Boys basketball

Punahou Invitational Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015 Championship No. 2 Punahou 68, No. 3 Kaiser 54 Third place No. 1 ‘Iolani 54, No. 6 Kamehameha 44 Fifth place No. 5 Maryknoll 37, El Segundo (Calif.) 32 Conolation Seventh place Wuhan #2 (China) 53, Moanalua 40 No. 7 Kalaheo 70, Kailua 62, OT Cleveland (Ore.) 57, Punahou I-AA 51 Farrington 70, Kalani 66

Buffanblu led 22-17 over Kaiser in this Punahou Invitational championship game. Interesting battle in the paint, where freshman Maninoa Tufono, a 6-foot-3 widebody, is going up against 6-5 Chance Kalaugher of Kaiser. Kalaugher settled for perimeter shots in the first half, but posts up right away in the third quarter and scores. He scores again on a spin move, and Keoua Mahiko scores on drives for and-1 three-point plays. Kaiser leads 29-28 on his free throw. Then Zayne Chong his […]

From Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015 Semifinals No. 2 Punahou 53, No. 6 Kamehameha 48, OT No. 3 Kaiser 53, No. 1 ‘Iolani 46 Consolation El Segundo (Calif.) 49, Moanalua 40 No. 5 Maryknoll 65, Wuhan #2 (China) 44 McKinley 45, Kailua 40 Kahuku 53, Kalaheo 49, 2 OT Cleveland (Ore.) 47, Kalani 26 Punahou I-AA 64, Farrington 60

It’s been more than a week, but really, the Owls of Mid-Pacific really are rising. A 39-38 win over then-No. 2 Kaiser at the ‘Iolani Classic was a stunner. I was chatting with legendary University High boys basketball coach Eric Au at the Punahou Invitational on Tuesday night. Coach is retired, but still an astute observer and fan of high school basketball. He’s seen just about every top team on the island of Oahu, but he was not there when […]

There’s a certain art to scheduling preseason games, certainly in basketball. Over the years, coaches have become craftsmen about it, doing all they can to avoid matching up with regular-season opponents. And yet, there they were on Tuesday night: the visiting Kamehameha Warriors against the host team, Punahou. I didn’t count, but the crowd at Hemmeter Fieldhouse looked like a healthy 500-600, and I’m almost always too conservative on those guesstimates. It felt, from the vibe in warmups to the […]

This is a great semifinal matchup, the first of the preseason, between ILH powerhouses Kamehameha and Punahou. Kamehameha enters the game ranked No. 6 in the Star-Advertiser Top 10 and Punahou is at No. 2. The Buffanblu led 21-11 out of the gate, but the Warriors have come all the way back behind some really neat 3-point shooting. Kamehameha leads 25-23 at the half. Jayden Zarriello with some nice long-range shooting for the Warriors. The winner will face Kaiser in […]