By Paul Honda
Friday, December 19, 2003

HONOLULU—In a battle of two Joshuas, it was the leader with more manpower, size and weaponry who prevailed.

Josh Smith of Oak Hill Academy got the best of Fairfax High School’s Joshua Shipp. Smith scored 17 points before fouling out with five minutes to play, leading Oak Hill over two-time defending champion Fairfax 78-55 Friday night in the semifinals of the Iolani Prep Classic.

Oak Hill will meet Mount Vernon Saturday, 8 p.m., for the tournament championship. Fairfax (Los Angeles, Calif.), led by Shipp’s 19 points, will meet Montrose Christian for third place in a 6:30 p.m. game.

The tournament's final day begins at 9:30 a.m. with Kalani and Kapolei. Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) meets Waimea at 11, followed by Moanalua and Kalaheo at 12:30 p.m., Mid-Pacific and Punahou at 2, Iolani and Dr. Phillips (Orlando, Fla.) at 3:30, and Fairley (Memphis, Tenn.) and Saint John's (Washington, D.C.) at 5.

A capacity crowd saw Fairfax fight nobly, but the Lions didn’t have enough size and quickness inside to deal with the No. 1-ranked team in the nation. All five Oak Hill starters scored in double figures. Center Brian Johnson pounded his way inside for 17 points and 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. He also blocked three shots and had three steals. K.C. Rivers finished with 16 points, including 2-of-6 from 3-point range. Rivers had made all five of his attempts in his first game, and all six Thursday. He sank his first trey attempt Friday, giving him 12 consecutive 3-pointers.

Point guard Rajon Rando had 12 points, four assists, two steals and two turnovers. Dayshawn Wright made the most of his five shot attempts, making four and finishing with 11 points and eight caroms. As a team, the Warriors shot 55 percent (27 of 49) from the field and 72 percent from the foul line (21 of 29).

Jamal Boykin hustled under the glass for 18 points and eight boards for Fairfax, which shot 39 percent from the field (19 of 49) and 58 percent from the line (14 of 24). Boykin was 8-of-14 from the floor, but the rest of the team struggled, shooting 11-of-35 (31 percent). Guarded by Smith most of the night, Shipp shot 5-of-16 from the field, including 1-of-6 from 3-point range, and just 8-of-16 from the line.

Oak Hill 20 17 22 19 — 78
Fairfax 16 08 15 16 — 55

Mount Vernon 64, Montrose Christian 53—Keith Benjamin scored 10 of his 23 points in overtime, leading the Knights into the championship game.

The 6-2 senior scored inside and from the perimeter. Dexter Gray added 12 points for the Knights.

Antwan Hardy led Montrose Christian with 24 points, all on 3-pointers. Tom Hammonds added 12.

The Knights opened the third quarter with authority, extending their lead to 28-19. That’s when senior Hardy stepped up, launching and sinking 3-point rainbows from the right wing and top of the key. Those shots pulled the Mustangs within 28-25 with 4:40 to play in the third.

Moments later, Hardy’s third trey in a row, a 23-footer from the top, cut the lead to 30-28. Mount Vernon, a team that relies on heavy, straight man pressure, stepped up. Chris Lowe stole the ball from Montrose point guard Taishi Ito at midcourt and raced for a layup, sparking a 7-0 run to close out the third quarter. Without much offensive spark elsewhere, Montrose went to Hardy in the final minutes of the third, but he missed consecutive 3-point attempts.

The Mustangs refused to wilt. Hardy’s fourth trey of the second half, a pull-up jumper from the left wing, brought them back within 39-37. With Montrose holding down the fort—Tunji Sorye and Uche Echefu swatting away Knight shots in the key—Hardy drained his fifth 3-pointer of the half, a rainbow from the right corner for a 40-39 lead.

The Knights regained the lead, but Hammonds drove for a tough jumper near the low post to put Montrose back up, 42-41, with 3:55 remaining.

Benjamin’s drive and baby hook in the post gave Mount Vernon a 43-42 lead, but Echefu answer with a one-handed windmill jam on a fastbreak. Montrose led 44-43 with 2:48 to play.

Montrose spread the floor, but Hardy found a gap on the left wing and rattled home his sixth trey of the second half. Montrose led 47-43 with 1:52 left.

After a Montrose turnover against Mount Vernon’s press, Benjamin drove and hit a 10-footer near the left elbow to cut the lead to 47-45 with 1:10 to go.

Ito, who lost the ball, gained some redemption by drawing a charge from Benjamin with 44 seconds remaining.

The drama continued to unfold when the Knight trap forced another Mustang turnover. Benjamin hustled for the tying layup, and the game was 47-all with 16 seconds left. After a Knight time out, Montrose struggled to get the ball upcourt before calling time with five seconds remaining.

Hammonds missed a difficult 18-footer from the right corner with two seconds left, and the game went into overtime.

Benjamin cut through the lane, caught an entry pass and lofted an eight-foot baby hook to give Mount Vernon the lead, 49-47, with 3:26 to go in overtime.

Hammonds hit one of two foul shots with 3:15 remaining to make it 49-48.

Benjamin answered with a trey from the left corner, and after another Knight steal, he sank a free throw to lift Mount Vernon to a 53-48 lead with 2:44 left.

Sorye’s dunk off an Echefu pass cut the margin to three. Sorye missed two foul shots, however, with 1:50 left. A jumper by Benjamin and a layup by Jonathan Mitchell gave the ‘Dogs breathing room. Benjamin then brought the house down with a breakaway slam to give Mount Vernon a 59-50 lead with 51 seconds to go.

Lowe sank two foul shots to stretch the lead to 11, but Hardy nailed a 24-foot trey from the right wing to pull the Mustangs within 61-53 with 15 seconds to go.

Michael Coburn’s breakaway layup off the inbounds pass gave Mount Vernon a 63-53 lead, sealing the win.

Mount Vernon 11 13 13 10 17 — 64
Montrose Christian 12 06 10 19 06 — 53

Saint John’s 72, Dr. Phillips 51—Dwayne Anderson pumped in 31 points—29 after the first quarter—as the Cadets marched over the Panthers. Chris Wright added 15.

Jason Rich sparked the good Doctor with 18 points. Trey Hopkins added 12 points, including three 3-pointers.

Dr. Phillips 13 09 19 10 — 51
Saint John’s 17 20 18 17 — 72

Fairley 66, Iolani 51—For nearly three quarters, the Iolani Raiders seemed on the verge of putting a run together.

Fairley’s defense, along with some long-awaited hot shooting from the perimeter, snuffed out any such possibility. Anthony Mason pumped in 17 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, as the Bulldogs pulled away for a convincing victory. Mason sank all but one of his seven field-goal attempts, and grabbed seven rebounds. Andrieus Loftis tallied 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor.

There was more. Center Reginald Owens sank shots from the post and the perimeter, finishing with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting. The 6-6 junior made all six of his free-throw attempts, hauled in seven boards, and blocked three shots. The Bulldogs shot a whopping 60 percent (24 of 40) and outrebounded the much smaller Raiders, 33-18.

Ryan Hirata and Derrick Low paced Iolani with 17 points apiece. Iolani shot 36 percent from the floor against a swarming, double-teaming Bulldog man defense. Hirata shot 6-of-10 from the field, and Low was 7-of-15.

Fairley 13 11 21 21 — 66
Iolani 09 09 16 17 — 51

Punahou 60, Kalaheo 48—Jeremiah Ostrowski scored 18 points and Spencer McLachlin came off the bench to added 12 as the Buffanblu took command in the final quarter.

The consolation matchup was a battle between the No. 3 team in the HondaReport.com Top Ten, Punahou, and fourth-ranked Kalaheo.

Punahou committed just nine turnovers against Kalaheo’s tight man defense and shot 46 percent from the field. Kassey Ko contributed nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Sam Wilhoite, a 6-7 senior, scored 26 points on 9-of-15 field-goal shooting to lead Kalaheo. He also made 8-of-9 attempts from the foul line and grabbed 12 rebounds. The Buffanblu provided plenty of help defense for Ko; aside from Wilhoite, the Mustangs shot 8-of-24, or 33 percent.

Kalaheo was 0-of-9 from 3-point range and committed 13 turnovers. Each team grabbed 25 rebounds. Kalaheo shot 14-of-18 from the line; Punahou was 12-of-14.

Punahou 06 18 13 23 — 60
Kalaheo 06 20 13 09 — 48

Mid-Pacific 48, Moanalua 45—Travis Tyler’s backdoor layup gave the Owls the lead for good, 46-45, with less than a minute to play, and the 6-4 senior added a free throw moments later.

Moanalua, trailing 47-45, was unable to score. Mid-Pacific got the ball with 34 seconds left, but Moanalua—with only five team fouls—did not foul until nine seconds remained. The Menehune were instructed to foul with 20 ticks left, but double-teamed the ball, allowing the Owls to find open teammates. Tyler added one more free throw with nine seconds left.

Tyler finished with a game-high 22 points, nearly all on the low post and baseline. He shot 9-of-10 from the floor, had five rebounds and three steals. Chris Perry added 12 points. Mid-Pac outrebounded Moanalua, 28-18.

Marquise DuVall, a 6-5 sophomore, led Moanalua with 15 points. Joseph Nishimura added eight points, six rebounds, six steals and four assists for Moanalua. He also had four turnovers. The Menehune saw a close game turn into a 10-point MPI lead in the second half. Moanalua’s reserves were in the game at the time.

Moanalua was ousted from title contention seven days ago in the McKinley Invitational by Kaimuki. Six of the Menehune missed the game to attend the school’s “Winter Fantasy” ball.

This time, four players did not suit up due to illness.

Moanalua 15 13 04 13 — 45
Mid-Pacific 15 07 18 08 — 48

Waimea 50, Kapolei 45—Jordon Dizon poured in 23 points, grabbed seven rebounds and sparked a second-half run that propelled the Menehune to their first win in this year’s tourney. Jeremy Manuel, a junior point guard, added nine points, four assists and two timely steals for Waimea, last year’s state tournament consolation winner.

Manuel scored on a steal and breakaway layup with two seconds left in the third to give Waimea a 37-33 lead. Dizon opened the fourth quarter with a steal and a layup, and then scored two more quick baskets as Waimea took a 43-33 lead with 6:15 to play.

The Hurricane pulled within five, but never got closer the rest of the way.

Casey Kaohilauli’i, a 6-5 senior, hauled in 15 rebounds and blocked three shots for Waimea. The Menehune shot 40 percent from the floor, including 10 percent from 3-point range (1 of 10).

Waimea’s defense more than made up for the sub-par shooting. Kapolei managed to shoot 30 percent from the field (16 of 53). Neither team shot well from the foul line. Waimea had 47-percent accuracy (9 of 19) and Kapolei shot 52 percent (12 of 23).

Waimea 12 13 12 13 — 50
Kapolei 10 19 04 12 — 45

Hamilton 73, Kalani 33—Roy Prieto scored 16 points and Brian Schaeffer tallied 12 as the Huskies rolled to victory. Hamilton stormed to leads of 23-3 and 36-6 in the first half as the running Falcons struggled with shooting and turnovers.

Dominating the low post, 11 Huskies got into the scoring column. They shot 51 percent from the floor over the smaller Falcons and committed just 10 turnovers. Point guard Innocent Wells had six points, four steals and only one turnover.

The low-post game opened up the perimeter, and the Huskies made 6-of-11 tries from 3-point range. Wells, Schaeffer and Prieto each made a pair of treys as the Huskies shot 6-of-11.

Jason DeGuzman paced Kalani with 10 points and seven rebounds. The Falcons shot 31 percent from the field, including 2-of-9 from 3-point range. They were also 11-of-21 from the free-throw line and committed 20 turnovers.

Hamilton 23 17 13 20 — 73
Kalani 03 12 09 09 — 33

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