Salt Lake, HI
Kahuku and Kailua would see face to face one last time in the OIA D1 Boy’s Basketball Championship. Both teams met twice with a home and home schedule upon the new OIA format. With both teams winning the match on the road, we would see another game between the two, only with much more on the line.
The Kailua Surfriders punched their ticket Monday night as they took the win over the Mililani Trojans in the OIA semifinal. Kailua would start off hot and take a big lead from the jump. The Trojans would chip away their deficit later in the second half, but that wouldn’t be enough to stop Senior Guard, Maddox Pung, who dropped 26 points. The current reigning and defending OIA champs would get another title shot in hopes of going back to back. A season where they went 11-1, Kailua would look to keep playing with that fire offense that’s been putting up numbers for them.
As for the Red Raiders of Kahuku, they managed to make a comeback win over the undefeated Golden Hawks of Nanakuli. A struggling first half would wake the team up come halftime. With cutting their deficit to just 3 before the half, it looked like the Red Raiders had found the solution to stop Nanakuli momentum. The Red Raiders would look to Senior Guard, Mystique Akina-Watson, who would come up big in the second half and finish the game with 16 points.
Also having an 11-1 record heading into the playoffs, the Red Raiders were looking to punch their ticket into the championship match. The Red Raiders unfortunately won’t be playing with big man, Ronin Naihe, who suffered a hand injury in their Quarterfinal matchup against the Leilehua Mules. Although Kahuku would be playing without a big key to their title run, the boys from the North Shore have seen to face many challenges throughout the season and know what it takes to move forward together to bring the ultimate goal of the Koa Wood Trophy to Kahuku.
It was a tittle match that lived up to the hype. The Kahuku Red Raiders and Kailua Surfriders battled it out till the end. In an electric environment, both squads would feed off their crowd’s energy to make it a competitive matchup.
A low scoring first half would have Kahuku have a slight edge at halftime with a 18-12 lead. After the half, Kailua would start the 3rd on a 7-0 start and then the game would get interesting. Kailua would force the Red Raiders to turn the ball over which led to the Surfriders putting points on the board. They would go into the 4th quarter with a 25-20 lead and end the quarter on a 13-2 run.
The Red Raiders were facing a little bit of adversity once again. After the semifinal match against the Nanakuli Goldenhawks, they knew it would take everyone to win the game. Not having their big man in these moments definitely hurt Kahuku, but it’s always a next man up mentality. It would be the duo of Mystique Akina-Watson and Kash Daley who would take over in the 4th to get the boys up north within tying the game. Kahuku Guard, Ionke Lloyd, would also play a key role with his 9 points in the championship match making big plays when the Red Raiders needed it.
After going down to the wire, the Kahuku Red Raiders would be named your new 2026 OIA D1 Boys Basketball Champions. Congratulations to the Red Raiders Boys Basketball Program, School, and Community!
Final Score: Kahuku 35 - Kailua 32
for more pictures, head over to our photo gallery
pictures taken by: Logan Pactol - @_lowgxn
New Champs Up north
Video by: Alan Velasco - @oscalev_
