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Kushiyama beats clock
in dramatic Linfield win

Even Derrick Low's buddies are getting into the act.

Casey Kushiyama, a lifelong friend of Hawaii's three-time Mr. Basketball, achieved his 4.3 seconds of fame Saturday when he made the winning basket at the buzzer to lift Linfield (Ore.) over Whitman (Wash.) 90-89 in a Northwest Conference game.

"This was my redemption. It took the bad taste of last year away," said Kushiyama, a 2000 University High graduate from Diamond Head.

Kushiyama wasn't supposed to be playing this season. He could have graduated last May.

But a shot he missed with 3 seconds left in overtime of the final game last season changed his mind. "Had I made that, we would have beaten the conference champions (Puget Sound)," Kushiyama said.

"I didn't want my career to end like that. It ate away at me for awhile."

Then he decided to defer his graduation and use his redshirt year of eligibility this season.

"I came back solely to play basketball," Kushiyama said. He has filled all his graduation requirements to be an elementary education teacher and is taking one class (history) this semester.

Kushiyama is a role player, "more of an assist man than a shooter," he says, and plays about 15 minutes a game.

Saturday in Walla Walla, Wash., he turned his supporting role into a starring one.

Whitman had made a 3-pointer to go ahead 89-88.

"Sam Kreiger inbounded the ball to Kushiyama with 4.3 seconds to go," coach Larry Doty said. "Kush took the ball the length of the floor and hit a shot over three defenders (two of them 6-8 and 6-7)", Doty said.

"It took away the bad taste," Kushiyama said.

Meanwhile, his buddy from National Junior Basketball and the park leagues, Low, is starting at point guard for Washington State as a true freshman and scored 10 points Saturday in a 69-52 victory over Southern California in Los Angeles.

BASEBALL

Pepperdine senior right-hander Kea Kometani (Punahou '01 of Kahala) was chosen first-team preseason All-West Coast Conference in a poll of league coaches conducted by Baseball America magazine, it was announced Tuesday.

Kometani also was selected by the conference coaches to have the best control in the league. He walked 40 batters in 120 innings last season, an average of 3.0 per game.

Kometani had an 8-6 record and 4.05 earned-run average.

RIFLE

Junior Ryan Kohatsu (Waiakea '01) won both small-bore and air-rifle competition Saturday for Ohio State in a meet against Akron, and the Akron coach, Newt Engle, called Kohatsu's small-bore score of 592 out of 600 possible points "amazing."

His air-rifle score was 585.

Kohatsu's sister Shannon (Waiakea '04) is on the Akron team but did not participate in the match.

SWIMMING

Senior Caleb Rowe (Baldwin '01 of Wailuku) and freshman Mark Eckert (Iolani '04 of McCully) are making solid contributions to California's No. 6 national ranking.

Rowe, who placed ninth in the 200 breaststroke and reached the semifinals of the 100 in last summer's Olympic trials, has already met the NCAA championships provisional qualifying standard this year with a time of 2 minutes, 0.75 seconds in the 200-yard breaststroke. His personal best is 1:58.06.

Rowe is closer to his PR in the 100 breast. He has swum 55.74 this season, 0.61 off his best college time.

Eckert, who is recovering from mononucleosis that kept him from training, has Cal's second-best time in the 200 backstroke (1:48.43) and third best in the 100 back (50.18).

WRESTLING

Cornell senior Travis Lee (Saint Louis '01 of Liliha) lost his No. 1 national ranking at 133 pounds when he was upset by Edinboro's Shawn Bunch 11-10, but Lee -- now ranked No. 2 -- rebounded with three victories Saturday.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Becky Hogue (Punahou '03 of Kailua) scored 20 points in Fullerton Junior College's 2-point victory over No. 8 Cypress and followed that with 24 points and 10 rebounds in a 5-point victory over No. 2 Riverside on Friday night in Fullerton's first two conference games.

Hogue left Loyola Marymount after last season and has committed to Columbia for next season.

SOCCER

Duke's Allison Lipsher (Punahou '04 of Hawaii Kai) was named goalkeeper on Soccer Buzz magazine's All-Southeastern Region Freshman Team.

That honor earned her another one, honorable mention on the All-America freshman team.

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