Kalaheo rolls past Moanalua

Getting a half of futility out of their opponent was all Kalaheo needed to put a game away.

The host No. 5 Mustangs outscored Moanalua 32-15 in the first half and rolled to their second Oahu Interscholastic Association Red East victory of the season, 64-48 over No. 7 Na Menehune last night.

Senior shooting guard Cheynne Lishman led the way with 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting with eight rebounds and point guard Taylor Jay ran a smooth offensive game with 13 points, five assists and three steals.

The night of Moanalua guard Stevie Austin went about the same as the rest of his teammates, but on a larger scale. He had a team-high 18 points -- all in the second half -- including four 3-pointers. Austin's barrage helped bring his team to within eight points three different times in the second half, but Moanalua -- in its OIA season opener -- would not get any closer.

Kalaheo coach Chico Furtado credited junior guard Richard Preza Haynes for keeping Austin contained in the first half.

"I told our guys at halftime, up 17, that we're going to have to weather a storm," Furtado said. "They're gonna come. They're not just going to roll over and die for you. We were able to do that."

When Moanalua cut the lead to single digits twice in the fourth, Kalaheo countered with a step-back 3-pointer and smooth turnaround from Lishman. Jay helped seal things with a breakaway steal and 3-point play that pushed the lead back to 13 and fouled out sophomore starter Marcus Monroe with 3 minutes, 16 seconds left.

"Stevie was heating up, Josh Kure was hitting some 3's, but in the fourth quarter we just held them," said Jay, in his first year as Kalaheo's starting point guard. "We weren't reading that skip-pass well in the beginning, but as the game went on (I started) taking chances on it."

Na Menehune shot 48 percent and nailed six of their 10 3-pointers after halftime, but it wasn't enough to overcome an abysmal 5-for-31 (16 percent) outing from the field over the first two quarters before coach Greg Tacon could talk things over with them in the locker room.

Many of the misses came on nice fakes and passes to create open shots -- they just weren't falling.

"First half, (Kalaheo) took advantage of their opportunities and made some really big shots," Tacon said, then paused. "I thought we took good shots, we just didn't knock them down. "

Both teams were hurt without two of their key energy players. Moanalua was lacking starting small forward Ryan Hua, out with a sprained ankle, while Kalaheo's athletic Bruce Andrews was away on a trip.

The difference was Na Menehune got almost no bench production (five points) with their thinner lineup, while the Mustang reserves scored 16.

Kure's offense was about the only thing that went right for Moanalua in the first half, as he scored 11 of the team's 15 points. But while Austin heated up after halftime, Kure became a nonfactor with only a 3-pointer to finish with 14.