Boys basketball

With Micah Christenson, the Kamehameha Warriors are on top of the world. Without him, they’re vulnerable. Tough, scrappy and very good, but capable of falling. On Dec. 29, the 6-foot-5 junior was away for a mainland volleyball trip, and ‘Iolani upended Kamehameha 57-46 in the final of Na Menehune Holiday Classic. With him, the Warriors beat the Raiders at ‘Iolani 49-47 on Jan. 12. Is it that simple? Mostly. But there are other factors. Here’s a look before the Raiders […]

By Paul Honda More on last night’s battle between Kamehameha and Punahou at Hemmeter Fieldhouse, a 60-49 win for the Warriors. As Punahou coach Alika Smith said, holding Kamehameha’s Micah Christenson to no points in the first half should’ve been a great omen. Instead, the 6-foot-5 junior was a huge asset in so many ways from breaking the Punahou press to swatting away shots to nullifying what had been a dominant Buffanblu rebounding campaign. “It’s more fun getting everybody else […]

By Paul Honda A look at tonight’s showdown between top-ranked Punahou and No. 2 Kamehameha. Tip-off at Hemmeter Fieldhouse is 6:30 p.m. On paper: Defending state and league champion Kamehameha (15-3, 5-1) can tie Punahou (16-1, 6-0) in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu boys basketball standings with a win tonight. The first time they met, Punahou and Kamehameha had barely gotten their laces on. Back on Dec. 10, Kamehameha rallied for a 58-55 win in the final of the James Alegre […]

[showtime] . By Paul Honda The headline read, “Moanalua soars past Kalaheo.” True enough. It also could’ve read “Moanalua soars over Kalaheo”, referring to Marcus Monroe’s dunk show. For Kalaheo, great patience (spreading the floor in the first quarter and limiting Moanalua’s possessions), a disciplined defense (a tight 2-3 zone with Aaron Fernandez at center) and the fortitude to make a late-game run made it was a step forward despite the 57-49 loss. Remember, when the teams met on Jan. […]

By Paul Honda There are chess matches, and then there is something a little more. This is the kind of game that belongs on TV (which it is, check out OC 16 tonight) with microphones on Kalaheo coach Chico Furtado and Moanalua coach Greg Tacon. Both are masters of motivation. Can you separate each man’s personality from his respective team? Not really. Ninth-ranked Kalaheo isn’t particularly deep or tall, but Furtado continues to will the Mustangs forward. Fifth-ranked Moanalua has […]

By Paul Honda The fairly large margin in Punahou’s 46-31 win over ‘Iolani last night may lead some fans to the wrong conclusion. Yes, it was a close game, especially early in the third quarter. Here’s more on what happened after Punahou had a 22-15 halftime lead. • ‘Iolani rallied at the start of the second half with an 8-2 run. Jarrett Arakawa’s 3-pointer and a pair of foul shots by reserve center Gabriel Vega brought the visitors within 24-23 […]

By Paul Honda If there were more hours in the day and days in the week, there would be more opportunities to see teams like Roosevelt’s boys hoopsters, who fought off a stubborn Kalani squad 53-43 last night. Heck, if cost weren’t a factor, I’d see a lot more of St. Joseph boys, Konawaena girls, even Lahainaluna and Kamehameha-Maui boys. There are a decent number of teams that were very, very good before the regular season even began, and there […]

By Paul Honda In case you haven’t heard, the Mililani-Campbell boys basketball game is not tonight. The game was shifted to Tuesday (yesterday) to accommodate Mililani’s request. A fundraiser golf tournament today initiated the change of schedule. Sixth-ranked Mililani won in an overtime thriller, 55-51, as reported in this morning’s edition. I was assigned to cover this game today, but things do change and I’m bummed that I didn’t get to see two fast-rising teams in the Oahu Interscholastic Association […]