By Paul Honda
paul@hondareport.com
Friday, Feb. 16, 2007

When the Kaiser Cougars wrapped up league play with a near-perfect record, only one thing was guaranteed for the post-season.

The Cougars knew that nothing mattered but the present. Because the regular season amounts to a method for seeding purposes, Kaiser's 11-1 mark went down the trash chute. Then, the Cougs had the horribly bad luck of A) meeting McKinley, the only team that had marred Kaiser's OIA White win-loss record, B) losing low-post scorer Kalua Noa to a one-game suspension, and C) traveling to Farrington in an elimination game.

McKinley got the best of Kaiser on the Cougars' court. Noa, who gave his team a strong 1-2 scoring punch inside along with Rayce Chun-Ming, left the bench during an on-court scuffle with the Tigers, which necessitated his suspension. Chun-Ming had just two points at Farrington, which means an interior base that normally scores 15-25 points for Kaiser was basically nullified.

On top of that, Farrington is very tough at home, and Christian Hernandez scored all 24 of his points from 3-point land. Yes, it was a career game for Hernandez in the most clutch of situations. Playing for a league title is a high-pressure situation, but try playing when your existence as a team in the post-season is dependent on your ability to score and make stops.

That's what Farrington did, just enough to get by a slightly depleted Kaiser squad. Though I continue to contend that the regular-season winner should earn an automatic state berth as is the case with other leagues (BIIF, ILH, MIL), one astute OIA White coach has noted that the conference doesn't have a double round-robin, and therefore, not enough games to justify a guarantee.

I can buy that, especially when the West teams in both the OIA Red and White are still behind the East. I'd rather see the OIA White skip a playoff format and play two round robins. That would make for a 16-game regular season. Top three earn their state berths the old-fashioned way.

My suggestion is that in the OIA White, if there would be no double round-robin, the West and East winners meet for an automatic state berth. They would still participate in the league playoffs.

Now, would that take away the drama of a playoff tournament? Yes, but I can live without drama if the regular season rewarded its top team(s) with something substantial.

In Kaiser's case, Noa was suspended per league rules. That's a given. But this has happened before. Nearly two months of outstanding effort and performance — consistency and daily work ethic — are washed away in one game due to an infraction, illness, injury ...

It doesn't make common sense, but neither does the lottery, but everyday people spend billions of dollars trying to land the big ticket. I just don't see why we need to feed our kids to the lions with a lottery mentality. A regular-season championship should be rewarded not in part, but in full.

Missed the cut: Here are extra helpings from Thursday's ILH third-place games. The info below missed the cut for my stories in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, both for the Saint Louis-Kamehameha D-I game, and the AOP-Hanalani D-II game. Space is always limited on dead wood, but in the cyberworld, space is the final frontier.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Saint Louis keeps state hopes alive

Saint Louis shot 41 percent from the field (17-for-41) and limited the Warriors to 28-percent shooting (13-for-43). The Crusaders, who used a 2-3 zone for much of the game, dominated the Warriors on the glass with a 36-17 edge in rebounding.

"The last four or five games, the matchup zone has been really good for us," Tengan said. "It's kind of like Syracuse in the sense that we've got big, long guys playing in the zone. Cole is a long-armed guy, too, and when we bring in Tuiloma and McClinton, it doesn't change."

Kamehameha only shot six free throws, making three. Saint Louis was 13-for-20 from the line.

"That's been our Achilles heel," Nakanishi said.

The Warriors took their last lead, 12-10, on a 23-foot trey by Rykin Enos, midway through the second quarter.

Reserve swingman Micah McClinton answered with a 3-pointer to give Saint Louis the lead for good. The Crusaders' run extended into the third quarter. After Aigamaua hit a jumper from the foul line, they led 25-16.

Saint Louis opened a 36-24 lead on a follow shot by Smith, but Godinet scored on a drive, and then hit a 3-pointer. After sophomore Auwae DeRego drove the baseline for a tough layup, the Warriors were down 38-31 with 2:49 to go.

That was as close as the Warriors got. After shooting just 1-for-6 from the line in the fourth quarter, they saw Saint Louis close out the game with an 11-0 run.

"We played hard. We never stopped fighting," said Enos, who finished with eight points. "We just came up short."

Star-Bulletin: Dolphins get trip to state tournament

Bourne, who has accepted the near-equivalent of a full-ride to play volleyball at USC, was phenomenal in the first half. The 6-foot-5 Star-Bulletin All-State first-team selection had nine boards and eight steals before halftime. 

AOP threatened to blow the game open late in the first half. An 8-0 run, including six points by Daniel, gave the Dolphins a 30-21 halftime lead. They extended the margin to 10 on Bourne's follow shot to open the second half, but the Royals were resilient. 

Kamealoha hit a pair of 3-pointers as Hanalani pulled within 34-33 late in the third quarter. However, AOP answered with a 10-0 run, including a reverse layup by Foster and four more points by Daniel. 

Hanalani pulled within 44-39 on a layup by Wood, but got no closer. Daniel shot 6-for-8 from the line in the final 3 minutes as AOP closed out the game with a 12-4 run.

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