Waipahu picked up their first win of the season last night by surprising Pearl City 44-37 in OIA Boys Varsity Basketball action played at Pearl City High School. Waipahu evened their regular season record at 1-1 while Pearl City (2-1) suffered their first loss of the season.
Brendan Mendoza-Bulong led Waipahu with 15 points. Eric Dela Pena led Pearl City with 9 points.
Waipahu jumped out in front of Pearl City taking a 14-9 lead after the first period. The Chargers turned it around in the second period, outscoring the Marauders 14-3 to take a 23-17 advantage at the half.
Waipahu stormed back in the third period, tieing the game at 26-26 with 2:21 on the clock. Waipahu's Jordan Mateo put the Marauders out in front 28-26 after dropping a pair of free throws. The Chargers came back and tied the game at 28-28 on a bucket by Eric Dela Pena with 1:30 on the clock. Meshack Leapaga drained a 3-pointer to break the tie and put the Marauders in front 31-28 with :50 seconds on the clock. The period ended with Waipahu up 31-28.
Waipahu opened the fourth period with a quick bucket to go up 33-28. Brendan Mendoza-Bulong scored to give Waipahu a 35-28 lead with 6:35 on the clock. Shandy Reyes dropped a free throw after being fouled under the basket with 5:46 on the clock. Pearl City trailed Waipahu 35-29. Dela Pena scored on a jumper to pull the Chargers within four points of the lead at 35-31 with 4:39 remaining on the game clock. Waipahu's Keanu Deboma drilled a 3-pointer to put the Maruaders out in front by 7 points at 38-31 with 4:15 on the clock.
Pearl City cut it to a four point Marauder lead, later in the period, at 39-35 on basket by Ivan-Jacob Nakasone with 1:32 remaining in the game. That's as close as the Chargers would get to the Marauders. Waipahu went up to a 9 point point lead at 44-35 with under a minute. Pearl City scored the last basket of the ball game with clock winding down to its final seconds.
@ Pearl City High School
Waipahu (1-1) 14 3 14 13 — 44
Pearl City (2-1) 9 14 5 9 — 37
Leading Scorers:
Waipahu – AJ Jerome Leano 1, Keanu Deboma 5, Dustin Morales 1, Jasper Sebastian 5, Gerald Felix 9, Jordan Mateo 5, Brendan Mendoza-Bulong 15, Andrew Pecpec 3.
Pearl City – Tylor Canon 4, Eric Dela Pena 9, Justin Bautista 2, Shandy Reyes 7, Joshua Arellano 2, Ivan-Jacob Nakasone 5, Garette Kanamu 1, P-Jay Solomon 7.
3-pointers
Waipahu (6) – Gerald Felix 2, Keanu Deboma, Jasper Sebastian, Jordan Mateo, Andrew Pecpec
Pearl City (1) – Eric Dela Pena