The Moanalua Na Menehune Varsity Boys Basketball team defeated the Kaimuki Bulldogs on January 16th with a comfortable lead, winning 59-46. Our Na Menehune team had no notable struggles throughout the game and were in control of the ball for much of the game. Because of our team’s combined effort, scoring seemed to be very balanced, with no single player dominating. Seniors Tramir Ladipo, Brent Cambell, and Colt Faradineh became leaders in capturing the victory: Ladipo with 6 pts, Cambell with 10 points, and Faradineh with 8 points—a season-high for him. The starting trio were very influential in our victory, however, the defensive effort and scoring off the bench truly helped bring victory in Salt Lake.

Despite being new to the team, freshman Nichika Tsang point guard played in a way that “let them know who we really are”. Tsang contributed 13 points and 5 steals coming off the bench, both of which were his career high. The Menehune’s backcourt had a dominant performance on the defensive side of the game. The Bulldogs couldn’t seem to beat their full-court press; many of Na Menehune’s stops came before the Bulldogs could even get the ball across half-court, even forcing multiple 10-second violations throughout the game. When senior guard Tramir Ladipo was asked about his individual and the team’s defensive performance, Ladipo stated, “We take pride in defense, hustle, and overall hard work, offense looks nice and is fun, but defense wins games,” demonstrating the team’s philosophy on the importance of defense.

If you’d like to support our boys basketball team, visit Scoringlive.com or the Moanalua Athletics website for their upcoming schedule. Their next game is tomorrow at 5:30 PM.