Knee injury dampens Foothill’s victory

Both Foothill (Nev.) and Kalaheo played without key shooters for all or part of Thursday’s matchup.

Foothill proved to have more in reserve and pulled away from the Mustangs in a 67-37 win in the quarterfinals of the Saint Francis Merv Lopes Hoops Classic at Manoa Rec Center gym.

Kalaheo’s Josh Ko didn’t suit up due to a case of vertigo. Foothill senior Brannon Cresanto hit three 3-pointers in the first half before suffering a knee injury in the third quarter.

Foothill’s appearance in the seventh annual tournament was a homecoming of sorts for Cresanto, the grandson of Saint Francis athletic director and head coach Sol Batoon. But he will likely miss the rest of Foothill’s games this week.

"All my family’s here so I’m kind of disappointed I couldn’t play 100 percent," said Cresanto, who visits the islands every few months.

Before suffering the injury, Cresanto, a 6-foot-2 senior, showed some of the shooting range that has drawn interest from several colleges, including Hawaii. After Kalaheo took a 13-11 lead early in the second quarter, Cresanto scored seven of his 10 points in the second quarter as Foothill, from Henderson, Nev., outscored the Mustangs 19-5 in the period.

Foothill continued to build on a 30-16 halftime lead with an inside game led by 6-5 forward Chris Echols, who scored 12 of his game-high 16 points in the third quarter after going scoreless in the first half.

"We needed our inside guys to be more active and they came out in the second half and did that," Foothill coach Kevin Soares said.

"(Echols) is a kid that can really give us something. He wasn’t there in the first half, in the second half we woke up and did some good things."

Cresanto suffered the injury while taking a shot in front of the Foothill bench. He said a teammate was pushed on the play and fell into his knee.

"It felt like my knee exploded," said Cresanto, who finished with 10 points and left the gym on crutches and with an ice pack on his knee. He said he’ll have his knee examined with the team returns to Nevada.

Soares said Cresanto had also hurt his knee last week and hadn’t practiced prior to the tournament, which opened on Wednesday.

Foothill guard Austin Starr finished with 12 points, all coming from behind the 3-point arc. Shem Sukumaran and Kalei Zuttermeister both hit two 3-pointers and led Kalaheo with eight points each.

With Ko out this week and center Nainoa Frank out for the season following knee surgery, the Mustangs’ depth was further tested when guard Derick Morgan picked up his third foul early in the second quarter.

"We were down guys and we needed guys to step up in different roles and they had to go in and learn on the fly," Kalaheo coach Alika Smith said. "When you play a team like that, they’re a very good disciplined team, if we have any flaws they’re going to exploit them, and they did. We learn from it and go forward."

Kalaheo (17-3), ranked third in this week’s Star-Advertiser basketball poll, faces No. 1 Punahou in a consolation bracket game today at 3 p.m. Punahou lost to Thousand Oaks (Calif.) 63-47 on Thursday. Foothill and Thousand Oaks meet in a semifinal game at 7:30 p.m.