McKinley guard feeling it from the start, scores 27 in win

McKinley guard Dan Villejo had a feeling it might be one of those nights.

"I was mostly in a rhythm," Villejo said of his warmup prior to Tuesday’s game against Campbell in the opening round of the Pete Smith Classic. "I was feeling hot."

You think?

Villejo drained a 3-pointer 35 seconds into the game, then hit three more in a 16-point first-quarter outburst that helped propel the Tigers to a 71-47 win over the 10th-ranked Sabers at Kalaheo.

Villejo finished with five 3-pointers to highlight a 27-point performance and McKinley advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinal round to face Konawaena, which opened the five-day, 16-team tournament with a 52-45 win over Fleetwood Park of Canada.

Macjun Otarra complemented Villejo with eight points in the first quarter on his way to a 14-point night and Huthifa Abdel-Juwad finished with 12 points, ending the first half with a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer. 

While Villejo filled up the scoresheet on Tuesday, McKinley coach Duane Omori is working to build balance in the rotation with an eye on the upcoming OIA regular season.

"We want to be a team where other teams cannot concentrate on one guy," Omori said. "In this day and age there’s so much team defense. Kalaheo does a good job, they take way your first and second option. We want other guys to make sure they can execute when we need them."

Villejo and Otarra scored 18 of McKinley’s first 21 points and the Tigers led 29-7 going into the second quarter. After his 3-point barrage in the first six minutes, Villejo proved equally adept at putting the ball on the floor and driving for layups.

"We push the ball a lot, we attack first and if we have nothing we kick it out," said Villejo, a junior in his third year of varsity basketball.

The Tigers led by as many as 25 in the second quarter before Campbell — which placed fourth in last season’s Division I state tournament — chipped away and closed to within 10 with 5:56 left in the game. But McKinley went 12-for-14 from the free-throw line in a 17-1 run to pull away.

"They just came out strong in the first quarter," Campbell coach Wyatt Tau said. "The most important part is at least (the Sabers) came back and played tough. We just have to go back to the drawing board and figure out some stuff."

Michael Merchant made two of Campbell’s five 3-pointers and led the Sabers with 14 points. Senior post Lamart Dudley finished with 11 points.

Campbell fell into the tournament’s consolation bracket and will face Fleetwood Park at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Farrington.

In other games on Tuesday, Leilehua defeated Punahou II, 54-36 and Kalaheo beat Anuenue, 87-21.

The tournament’s opening round continues Wednesday with four more games at Kalaheo.

ILH GIRLS DIVISION II

Hawaii Baptist 51, 

St. Andrew’s Priory 20

Ally Wada scored 12 points as the Eagles routed the Pride.

HAWAII BAPTIST–Ally Wada 12, Morgan Lorenzo 6, Stephanie Dang 5, Jenee Brown 4, Caitlen Joy Ramos 4, Kiara Chun 3, Dominique Hart 3, Rylie Wada 2, Nicole Lopes 2, Sara Utsugi 2, Kaily Lum 2, Rachel Glass 2, Katelyn Nakagawa 2, Ashley Benn 0, Megan Horita 0, Keisha Ching 0, Keri Lum 0.

ST. ANDREW’S PRIORY–Mie Oishi 6, Olivia Sou 6, Jordan Jones 4, Jessica Serikawa 2, Emily Ahlgren 2, Zijun Sun 0, Hattie Hapai 0, Connie Rico-Avello 0, 3-point goals–Hawaii Baptist 1 (Dang). St. Andrew’s Priory 1 (Sou).

Also

Varsity girls I-AA

‘Iolani II 45, Punahou II 34

Junior varsity boys I-AA

Punahou-Gold 59, Saint Louis II 40

Punahou-Blue 43, Maryknoll 38