(11 a.m. Adds comment by Kamehameha coach Jesse Nakanishi.)
Top-ranked ‘Iolani and No. 2 Kamehameha began play in The Holiday Classic, a 79-team tournament at five sites in San Diego, Calif.
Kamehameha downed Madison-Ridgeland (Ms.) 58-46 behind 21 points by Micah Christenson on Monday night. Christenson, a 6-foot-5 senior, shot 9-for-19 from the field and had a team-high nine rebounds, four assists and four steals, plus two blocks.
The Warriors had just eight turnovers, but didn’t shoot well from deep (5-for-21) and finished at 38 percent from the field (21-for-56) — and still won. Madison Ridgeland had a 32-22 edge on the boards, but committed 15 turnovers. Caleb Miskelly had 17 points.
The Warriors (9-3 overall) will meet Canyon Springs (Nev.) today at 8:35 p.m. Pacific time.
“They’re as good if not better than Mt. Vernon (N.Y.),” coach Jesse Nakanishi said, referring to Kamehameha’s first-round opponent at the ‘Iolani Classic last week. Mt. Vernon won 63-50.
“They’ve got a kid going to Boise (State) and a couple other kids who’ll play Division II,” he added. “They’re fast and long and press the heck out of you. We’re going to play our game and see how we fare.”
Kamehameha’s game is at La Costa Canyon High School gym. They are playing in the American Division.
‘Iolani fell to Rancho Buena Vista (Calif.) 70-56 on Monday at Rancho Bernardo High School gym (Governor’s Division). The Raiders were down eight points for most of the way, but had the misfortune of injury problems as the tourney began.
Post Kainoa Scheer, who played limited minutes last week due to a knee injury, is sitting out. Center Gabriel Vega, a 6-foot-5 junior, sat with a sprained left wrist. Reserve post Duke Pauli, a 6-4 junior, suffered a rib injury midway through the game and sat the rest of the way.
That made life tough against Rancho Buena Vista, which featured a 7-foot center and a 6-foot sharpshooter named Johnny Dee, who had scored in the 40s during the week going into the tournament.
Dee finished with 32 points and eight boards.
“He can stroke it, but all his shots were contested,” Raiders coach Dean Shimamoto said. “They were beatable. We looked at all the teams in our bracket, and they’re all beatable.”
Trevyn Tulonghari had 13 points and Josiah Sukumaran added 12 for the depleted Raiders, who were outrebounded 25-15.
The Raiders will play Spanish Springs (Nev.) in a 2:15 p.m. (Pacific time) game today.
See updated scores at ESPN Rise.
Paul Honda, Star-Advertiser
Doesn't coach Shimamoto sound a little arrogant? Be humble coach…
His analysis is that the teams in their bracket were “beatable.”
How does that sound arrogant? He didn't say anything more than that. He's right, too. If not for the injuries, ‘Iolani could potentially have won the division. They ended up beating all the teams in the losers' bracket.