Boys Basketball
Dragons rally past Rams, 37-36


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
November 29, 2017, 8:32pm

  

Wed, Nov 29, 2017 @ Radford

Honokaa

37

Radford

36

Final 1 2 3 4  
Honokaa (10-5, 14-15) 4 159937
Radford (4-7, 6-14) 5 12 11 836
EJ Navarro 8 pts  2 3pm
Gene Ansagay 11 pts  1 3pm


ALIAMANU — Kolten Caravalho's only field goal came at a most opportune time.

Caravalho made a contested jumper from the left elbow as time expired to lift Honokaa to a 37-36 win over host Radford in the opening game of the 19th Annual James Alegre Invitational Wednesday afternoon.

The Dragons (1-4) picked up their first win of the preseason, just one night after getting trounced at Hawaii Baptist, 97-45.

"We got hammered last night; we still was on the plane," Honokaa fifth-year coach Jayme Carvalho said. "That kind of woke us up. Today, our offense was really stagnant, but we kept our turnovers down. Last night we had at least twenty-five turnovers, and I think we cut that down tonight."

The teams were tied at 28 after three quarters.

Elhadji Kone's 3-pointer from the left wing gave the Rams the lead early in the fourth quarter, but Honokaa answered with a 7-0 run that included five points and an assist by Gene Ansagay.

Honokaa's 35-31 lead faded with a Dejon James outback and a 3-pointer by Matt Lukins to give Radford a 36-35 advantage with 1:52 left to play.

The Rams failed to build on the lead, missing the front end of three one-and-one chances at the free-throw line and Honokaa regained possession with 8.3 seconds remaining.

Kieran Lo's 3-pointer from the left wing to give the Dragons the lead resulted in a held ball after the ball got lodged between the rim and the backboard, and after a lengthy discussion by the officials, Honokaa was awarded possession.

Out of the timeout, Lo inbounded the ball to Caravalho, who turned and fired in the face of two Radford defenders in the final seconds. His shot bounced around the rim before falling in as the buzzer sounded.

"It's a confidence-booster, because in our tournament we had some teams drop out, so we had to split our JV and our varsity squads, and it was very difficult to play with just seven guys, and we lost our three games in our tournament, so coming out here and getting a win to build some confidence for the rest of the week is fabulous," Carvalho said.

Carvalho said Caravalho, who had just two points from the free-throw line to that point, was actually the third option on the play.

"Kolten is all over the court," Carvalho said. "The whole game he wasn't scoring, but he was putting pressure on the defensive end, getting us extra possessions and that's always our style — I don't care if you make a mistake, it's how you respond to that mistake — and I had confidence to leave him in the game right there and he made a difficult shot."

Caravalho sat out last season while coping with the death of his mother.

"He didn't end up playing and he's leaving it all on the court for his mom and right now, he's the heart and soul of our team," Carvalho said.

Ansagay led all players with 11 points and Kamuela Spencer-Herring added eight for the Dragons.

EJ Navarro scored eight points, Matt Lukins seven and Elhadji Kone five for the Rams (0-2).

Honokaa led at halftime, 19-17.

The teams also met in the Alegre Invitational last year, with the Dragons coming away with a 54-50 win.

Carvalho's team is coming off consecutive fourth-place finishes in the Division II state tournament and a Big Island Interscholastic Federation crown last season. But with the graduation of eight players from that team, Carvalho is using the trip to Oahu to build depth and find roles for individuals.

"I just want to build a camaraderie within the team, that's why we come to Oahu," Carvalho said. "The wins and losses doesn't really make a difference. I want us to make our layups, make our free throws, keep guys in front of us and limit guys' second shots. We rebounded the ball well tonight. I just feel like we're not pushing the ball enough to put pressure on the teams, but it's a long trip and we have a lot of games left."

Not long after the conclusion of the game, the Carvalho and the Dragons departed for their second game of the day — and third in a 24-hour span — at Pearl City. They return to Radford Thursday to face Kalaheo at 3:30 p.m.

Radford will take on Saint Louis in the 7:30 p.m. contest.


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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