KAILUA, Hawaii — The last couple of steps are always the hardest.
Advancement, step by step, toward a league championship has been the directive of the Kailua boys basketball team for several years. To make further progress, it’ll have to vie directly for a title in the upcoming Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I playoffs.
The fleet-footed Surfriders clinched the top playoff seed in the OIA East with a 51-39 win over visiting Kaiser on Tuesday night. Guards Skyler Unten and Maddox Pung scored 11 points apiece while forward Sebastian Ledda laid the wood up front and scored nine points.
[Note: See below for more photos of Kaiser-Kailua boys basketball.]
“I believe. Our guys been working hard,” coach Wally Marciel said of attaining the program's first top-tier league title since 1982. “I mean, (including) the preseason, we (are) 20-4 and you know that that has to show something, in the league, outside the league, that we’re ready … to take that step.”
Kailua celebrated its senior night by sending off Unten, Noah Lee and Colin Friel, plus a team manager with a win. However, Kailua will host Roosevelt at Harry Murai Gym on Thursday night because the Rough Riders’ gym is being redone this year.
Kailua was knocked out by eventual league champ Leilehua in double overtime in the semifinals last year, and by Campbell in a semifinal on the Sabers’ way to the title the year before.
“We came up short last year, so we just want to finish the job this year,” Unten said.
Leilehua, Mililani and Kapolei all are potent coming out of the OIA West this year with one league loss apiece. Kailua (9-0 OIA) clinched the East over Kahuku (8-1), which the Surfriders beat by a point on Dec. 23.
Tuesday’s game was effectively decided in the second quarter, which the Surfriders claimed 17-4. The teams played evenly in the other three frames. Wing Dylan Kunz focused on crashing the offensive glass and gave the Surfriders several second-chance opportunities when they weren't beating the Cougars downcourt with their footspeed.
After Pung came down with an illness and missed practice leading up to the game, Marciel elected to start a bigger lineup against the Cougars, who are under the direction of first-year coach Bricen McCartney, a former longtime Iolani assistant.
Pung, though not feeling fully himself, gave his team a boost when he entered the game in both halves. The junior capped his night with a twisting layup with plenty of English off the glass.
“We've been playing not at our best yet, which is probably good,” Pung said. “I think we should keep (improving) going into playoffs.”
Kaiser (6-2), the top Division II team in the OIA East, has claimed a few Division I victims this year and jumped out quickly to start both halves.
Marciel said his team had to get back to basics and mark the Cougars’ many 3-point shooters.
“Bricen, you know, has a lot of experience,” Marciel said. “He was assistant coach for Iolani many years. His offense is a lot of cutting, had a lot of movement. So when I looked over tape, I noticed that he brought some of the cuts from Iolani. Good coach.”
Emmanuel Tiritas led the Cougars with 12 points while Norris Birdsong hit three 3-pointers and scored 11.
McCartney said Kailua’s combination of floor-spacing and offensive rebounding was problematic for his group.
But he’s been encouraged by the progress. Kaiser hosts Kahuku on Thursday and plays at Kaimuki next Tuesday before heading into the OIA D-II playoffs.
“From when we took over, first in the summertime, till now, we've seen a lot of improvement,” McCartney said, “just the little things like the jump stopping, the spacing, the talking, the boxing out, sprinting the floor, running the lane correctly. All that small stuff, we're committing to it.”
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.