The Lunas put up a better effort this time against the Bears, but still came up short in a 43-47 loss. Baldwin took an early lead and it looked like the same thing that happened back at Baldwin when they went out on a run early and never looked back. But the Lunas were able to battle their way back and actually had a lead late in the 3rd quarter. Then the ref decided to take things into his own hands and called a technical on the Lunas bench (assistant coach) after a scrum under the Lunas basket where numerous offensive rebounds and putback attempts occurred but inexplicably no foul called. Apparently, one of the Lunas coaches objected too demonstrably (although I did not notice or hear anything out of the ordinary) and the ref called a tech. Free throws and possession later, the Bears regained the lead and did not look back.
The other factor that kept it competitive was that the Lunas had John Mishima on Gabe Ross for most of the game. While can't stop Ross, you can definitely try to slow him down and Mishima did a great job of that. Then in the fourth quarter, he was benched for Josh Chapital. I think Ross then went on to score 8 points in the quarter and, along with help from the ill-timed technicals, was able to ice the game away in the 4th quarter for the Bears.
Great effort, but a loss is still a loss. Especially against these Bears.
My Two Cents
The girls and boys games started about 30-45 minutes late as the West Maui Youth Basketball league scheduled one of its games to 6:00pm.I had left work early because I did not want to miss the 5:30 start so i was surprised to see a kids' game going on before the Girls' game. Nothing against kids leagues, but really, couldn't they have scheduled those games another night? Worse, the quality of the game isn't that good! Ha ha, I know, I suck for saying that. But unless I have a kid or I know someone's kid that is playing, these youth games are brutal and painful to watch.
With all the cheerleaders, kids and balls being played with on the baseline, and the Lunas' band coming to the home games, it was time to find other vantage points from which to shoot my photos. Ended up shooting on the high bleachers on the band end, and then on the corner baselne next to the Lunas' bench.
For more photos, click here.
The kids games can indeed be painful to watch EVEN when you have a kid playing. One benefit though of West Maui Youth Basketball League is the positive impact it's had on the Menehune and Lunas BB programs. And no... you don't suck for saying that. You're just stating the obvious.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great photos and the comments!