Bronny James scored 14 points, Kijani Wright hustled for 13 and Shy Odom tallied 12 as national powerhouse Sierra Canyon fended off Punahou 65-39 in the opening round of the ‘Iolani Prep Classic on Saturday.
James was the glue of the offense with smart passing and shot selection. He also stroked four 3-pointers to lead an otherwise sluggish Trailblazers attack.
“I don’t feel very good right now. We didn’t play very well. Everything. We were terrible in every way,” Sierra Canyon coach Andre Chevalier said. “Punahou did a great job of making us speed up, turning the ball over. They did a wonderful job of playing their team basketball, of playing team defense, and we didn’t do so well at it.”
Wright, a 6-foot-9 force in the paint, also spent time covering guards at midcourt when Sierra Canyon deployed its fullcourt and halfcourt pressure.
James, the son of LeBron James, spent much of his time on defense covering Punahou’s pesky point guard, Peyton Macapulay, who finished with a team-high 12 points. Most of those points came in transition, including a few surprising reverse layups in traffic.
“I’m just blessed to play against a future NBA player. I mean, he’s younger than me and I just like the competition,” Macaulay said. “I just wanted to go all out today because we had nothing to lose. This was a good test for us for the season coming up.”
The Buffanblu were aggressive defensively, bumping and leveraging every possible way against the taller Trailblazers. Wright’s alley-oop dunk in transition and James’ pull-up 3 opened the lead for Sierra Canyon.
Leading 18-10 after one quarter, Sierra Canyon still struggled with shots in the paint, but opened the lead to 30-17 by halftime with some smooth ball movement and 3-point shooting.
After Macapulay fed Drake Watanabe for a reverse layup on the break, the Buffanblu had some momentum — and cheering — from its cache of family and friends behind its bench.
But Wright’s monster dunk on an inbounds lob brought the Trailblazers bench to its feet, and after James’ wing 3 tumbled in, it was 35-19.
Moments later, James splashed another wing 3 and it was a 20-point lead.
In earlier games, Central Catholic (Ore.) overwhelmed Kalaheo 80-36, Pembroke Pines (Fla.) routed Kailua 88-33, West Linn (Ore.) shellacked Damien 102-36, and host ‘Iolani defeated Waialua 72-17.
‘Iolani 72, Waialua 17
Sophomore Aaron Claytor poured in four 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Raiders advanced to the quarterfinals. Kaimana Lau Kong added eight points and Zac Tenn scored seven points.
James Patrick Zara led the Bulldogs with seven points.
St. Paul VI (Va.) 66, Maryknoll 42
DeShawn Harris-Smith pumped in 19 points and Ben Hammond tallied 11 as the Panthers prevailed. St. Paul VI led 37-19 at the half. Zion Bruce paced the Spartans with nine points.
Central Catholic (Ore.) 80, Kalaheo 36
Isaac Carr scored 14 points to lead a balanced Rams offense. Marley Zeller and Gray Thompson had 12 apiece, and Aidan Slater tallied 11. Ehu Scherk-Lee had 14 points to lead the Mustangs.
Pembroke Pines (Fla.) 88, Kailua 33
Caelum Ethridge hit five treys and finished with 18 points to lead the Jaguars. Geoff Sprouse scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers, and Kolby King had 13. Jonny Philbrick led the Surfriders with 11 points.
West Linn (Ore.) 102, Damien 36
Jackson Shelstad poured in 29 points and Zeke Viuhkola added 22 as the Rams opened a 39-9 lead after one quarter. Jake Holmes chipped in 11 points and Peyton Durbin had 10. Luke Patton led the Monarchs with 10 points. Dillion Seville and Clean Fernando scored nine each.
