I'm not too happy with it, but every game we've got to learn and get better. We're still young and new into this so it's a good thing it's early in the season."

Kahuku, which had quite the size advantage over the Rough Riders, often settled for outside jumpers in the first half instead of feeding bigs Harris and Denhym Brooke, who entered the game averaging a team-high 18 points per game and was coming off a 23-point performance against Kalaheo.

"It was definitely frustrating," Harris said. "That's just something that we need to work on."

Brooke struggled with foul trouble for much of the game and was held scoreless in the first half and finished with a modest six points. He fouled out in the final seconds of the game.

The Red Raiders held a 19-17 lead after the first quarter and a 28-27 lead at halftime, but they outscored the Rough Riders 24 to 17 in the second half.

"I think they spread their shooters out and we lost (Keanu) Akina a few times," Roosevelt coach Steve Hathaway said. "I think we did a better job of taking away the high-low the second half. We just lost him and he hit that 3 on the wing, we missed a lot of free throws, but that's a good team. We did everything we could to bang with them inside, but that's a big team. We're not going to see anyone that big the rest of the year."

Keanu Akina, the son of the head coach, hit three 3-pointers and finished with 10 points.

Roosevelt made a push late, when it used a 7-2 run to pull within 42-38 with 6:34 to play. Kevin Foster hit a free throw with 2:32 remaining to cut the deficit to 46-43, but Harris converted a three-point play on Kahuku's ensuing possession to stretch the lead back to six points.

"We just kind of got lucky," Harris said. "It was a bad game. That play kind of bettered our luck, but there wasn't really much in it."

Harris imposed his will in the final stanza, when he grabbed five of his game-high nine rebounds. He also had a late steal to help seal the victory.

"The big man stepped up at the end of the game," Alan Akina said of Harris. "He's a great leader, he's tough inside and I told him, I said, 'We need you to take over,' especially with Denhym getting in foul trouble and their guards were pressuring us full court, so they did a good job."

Hathaway said the Red Raiders' length presented a problem for his team.

"My guys did everything they could, but what is (Harris), 6-6, 250, 260? My guys are 5-10, 150, so it's tough and the refs let them play and it was great," Hathaway said. "They let both teams play and the game was called good, we just couldn't get them out of there and they're so long. Even when we did box them out, their length was able to grab rebounds, too, and they did a good job of taking away a lot of our shooters."

Foster scored all nine of Roosevelt's points in the fourth quarter and finished with a game-high 19 points. Valen Inaura scored 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter.

Roosevelt, which fell to 2-1 with the loss, will visit Kailua Tuesday.

Kahuku will host Kalani Tuesday.