The game of the day in the Red Bracket of the 1st Annual Waiakea/Kea'au Boys Basketball Tournament delivered on Wednesday night, as Division I Konawaena held off the St. Joseph Cardinals 56-53 in an overtime showdown to open the season.

To no one's surprise, this game featured a lot of frustrating moments for both head coaches. Wildcats Head Coach Donny Awa constantly crowed about slow ball movement against the Cardinals zone defense, while his counterpart, the mild-mannered Scott Saft, could not have been pleased with the 19 turnovers his team committed.

Those turnovers played a big part as to how the Wildcats opened a double digit lead in the second quarter. St. Joseph gave away the ball eight times in the second frame, which allowed Konawaena to get comfortable running a fast break for baskets. That led to scoring opportunities for Jonah Bredeson and Viliamu Uulopa to get free by the defense.

As the second half got underway, the Wildcats shooting stroke was left in the locker room. Konawaena shot 3-13 in the third quarter. They also committed enough fouls to allow St. Joseph to own their stake in the charity the stripe for the rest of the game.  

It was also free throw shooting that kept the Cards from winning or forcing another overtime. Down by one with under a minute left, Christian Kaui missed both free throw attempts, and the Cardinals never recovered.

Kamehameha-Hawaii 63, Kaiser 42

Stifling full court defense and plenty of inside looks helped the Kamehameha-Hawaii Warriors cruise to a 63-42 win over Kaiser in their opening game of the Waiakea/Kea'au Boys Basketball Tournament at Kea'au High. The Warriors opened the game with a full court trapping defense with quick awareness away from the ball, cutting off passing lanes and forcing transition layups.

Ten different Warriors were in double-figures on the evening, led by sensational senior point guard Lanaki Apele with 12 points, along with Blaine-Allen La'akea Manlinguis' 10 points, with six of them coming in the second half.

The slow start for the Cougars hampered them for the rest of the game. Although they took better care of the basketball and ratcheted up their defensive intensity, they could not fix the disadvantage they faced, both in size and depth, on the glass, which led to many second, third, and fourth chance opportunities for their opponents. Preston Wuich led Kaiser with 12 points, while confident ball handler John Bice added 10.

Kamehameha-Hawaii faces Konawaena in the semifinals tonight, while Kaiser tackles St. Joseph in the consolation bracket.

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