Boys basketball

Sometimes it’s best not to clap. Samuta Avea learned this on Wednesday night during Kahuku’s 87-45 quarterfinal victory over Kalaheo at the Snapple/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships. The Red Raiders zoomed to a 13-0 lead and dominated all the way through. There was enough competitiveness and trash talking coming from Kalaheo, though, to stir up Avea. The 6-foot-6 senior responded by clapping hard — very hard — when Kalaheo was whistled for a foul during the second quarter. An official […]

Nathan Davis has always been a man of his word, so when his Kalani boys basketball team came through with the school’s first OIA title, he was golden. The longtime coach and teacher kept his promise to the team and bleached his hair blonde – or gold — after their 42-34 win over Farrington in the OIA Division II title game on Thursday. The team negotiated the deal while returning to Oahu from Hilo during preseason after winning a tournament […]

And then there were eight. The Division I bracket of the Snapple/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships has condensed to a group of eight. In the span of a few hours on Monday night, one-time unbeaten OIA West power Kapolei was ousted. So was one of the beasts of the OIA East, Kailua. As expected, Kalaheo and defending state champion ‘Iolani advanced. But the tourney that once was a bastion held primarily or entirely in Blaisdell Center, then later split apart […]

A lot changed in 24 hours, and it had everything to do with Punahou’s grit. The Buffanblu bounced back from a loss to ‘Iolani in the ILH playoff tournament title game on Friday to edge the Raiders on Saturday, 45-40, at ‘Iolani’s gym, to capture the league championship. It was a crazy, loud night at the Raiders’ gym, but Punahou got four key free throws in the final 29.9 seconds by Hunter Hosoda, who had been scoreless to that point. […]