By Paul Honda It could’ve been a three-day visit to the Big Island for the Kamehameha Warriors. Instead, the precaution of staying grounded while the state was under tsunami warning did them good. The biggest and only boys basketball game of Saturday, a state-tourney play-in game between Kamehameha and Honokaa, was postponed to Monday, 4 p.m. After winning the Interscholastic League of Honolulu’s third-place tournament, Kamehameha stayed home on Oahu. Honokaa, a team that went through a coaching change in […]

By Paul Honda If there were a sixth-man award, there would be few candidates as stout as Keven Amaral. The 6-foot lefty regularly rides the pine as Moanalua’s Formula One starting crew takes off at the start of each game. By the time Amaral enters, he’s been chilled on the bench for several minutes. By the time he’s done for the night, the reserve swingman has another double-digit game, hardly a turnover and Moanalua has another win. Last night’s 55-48 […]

By Paul Honda Same start, same finish. Watching the ongoing primetime drama of Roosevelt and Kailua has all the emotional swings and power plays of any great rivalry. Yet, it’s puzzling and baffling — and for Kailua fans, heartbreaking — that the ending was the same once again. A week ago, Kailua demolished Roosevelt in the first half, led by 17 at the break, opened the margin to 21 points … and found itself practically helpless as the Rough Riders […]

By Paul Honda Don’t get confused now. Kahuku scored just 40 points in a playoff loss to Mililani. A week or so later, the Red Raiders scored 64 in a win over those same Trojans. What gives? Well, Kahuku had a poor shooting night in the loss. On Tuesday, it was a run-and-gun tempo for both teams early on, especially with Mua Malufau and Samala Afalava hitting open 3-pointers — to Mililani’s surprise — in an elimination playoff game. So, […]

By Paul Honda Tall order for the Kailua Surfriders. They bounced back from last week’s heart-wrenching loss to Roosevelt with an impressive win at Waianae on Tuesday. This means Kailua needs two wins over Roosevelt, the only undefeated team in the Oahu Interscholastic Association White Conference double-elimination tourney, to win the league crown. The Surfriders are capable. They had a 34-17 lead on Roosevelt when they played at McKinley Student Council Gym last week. Jordan DeCorte is a powerful scorer […]

By Paul Honda It could be a spectacular week for the Kahuku Red Raiders. Or the Mililani Trojans. A loss tonight eliminates one of them. Then comes a matchup with Moanalua on Thursday. A victory there and it’s a championship game on Saturday for the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference crown. There are some complaints about the multitude of playoff games in the OIA since it adopted a double-elimination format last season. Me? I love it. Though I still have […]