OIA Boys Basketball
Moanalua rights ship with 53-46 win over Kalani


  

Wed, Jan 25, 2017 @ Kalani


Final 1 2 3 4  
Moanalua (8-7, 9-17) 10 13141653
Kalani (8-6, 16-11) 13 2 14 1746
Max Pepe 10 pts  1 3pm  3/3 FTs
RJ Dominguez 15 pts  3/5 FTs




Moanalua snapped a four-game losing streak and clinched a spot in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I playoffs with a 53-46 win over host Kalani in a regular season contest Wednesday night.

Na Menehune improved to 5-5 in the OIA East with the win and will close out the regular season with a home game against Kaimuki on Friday.

"We needed either this game of the Kaimuki game to get into the playoffs. We don't have to worry about that now," said Moanalua coach Byron Mello. "We can finish with a winning record and send out (our) seniors off on a good note on Friday, which is what our goal is to do."

Moanalua trailed 13-10 after the first quarter, but outscored the Falcons 13-2 in the second quarter to take a 23-15 advantage into the break.

"Our second quarter was our Achilles' heel all year, tonight we did really well in the second (quarter) of not letting the game get away from us and having good defensive possessions and stops and rebounds," said Mello.

RJ Dominguez led Na Menehune in the win with a game-high 15 points.

"He's been our go-to guy all year, averaging about 15 to 16 points a game," Mello said on Dominguez. "He's so consistent, really deceptive and hard to guard in the post, really clever and has a lot of good finishes and he's just had a tremondous senior year for us. Defensively I thought he was more of a rebounding force tonight and thought he changed some shots in the lane and that's something we haven't seen from him as much before."

Defense led to offense for Moanalua, said Dominguez.

"We knew Kalani was going to hit shots, so we knew that we just had to contest shots the best we can, get the rebound and get the pace going down court. Our coach wanted us to get pace down court, and we made sure we knew what we were running. They wanted to give me the ball and then (I) just created straight from them."

Max Pepe had 10 points to lead the Falcons (5-5 OIA East) in the loss.





Show your support

Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ScoringLive continue its mission to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state of Hawaii and beyond.

Please consider making a contribution today.



MORE STORIES

Track and field proposals among those being considered at HIADA conference

Athletics administrators from across the state are gathered at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, where the...

HHSAA inducts 44th class into Hall of Honor

Twelve student-athletes from 10 different schools and representing three of the state's leagues were...

Iolani's Nakanelua garners All-Hawaii Player of the Year honors

Senior setter Bailey Nakanelua was the engine that helped drive the Raiders back to the top of state...

Pearl City's Ngirmidol headlines All-OIA Division II picks

Chargers' setter Marley Ngirmidol named Player of the Year in OIA Division II; Pearl City head coach...

Moanalua sweeps All-OIA East Boys Volleyball top honors

Na Menehune outside hitter Lionel Gannon named Player of the Year and head coach Alan Cabanting named...

Mililani's Kimura named All-OIA West Player of the Year

Senior OH Seth Kimura was joined by teammate Kaito Duranceau on the first team; Trojans' head coach Gabriel...