HILO — Waiakea’s Elijah Blankenship let the game come to him, patiently waiting for his guards to either shoot or pass.
And if they shot, all bets were off in terms of patience.
The Warriors’ 6-foot-1 junior was the recipient of his fair share of “easy” baskets inside en route to scoring 19 points, but he also was hard at work as Waiakea commanded an early rebounding advantage in a 61-46 victory against Konawaena.
“Everybody was playing their own game, and we all came together and helped each other out,” Blankenship said.
That about summed it up for the defending champion Warriors (2-0), who are the only remaining undefeated BIIF Division I boys basketball team.
Keegan Scanlan led the way with 20 points and Kiai Apele added 13 and, as usual, was the team facilitator, driving, drawing and dishing to teammates.
“Elijah dominated the boards,” Waiakea coach Paul Lee said. “When we have him rebounding like that, we’re difficult to beat.”
Rebounding was a point of emphasis after the Lee said the Warriors were roughed up on the offensive boards in a 61-51 victory against Kamehameha on Saturday.
“We came in (Monday) morning and had a lot of emphasis on rebounding,” Lee said. “We had to do better blocking out, because we were just turning around and watching. We had to do a better job, and I thought we did.”
Kamaehu Makanui and freshman Coby Molina each scored 10 points for the Wildcats (2-1), who were coming of a 59-57 home victory against Hilo on Saturday. After that win, coach Donny Awa told the Tribune-Herald he was glad his team would do no worse than a split after playing last season’s BIIF finalists. On Monday, he spent much of the game trying to work the referees.
“It’s a hard game to gauge, we had so many players in foul trouble,” Awa said. “I didn’t’ feel like we were allowed to play basketball.”
Between putbacks and passes, Blankenship enjoyed a virtual layup drill, especially in a third quarter in which he made four baskets. Riding the hot hand of Scanlan, Waiakea led 30-20 at halftime, and Blankenship converted a three-point play to up its advantage to 5o-32 late in the third quarter.
“I’ve put in a lot of time in with Elijah,” Lee said. “(The opponents) put a lot of focus on Kiai and Keegan, I get it into their head they’re going to get a lot of garbage baskets and sneaky stuff. When they drive, they give the other players a lot of opportunities.
Sometime it was too easy.
Getting a three-point play from Makanui, Konawaena used a press to bother Waiakea and spur an 8-0 run. But Makana Kaehuaea-Credo answered with a basket for the Warriors, and after they came up with a stop on the other end, Konawaena collapsed defensively on freshman Reese Bergen (five points), who found Blankenship all alone by the basket for the easiest of layups.
“It’s a team effort,” Blankenship said. “It doesn’t matter how many points I score.
“We just have to keep going and remain strong.”
The Wildcats started slow offensively until Joah Gacayan hit consecutive 3-pointers, and it was 14-11 after the first quarter. But along with getting beaten on the boards, Scanlan heated up in the second quarter and went on a personal 8-0 run, hitting a jumper, a 3-pointer and converting a three-point play.
Gacayan and Aldrin Gadot each scored eight points and Kahiau Holzgrove added seven.
“I liked the way we fought back at the end,” Awa said. “It wasn’t our best game. We can fix some things.”