Monday, January 31, 2011

Lunas, Farmers girls seeded second at state hoops

By Fred Guzman

ESPN550.com

 

A pair of MIL teams have been seeded second in the state girls basketball tournaments that tip off Tuesday on Oahu. 

 

That means Lahainaluna in Division-I and Molokai in D-II will draw first-round byes before beginning their bids on Wednesday.

 

King Kekaulike, the MIL D-I runnerup, opens against Kaiser on Tuesday in a 5 p.m. game at McKinley High.  The winner of that game faces top-seeded Konawaena.

 

Lahainaluna will open defense of its state title against the winner of Kapolei versus Pearl City in Wednesday's 5 p.m. game at Radford High.

 

Punahou is seeded third and Farrington fourth.

 

Molokai is the only MIL entry in D-II.  The Lady Farmers won the title in 2009 and finished second last season.  They will face the winner of Waianae versus Maryknoll in a 7 p.m. game Wednesday at Kaimuki High.

 

Radford is the top seed in D-II, with Kamehameha-Hawaii ranked third and Kapaa fourth.

 

On Saturday, reigning state player of the year Maiki Viela scored 35 points as the Lunas defeated Molokai 60-41 in a special non-league game between the MIL's two title teams.

 

MIL BOYS:  The MIL boys tip off their league tournaments on Wednesday at the Baldwin High gym. 

 

The Bears raised their hopes for the overall league title by handing Lahainaluna its first MIL loss of the season with a 61-55 victory on Saturday before a big, noisy crowd at the Lahaina Civic Center.

 

Gabe Ross scord 19 points and Tim Pang added 18 for the Bears, who avenged a pair of earlier losses to the Lunas..

 

Seabury Hall closed out a perfect D-II campaign by posting weekend wins of 58-38 and 53-35 over Molokai, but the Spartans apparently lost high-scoring Phelan Pagano to a season-ending knee injury.

 

SOCCER:  Each of the contending teams have two games left in their respective MIL boys soccer schedules, and still no one has even assured themselves of a spot in the state tournament.  Here's where things stand: 

 

Baldwin, which survived a furious comeback at Kamehameha-Maui on Friday for a 3-2 win, is in first place with 21 points. 

 

Lahainaluna, which routed St. Anthony 4-1 on Saturday behind a hat-trick by Jorge Hernandez, is second with 20 points. 

 

King Kekaulike dropped to third with 19 points after playing to a 1-1 tie with Maui High, which is fourth and barely alive mathematically for a post-season berth with 15 points.  Logan Bantilan accounted for Kekaulike's goal, while Justice Florendo-Bourne scored the tying goal midway through the second half.

 

That sets up some huge matches this week.  Kekaulike visits Baldwin for a 7 p.m. game on Tuesday.  On Thursday, Seabury visits Kekaulike and Maui High travels to Kamehameha.

 

In girls' action, Baldwin took a major step toward repeating as D-I champion thanks to a 0-0 tie with Kamehameha on Friday followed by a 9-0 romp past Hana on Saturday. 

 

Kekaulike was eliminated from post-season contention following a 3-0 loss to Maui High.  In D-II, Seabury Hall and St. Anthony have clinched spots in the state tournament.

 

MORE MIL:  In paddling, Seabury won the boys and mixed titles and finished second in the girls competition to Molokai. … In wrestling,  Lahainaluna's boys and girls continued their domination by capturing 16 of 20 weight classes in the final tuneup before the upcoming MIL championships.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Na Alii, Trojans post big soccer victories

By Fred Guzman

ESPN550.com

 

All four teams involved desperately needed to win their respective MIL boys soccer matches yesterday.

 

When all was said and done, King Kekaulike and St. Anthony emerged with huge victories while Seabury Hall and Maui High suffered key setbacks.

 

Bouncing back from a slow start to its season, King Kekaulike routed upcountry rival Seabury Hall 4-0 in Olinda, improving to 5-3 overall for 15 points and moving to within one point of idle Division-I leader Lahainaluna. 

 

Na Alii scored all of its goals in the first half, with Kaimana Purdy, Logan Bantilan, Taylor DeGuerra and Brison Ino finding the back of the net within the opening 30 minutes of action.

 

Later at War Memorial Stadium, first-half goals by Chris and Gerry Maeda lifted St. Anthony to a 2-0 victory over Maui High.

 

St. Anthony improved to 4-5 for 12 points and a three-point lead over Seabury in the D-II standings.  Maui High fell 3-3-2 for 11 points and finds itself four points behind the Lunas in the D-I standings.

 

In girls action last night, Maui High beat St. Anthony 4-0 on goals by Chelsey Calvert, Rachel Rivas, Tiana Lucas and Shauni Okazaki.

 

PREP HOOPS:  The MIL girls' basketball tournaments tip off semifinal action tonight with three games in two divisions at the Kamehameha-Maui gym.

 

At 4 p.m., Seabury Hall will tangle with Lanai in a Division-II game.  The winner will face regular-season champion Molokai High in Friday's D-II title game at 5:30.

 

In Division-I action, top-seeded Lahainaluna will meet Kamehameha-Maui at 5:30. 

 

The Lunas are the state's fourth-ranked team and have not been remotely tested so far in MIL competition.  Kamehameha earned a berth in the semis by beating Baldwin 37-27 behind a 12-point effort from Tori Cambra.

 

At 7 o'clock, King Kekaulike and Maui High will meet in the other semifinal.  Kekaulike finished second to the Lunas in the regular-season standings.

 

The D-I title game is set for 7 p.m. tomorrow.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Favorable weather conditions benefit golfers at Kapalua

By Fred Guzman

ESPN550.com

 

By customary standards, the at-times treacherous Plantation Course at Kapalua was a soft touch during yesterday's opening round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

 

An early-morning downpour coupled with lower-than-usual tradewinds proved a bonanza for the all-winners field in the first event of the PGA Tour season.

 

Unable to capitalize on the player-friendly conditions was two-time defending champion Geoff Ogilvy. 

 

The Australian had to pull out of the event after suffering a nasty gash to his right index finger following a close encounter with coral while taking a dip in the ocean in the day before.  The wound required 12 stitches and prevented Ogilvy from adequately gripping his clubs.

 

That opened the door for Jonathan Byrd and Carl Petterson to take the early lead with 7-under par 66s.  Ben Crane trailed the co-leaders by one stroke, with Jim Furyk, Bill Haas and Charley Hoffman two strokes back.

 

In fact, only two players -- Justin Rose with a 75 and Rocco Mediate with a 79 – failed to break par in the field of 33 golfers.  The average scored on the PGA Tour's only par-73 layout was 70.5.

 

That, of course, could all change with drier greens and higher winds in an event that runs through Sunday and is being televised on the Golf Channel.

 

MIL ROUNDUP:  Defending champion Seabury Hall opened its MIL Division-II campaign with a decisive 70-51 victory over visiting St. Anthony.  Phelan Pagano's 21 points led Seabury, who also benefited from Dylan King's 14.  Jarrett Stinger's 21 led the Trojans.

 

Baldwin posted a pair of victories as the expense of visiting Kamehameha-Maui. 

 

The Lady Bears open the double-header at the Baldwin gym by holding off the Warriors for 33-28 win.  Kristina Edgamin scored 13 for the Bears, while Tori Cambra's 12 led Kamehameha.

 

In the nightcap, Baldwin capitalized on double-digit production for a pair of players not particularly noted for their scoring. 

 

Senior starting forward Kona Sarmiento had 14 and reserve forward Adrian Garces 12 for the Bears, who improved to 5-1 and kept pace with Lahainaluna in the D-I standings. Kawika Kong's seven points led the Warriors.

 

In MIL basketball action today, the Lahainaluna boys and girls play host to Maui High.

 

UH ROUNDUP:  Losing its first two WAC games on the road was almost predictable considering that UH teams are not particularly noted for being road Warriors.  But after a promising start to the season, the return of their top player and playing at home, much more was expected of the Hawaii men's basketball team last night.

 

Instead of flourishing, the Rainbows floundered, shooting a dismal 29 percent from the field in a 59-44 loss to Idaho at the Stan Sheriff Center.  UH made just 3 of 22 shots from behind the arc, including 0-for-12 in the second half.  As a result, Hawaii was held to its lowest point total in a dozen years while falling to 0-3 in the WAC and to 9-6 overall. 

 

The return of senior forward Bill Amis didn't help UH nearly as much as expected.  Showing some rust after a 10-game layoff because of a lingering foot injury, Amis made 2 of 7 shots and had two rebounds in 29 minutes. Even with Amis back, UH again struggled on the boards and were out-rebounded, 40-28. 

 

Now, UH must try to rebound against Boise State, which escaped from San Jose State with a 102-101 quadruple-overtime victory.  The Broncos will bring records of 10-5 overall and 3-0 in the WAC to The Stanley.

 

WAHINE LOSE:  In the first game of a double-header, the Rainbow Wahine played about as poorly as their male counterparts in the suffering a 74-58 conference-opening home loss to New Mexico State.  The Lady Aggies had four players score in double figures while UH struggled with foul problems and turnovers in dropping to 6-8 overall and 0-1 in the WAC. 

 

UH trailed by only three points, 36-33, at halftime but fell apart in the second half. Keisha Kanekoa led the Wahine with 17 points and Kamilah Jackson added 12.  Kanekoa now has 1,040 career points, passing Tondi Redden for 14th place on the UH all-tme list.  Jade Abele is No. 13 with 1,057.

 

Next for Hawaii is a Saturday game againt LaTech,, which is coming off a 69-34 blowout at San Jose State.