By Paul Honda
No doubt about it: Montrose Christian is powerful.
Coach Stu Vetter’s team has a balance of size, athleticism and unselfishness that has marked all of the squads he’s brought to the ‘Iolani Classic. For a change, this might be the first Mustangs team that could win the Classic title. Montrose was one of the opening-round winners today.
The remainder of the first round resumes on Friday starting at 3:30 p.m.
Montrose Christian (Md.) 70, Kahuku 27
The tourney favorites roared to a 37-7 halftime lead and weren’t threatened. Josh Hairston, a Duke recruit, led the Mustangs with 20 points. Justin Anderson added 17 and Paul Gombwer had 12.
Kahuku, coming off a loss to defending state champion Kamehameha, was willing to stay in its man-to-man defense against the talented Mustangs for most of the way.
“We came out of this a better team. Our guys didn’t back down,” Kahuku coach Hiram Akina said. “We didn’t want to play zone and get beat by 50. Even if we get beat by 100, we’ll play the way we want to play.”
Shairone Thompson had 10 points for Kahuku (2-3 overall), the state runner-up last season.
Montrose Christian 21 16 21 12 — 70
Kahuku 5 2 9 11 — 27
Montrose Christian: Donell Diggs 0, Yuki Togashi 0, Nazareth Long 2, LeBrent Walker 2, Tyler Hubbard 2, Giovanni Arrindell 2, Nigel Pruitt 2, Josh Hairston 20, Justin Anderson 6, Terrence Ross 17, Paul Gombwer 12, Michael Carera 5.
Kahuku: Michael Tyau 0, Kawehena Johnson 3, Samala Afalava 0, Hans Brown 0, Evan Moe 0, Sage Kaka 7, Wonka Beatty 2, Nehoa Akina 3, Jackson Kaka 0, Shairone Thompson 10, Josh Christansen 2, K.J. Uluave 0, Kona Schwenke 0, Mason Golden 0, Michael Leoto 0.
3-point goals—MC 1 (Ross), Kahuku 2 (Kaka, Akina).
Kinston (N.C.) 56, Tsinghua (Beijing) 38
The senior-heavy visitors from North Carolina got a balanced attack to defuse the Dragons. Josh Benoit led Kinston with 10 points.
Kai Guo paced Tsinghua with eight points.
Kinston (N.C.) 20 14 12 10 — 56
Tsinghua (Beijing) 12 10 7 9 — 38
Kinston: Cleveland Banks 0, Josh Dawson 0, C.J. Bradshawn 9, Christ Brown 0, Rodderick Wilks 4, Tre’ Jones 0, Donte Reynolds 2, Kyle Brown 0, Dory Hines 5, Dallas Best 6, Josh Benoit 10, Reggie Bullock 14, Mike Tyson 6.
Tsinghua: Ruinan Wu 0, Kunyi Teng 0, Pengbo Wu 5, Shijia Sun 0, Zeshi Liu 0, Zeqi Wang 0, Zangtian Tian 4, Bo Wang 10, Yuliang Hou 5, Qiguang Zhou 0, Kai Guo 8, Hangchu Liu 6.
3-point goals—Kinston 7 (Bradshawn 3, Benoit 2, Bullock 2), Tsinghua 1 (P. Wu).
Neumann Goretti (Philadelphia, Pa.) 82, Kaimuki 37
Tony Chennault led one of five Saints in double figures with 16 points.
Johnny Tuitele paced Kaimuki with 11 points.
Neumann-Goretti (Pa.) 20 20 25 17 — 82
Kaimuki 6 9 14 8 — 37
Neumann-Goretti: Hanif Sutton 0, Tyreek Duran 12, Mustafaa Jones 5, Tony Chennault 16, Matt Rodden 2, John Davis 10, Daniel Stewart 14, Derrick Stewart 10, Mark Squilla 6, Lamin Fulton 3, Dominique Reid 0, Billy Shank 4.
Kaimuki: Raphael Vares 0, Tevin Nishiyama 2, Nicholas Motellang 4, Mason Kualii-Moe 4, Gordan Gestrich 0, A.J. DeJesus 3, Jonn Kakitani 0, Elijah Morita 0, Johnny Tuitele 11, Timothy Lu 0, Gabriel Stetziel 7, Chester Sua 6, Sean Spencer 0, Ken Hashimoto 0.
3-point goals—Neumann-Goretti 7 (Duran 3, Squilla 2, Jones, Chennault), Kaimuki 4 (Tuitele 2, DeJesus, Stetziel).
‘Iolani 68, Radford 39
See the game story here.
Tomorrow (Friday), Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) plays ‘Iolani II, 3:30 p.m., followed by Columbia (Decatur, Ga.) and Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) at 5, Gonzaga (Washington D.C.) and Moanalua at 6:30, and Yates (Houston, Texas) and Kamehameha at 8.
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