HondaReport.com - Boys’ Basketball: Last of Hawaii’s Iolani Classic hopefuls fall

Boys’ Basketball: Last of Hawaii’s Iolani Classic hopefuls fall

The last of Hawaii’s quarterfinal hopefuls fell Wednesday at the Iolani Classic. Kalaheo, Waimea and Kapolei were eliminated from title contention, though Kalaheo had a fourth-quarter lead on Dr. Phillips before getting a bad prescription.

HONOLULU—They are the two-time defending Iolani Classic champions, these Fairfax Lions.

And with a Shipp to lead the way, their roar has awakened the dangerous jungle that is the 2004 field. Joshua Shipp pumped in 30 points, with slam dunks and 3-pointers meeting their targets, as the Lions devoured Waimea, 104-25, Wednesday evening.

In other games Wednesday, Dr. Phillips (Orlando, Fla.) rallied past Kalaheo, 64-61, in two overtimes, Fairfax (Los Angeles, Calif.) defeated Waimea, 104-25, and Mount Vernon (N.Y.) outlasted Fairley (Memphis, Tenn.) 61-55.

For Fairfax, the strong start was a good omen. The Lions arrived at Honolulu International Airport in mid-afternoon—3:30 p.m., to be precise—just three hours before tip-off. “Our kids hustled and played together,” veteran head coach Harvey Kitani said. Without seeing the field, he knows doing a three-peat will require Fairfax’s best performance yet.

Fairfax (Calif.) will battle Saint John’s (Washington, D.C.) Thursday, 6:30 p.m., in a semifinal. Waimea, the defending Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation champion, will face Punahou Thursday, 5 p.m.

In other games Thursday, Kalaheo plays Kapolei at 3:30 p.m., and Oak Hill has an appointment with Dr. Phillips at 8 p.m.

Shipp scored 20 in the first half as the Lions zoomed to a 54-10 lead. His brother, Jerrenn, added 22 points. Aaron Hesepene, Jeremy Manuel and Jordon Dizon scored four apiece to lead Waimea.

Dr. Phillips 64, Kalaheo 61, 2 OT—Trey Hopkins scored seven of his 13 points after regulation, including five in a row to start the second overtime period, as the Panthers escaped with a win.

Jason Rich, a heralded 6-3 point guard, led the way with 28 points and nine rebounds. Rich did everything asked of him, from defending against Kalaheo’s standout center, 6-7 Sam Wilhoite, on occasion, to crashing the boards. The Florida State-bound senior also connected on three 3-pointers.

Jack Berry added 10 points for the Panthers, who shot just 37 percent from the field against a tenacious Kalaheo defense. They made just 6-of-24 attempts from 3-point range. Point guard Mario Sisinni shot just 1-of-9 from the field but had six assists.

“That’s not normally the way we play,” Rich said. “We usually execute better and score in the 70s and 80s. We didn’t run our offense. I don’t know why.”

Rich, who turned down offers—including one from Florida—to play for Florida State next year, credited Kalaheo. “We squeezed past this team. They deserved the win,” he said.

“I do, too,” Kalaheo head coach Chico Furtado said. “But 11 (Hopkins) came through with some big shots. But our guys played hard. When we were down five (in the second overtime), we still had a shot.”

Rich hopes the Panthers are more focused tomorrow. “They gave us a hell of a game,” he said. “I think some of the guys may have been overlooking them just because they’re a Hawaii team, but you can’t do that.”

Wilhoite led Kalaheo with 22 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 7-of-13 from the field and 8 of 9 from the foul line. Theo Fujita added 14 and Matt Nakashima tallied 10. The Mustangs, defending O’ahu Interscholastic Association (public school) champions, dropped to 7-2. Their only other loss came against defending Hawaii state champion Iolani. Kalaheo shot 46 percent from the floor, including just 4-of-17 from 3-point range. The Mustangs stayed in the game with an aggressive low-post attack; they made 21-of-27 free-throw attempts. Dr. Phillips made 8 of 11. Nineteen turnovers, including six by Wilhoite, hampered Kalaheo; Dr. Phillips committed just 10.

Furtado, a longtime assistant to the now-retired Pete Smith, saw a silver lining in the defeat. “This is better than our loss to Iolani,” he said of a game that Kalaheo led at the half by one point. “We didn’t have a second-half meltdown.”

Far from it. Kalaheo took a 43-36 lead with 5:57 left after Wilhoite hit two free throws and powered his way for a bucket in the post. However, the Panthers made a run, outscoring Kalaheo 13-6 to take a 49-47 lead with 2:18 to go on Berry’s backdoor layup. Rich was integral to the run, scoring five points and blocking a shot by Wilhoite. “We were impatient,” Furtado said.

Dr. Phillips led 52-49 and had the ball when Rich’s pass in the low post was tipped by Wilhoite, and a mad scramble led to a jump ball. Kalaheo got the ball back, and William Elliott sank a 25-foot trey from the right wing to tie the game at 52 with five seconds left. The Panthers called time out with four ticks left, but Rich’s running shot from 22 feet out missed at the buzzer, and the game went into overtime.

Kalaheo took a 59-57 lead on Fujita’s layup, off a pass from Wilhoite, but Rich bounced back. He nearly had a one-handed slam off a miss, but gathered in his own miss and scored with 27 seconds to go, tying the game at 59. Matt Nakashima’s layup attempt with two seconds left missed, and the game went to a second extra period.

That’s when Hopkins stepped up. He nailed a 3-pointer from straightaway, his third of the game, and drove on a fastbreak through the Mustang defense for a layup. Dr. Phillips led 64-59 with 2:28 left.

Kalaheo got no closer than three the rest of the way. Elliott missed two foul shots with 52 seconds left, but Nakashima made two free throws with 24 seconds to go, pulling the Mustangs within three. The Panthers’ inbounds pass went off Rich’s hands and out of bounds, giving Kalaheo one last chance with 24 seconds to play. Dr. Phillips’ defense, however, swarmed everywhere, and Kalaheo managed an off-balance runner from the 3-point line by Nakashima, who missed with one second left.

Rich, a bruising, but agile hoopster with the build of a running back, likes Florida State better than Florida for at least one reason. “Florida doesn’t play man. In March, you gotta play man,” he said.

Dr. Phillips 12 15 07 18 07 05 — 64
Kalaheo 17 11 09 15 07 02 — 61

Oak Hill 87, Kapolei 39—Josh Smith pumped—and pounded—in 22 points to lead the nation’s No. 1-ranked team in a rout of the Hurricane.

Smith, a versatile, powerful 6-8 senior, shot 9-of-16 from the field and came up with six steals, turning a few of them into some of the tournament’s most entertaining slam dunks thus far. One was a windmill jam that the lefthander threw down with a full extension, sending a near-capacity crowd into a frenzy.

Rajon Rondo, a 6-2 senior, tallied 17 points and five steals for Oak Hill, which smothered Kapolei with a relentless three-quarter court press. Dayshawn Wright, a 6-7 senior, added 10 points and three steals. In all, the Warriors amassed 21 steals.

Warren Simanu, a 6-5 senior, had 10 points and four rebounds to pace the Hurricane. Brad Padayao tallied eight points and five caroms. Jerrome Figuiero and E.J. Aton added seven points apiece.

Kapolei finished with 30 turnovers and three assists, but never gave in to the bigger, faster team. Kapolei shot 36 percent from the floor (16 of 44).

Oak Hill shot 63 percent from the field (37 of 59) and outrebounding the Hurricane 30-20. The Warriors committed 15 turnovers.

Mount Vernon 61, Fairley 55—Keith Benjamin scored 11 of his 27 points in the final quarter as the Knights pulled away from the Bulldogs.

The score was tied at 40 going into the fourth, but Benjamin connected on a 3-pointer, a pair of buckets and all four of his free-throw attempts to lead Mount Vernon into the semifinal round.

Benjamin added six steals and four rebounds. Jonathan Mitchell scored 10 points and hauled in a team-high seven caroms for the Knights. They shot 43 percent from the field and committed 13 turnovers while forcing Fairley into 19 giveaways.

Junior Reginald Owens, a 6-6 junior, scored 16 points and grabbed 10 boards in a high-intensity performance. Andrieus Loftis chipped in with 14 points and six rebounds, but also had five turnovers. Anthony Mason added nine points for Fairley, which outrebounded Mount Vernon, 34-31, but made just 14-of-23 tries from the foul line (61 percent).