ALOHA STATE GAMES

Kenoi Soares of Konfusion drives for a layup at UH's Klum Gym. Soares' team rallied to win its Recreation Division basketball game. Photos by Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin

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Konfusion wins at Klum
By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

After squandering a 25-18 halftime lead, Konfusion rallied in the closing minutes of its Men's Recreation Division basketball game to defeat Highland, 52-49.

Konfusion improved to 4-1 going into a 5 p.m. showdown today at Klum against Fuzon (3-1), the team it lost to on Monday, 62-56.

Highland (3-2) fell out of the double-elimination tournament.

The Bus Drivers lead the Recreation Division tournament with a 4-0 record.

It's the "weekend warrior" division, a competitive haven for anyone with plenty of desire, just enough experience and barely enough conditioning.

Playing in Klum, where three half-court games in recreation and novice divisions are held simultaneously during the Aloha State Games, the cacophony of referee whistles can create confusion on each court.

Asked why he chose a bizarre name for an apparently well-oiled team, Konfusion's 6-5 player-coach, Craig Williams, laughed and said, "Well, we try to apply defensive pressure like the UNLV teams used to do, and create confusion."

Williams, 28, who is studying for a master's degree in business administration at UH, said many of his players are MBA candidates at UH or Hawaii Pacific University. He said he hopes to become a trader on the stock exchange after graduation.

But the key to Konfusion's first-half superiority and second-half comeback was not an MBA candidate, but 6-foot, 175-pound point guard Keoni Soares, a 21-year-old redshirt receiver with the UH football team.

Highlands and Konfusion basketball play in the basketball Aloha State Games.

Soares scored 14 points - including 7-for-7 at the line - and grabbed four rebounds to lead Konfusion in the second half. Blinking away torrents of perspiration after playing full-tilt in Hawaii's famous hardwood sauna, Soares said he's used to the gym. "I've had lots of pickup games in here," he said.

Soares had to leave the game early in the second half after he ran into one of the benches and hurt himself. It was after he left that Konfusion began to fall into minor confusion.

"When he went out, we kind of lost our composure," said Williams.

Highland, led by 6-2 Joel Bennermon's nine-point, six-rebound second-half performance, went on an 18-7 run to start the second half to take a 36-32 lead.

"We had never had to fight back from behind before," said Williams, who played high school basketball at West Covina High School in California. But fight back they did as Soares came off the bench with eight minutes left and lit a fire under his team.

With 2:30 left in the game, the green singlet-clad Konfusion had retaken the lead, 45-42.

Bennermon, a 31-year-old department store stock clerk who played for Pearl City High and graduated in 1983, took a nasty bump and fall in rebounding action in the last minute of the game. But he said he felt more fatigue than pain after the game.

"I feel tired right now - and my knees are a little sore," said the admitted weekend warrior. "I bumped into somebody and I came down and landed the wrong way. It happens to me a lot."

In the 14-and-under division, Kaimuki beat American Magic, 69-64, in the boys' game, and Waimea Ponekos clobbered Country Style, 33-15, in the girls' game.

In 17-and-under play, Hamburgers beat Westloch Rookies II, 65-60, in the boys' game and the Big Island All-Stars belted Country Style, 50-30, in the girls' game.