HondaReport.com - Opening-round Miracle

Billy Hull isn't given to hyperbole. After all, it's been at least four months since he uttered the words, "This was the greatest high school game I've ever seen."

I got the word about the opening-round boys basketball game between Moanalua and Radford via one of the coaches at, of all places, Radford.

With the two games at Jim Alegre Gymnasium done, everyone was curious about the Moanalua-Radford game. Then someone on a cellphone learned it was going into overtime. Next thing we knew, Moanalua won 73-71.

Moments later, I get the call from Billy, one of our many young, talented scribes at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. He tells me of greatness, of a miracle finish by Na Menehune. Now, I can hardly wait to read the story in the paper tomorrow morning, or better yet, when it hits the Internet around 2 a.m.

Leaving the gym, Radford players turn the corner and head in. Somber. Heartbroken. Spent. Empty. I don't register a thing on their faces. It's a sad visual ... then I think about the 1-13 seasons at Kaimuki back in the early 1980s, and I wish we'd even had a chance to play in the state tourney.

I check my voicemail as I return to my neighborbood in search of dinner. "Wherever your office assigned you to work tonight, you got robbed," the caller said. Pretty funny. I'm not sad or mad. I saw two outstanding teams win their games at Radford. Iolani blew out Baldwin and Saint Louis overpowered Campbell.

But Moanalua's insane comeback against Radford was (and is) remarkable, from all I hear.

In the other game at McKinley, where the Moanalua game was played, Kalaheo outlasted Honokaa. I'm hearing all sorts of things. Bad free-throw shooting by Kalaheo. Poor field-goal shooting by Honokaa. Mediocre officiating, even. I wasn't there, can't judge at all.

Are we seeing the signs of dropoff in the officiating ranks? It's been more than a year since a rift fractured the once-stable corps of outstanding officials in the ILH. More than a few coaches have noticed a dip in quality regarding that league.

To me, it all balances out as long as the pool is large and the officials continue to get new, improved training. That's how it was in Kona when Dean Edmonds organized the Kona Officials Association. Those guys worked hard in the offseason, taking weekly tests and challenging each other to improve. A number of them — Dean, Kevin Orme, Paul Daugherty, even Lyle Cabacungan and Patrick Santiago — worked in the men's league that we operated for years.

They got paid, and they were worth every penny. Dean used every opportunity to keep his guys working year-round, and welcomed new members, too.

The state tourney is just a day old, and there's plenty more to come. I just hope there's a lot more drama and, as the caller told me later, outstanding play by all teams. The pain of losing a heartbreakingly close game is real, but so is the joy of winning a state title.