Micah Kawano leads Kalani against Micah Visoria and host Roosevelt in a key Division II matchup Friday night. ScoringLive photo illustration

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Micah Kawano leads Kalani against Micah Visoria and host Roosevelt in a key Division II matchup Friday night. ScoringLive photo illustration

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The final two teams left standing at the end of last year's Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II boys basketball season will meet in their very first game of the regular season when Roosevelt hosts Kalani Friday night.

Last season's triple-overtime thriller in the league title game went the Rough Riders' way, but it'll be a tougher go of it this time around with three front court starters out for coach Steve Hathaway's squad.

"We are a wounded team," Hathaway said. "We're dealing with a lot of injuries. I'm bringing up three JV guys to play."

Lio Ilalio is expected to miss four to six weeks with a fractured hand, Christopher Lee has yet to clear the return-to-play concussion protocol and Shastyn Kekahuna is dealing with tendinitis in his knee.

Hathaway said junior Tyler Ramirez and sophomore Chayden Sasaki-Kalamau will have to help fill the void.

"Lio and Chris are our two biggest guys, so we're going to have to get contributions from other guys," Hathaway said. "Tyler never played before, but he just hustles. I kept him thinking that he will be our thirteenth guy and never play, but (Tuesdy) I had to start him (against Nanakuli) and he must have grabbed ten rebounds. Chayden I had to bring up from the JV after I talked to his parents. I know he's not ready and he needs a year of JV, but then again he will get better playing against our competition and working with my varsity coaches. We've got to get thrown to the wolves early."

The onus will also fall to the trio of Jared Elwin, Micah Visoria and Jason Talbo.

"I had to play Jared and Micah more in the preseason than I wanted to, so I've been resting them the last couple of games a little more, but guys like that will probably have to play thirty minutes a game, Jason too," Hathaway said. "It's going to rest on their shoulders every game now."

The injuries have played a big factor in game planning for the Rough Riders.

"It's really taken away from what we wanted to do," said Hathaway. "We wanted to pick up more full-court (press), but now we're unable to because we're not as deep, so we've had to adjust our style the last two weeks and it's been a challenge."

The Falcons, on the other hand, are relatively healthy outside of 5-foot-10 senior and returning starter Toby Mitchell, who broke his leg during the club season in the fall.

"He actually played a little bit for us this preseason, but the doctor told him to rest it, so we're hoping to having him back for us before the New Year," Kalani coach Nathan Davis said. "It's unfortunate, but he's still contributing in off-the-court ways, but he is a huge piece for us."

Two other returning starters in seniors Micah Kawano and Kapaa Nishimura will be ones to watch for the Falcons.

"The key guy for us is Micah Kawano. He's really the heart-and-soul guy for us. He guards all five positions and he kind of does it all," Davis said. "Kapaa is like our scorer and I think he and Jaemi Harris could surprise a lot of people. Jaemie is extremely athletic. Those are the key guys for us that we're going to look to lean on this year."

Kalani started the preseason with back-to-back losses to Maryknoll and Kapolei before reeling off five straight wins. It has dropped two of its last three since, but Davis feels good about where his team is entering Friday's OIA East opener.

"We learned a lot in the preseason," Davis said. "We had some pretty good tests against Maryknoll and Kapolei and we went up to Hilo and played pretty well there. I think the preseason has taught us the lessons that we needed to learn to hopefully have success in the regular season."

The teams are very familiar with each other, having also met in the consolation final of last year's D2 state tournament, which Kalani won by a margin of 47-31.

"It's a whole new group this year," Davis said. "It's a new identify and we're looking to prove ourselves in our division against arguably the best team. We know the outcome of this game will matter down the road, so we're looking forward to playing them."

Tip-off between the Falcons (6-4) and Rough Riders (5-4) is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.