BY KEVIN JAKAHI | STEPHENS MEDIA ADVERTISING HILO — Tyler Van Kirk’s good fortune kept flowing, and so did his nice shooting touch. The 6-foot-3 senior forward relied on his size and quickness to post, turn and bank in 25
BY KEVIN JAKAHI | STEPHENS MEDIA
HILO — Tyler Van Kirk’s good fortune kept flowing, and so did his nice shooting touch.
The 6-foot-3 senior forward relied on his size and quickness to post, turn and bank in 25 points, and clean the glass with 13 rebounds in a historic Big Island Interscholastic Federation basketball game for Hawaii Prep.
Ka Makani withstood every momentum swing and hard-charging run to defeat Kohala 73-64 on Saturday night at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium for the school’s first BIIF Division II championship.
Van Kirk had lots of help from Dakota Berman, who drilled four 3-pointers to finish with 19 points, and a defense of moving parts that protected the rim and got out on long-distance shooters. The defense held Kohala to 45 percent shooting, including 6 of 16 from 3-point territory.
“We played really good as a team,” Van Kirk said. “We kept our heads up when we made mistakes and didn’t let it get to us. We played strong defense, playing together and talking and communicating.
“We ran good screens, and I was lucky enough to get open and make shots. My shot felt good tonight. I was lucky that it went in.”
Modesty aside, Van Kirk established deep position in the paint, received good entry passes and usually made something happen, scoring 12 first-half points to help HPA to a 36-26 halftime advantage.
That neutralized Kalai Kapeliela’s 10-point, first-quarter outburst, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers. The hot-shooting Cowboy finished with 18 points, including four treys. Makani Kualii also had 18 points, and freshman guard Kealan Figueroa had 10 points.
HPA burned the nets at 54 percent (25 of 46) shooting, including 5 of 13 from long distance. Every shot was necessary because Kohala just wouldn’t go away.
Figueroa cranked up the dial on his offensive game at the start of the third quarter, scoring seven points to whittle the lead to 40-35 with less than five minutes to go in that period. Then a little later, Kapeliela was tagged with his fourth foul, putting him on the bench for the final four minutes of the period.
“I told Kealan I liked his passion. His heart is his biggest strength,” Kohala coach Don Fernandez said. “Every time we made a run they would come back and get the crowd and the emotion going on their side. But congratulations to Hawaii Prep. We hope to learn from this.”
After Kapeliela went out, HPA manufactured an 11-4 run, centered on a pair of nice 2-foot bank shots by Van Kirk, until Kohala’s Justin Agbayani swished a 35-foot heave at the buzzer, cutting the lead to 53-42.
In the fourth quarter, Kapeliela buried his first two 3-pointer attempts, the second shot turning things interesting at 56-52 with 5:47 left. But Kama DeSilva immediately answered with a putback, and Kalan Camero, who had 10 points, made it back-to-back baskets on a layup in transition, getting a pretty feed from Jovan Crnic, who had seven assists.
It was 60-52 with less than five minutes left. But the Cowboys never scored consecutive baskets in the final eight minutes.
And with under 22 seconds, Berman calmly converted four straight free throws, bumping the lead to 73-64 and setting the stage for Ka Makani to run onto the court and celebrate their first BIIF championship.
“It’s a stepping stone for us,” HPA coach Dave Huntington said. “It’s our first Division II title and first trip to states. Hopefully, there are many more to come.”
Kohala 14 12 16 22 — 64
Hawaii Prep 16 20 17 20 — 73
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