HondaReport.com - Boys' Basketball: State tournament, opening-round wrapup

Boys' Basketball: State tournament, opening-round wrapup

The favorites flirted with danger Wednesday night. In the end, they quit dallying around and did what they had to do. After all, the biggest of the dances still awaits Saturday night.

In the end, they quit dallying around and did what they had to do. After all, the biggest of the dances still awaits Saturday night.

Underdogs Baldwin, Waiakea and Waimea each led its opponent in the second half before fate laid down its merciless hand at the Hawaiian Airlines Boys Basketball State Championships.

Today, the quarterfinal round tips off at 2:15 p.m. Kealakehe meets Mililani, followed by Maui and Punahou at 4 p.m., Kalaheo and Kamehameha at 5:45, and Iolani and Kaimuki at 7:30.

Punahou 68, Waiakea 64—A good percentage of fans on O’ahu didn’t expect Neighbor Island teams to compete with OIA squads. Even fewer fans thought Waiakea would give Punahou (25-6, 12-2 ILH), the No. 2-ranked team in the HondaReport.com Top Ten, any challenge whatsoever.

The junior-heavy Warriors, led by center Abe McGrew, proved worthy. McGrew, a 6-foot-4 junior, powered his way to 11 points and 16 rebounds. Michael Belmes led Waiakea’s perimeter shooters with 15 points.

Reid Fowler and freshman Jeremiah Ostrowski paced Punahou with 15 points each. Sophomore Brenton Lee tallied 13 points and freshman Spencer McLachlin added 10. Fowler and Ostrowski each made three treys. Punahou hit eight 3-pointers; Waiakea sank five.

Waiakea (12-4) started out hot from the perimeter before Punahou rallied with an avalanche of 3-pointers. “They shot the ball well. We knew it would be a track-meet kind of game,” Punahou head coach Greg Tacon said. “We did a better job of getting back on defense in the second half.”

The Warriors stayed close in the second half, and when McGrew scored seven points in a 9-0 run, Waiakea took a 61-58 lead with 4:20 left in the game.

Turnovers and missed long-range shots derailed Waiakea down the stretch. Though the Warriors had the bonus situation, they settled for 3-point shots. Fowler’s steal and breakaway layup pushed Punahou to a 64-62 lead with 1:39 remaining.

After a Punahou free throw, Belmes sank a pull-up banker to bring his team within 65-64 with 20 seconds to go.

McLachlin, fouled on the inbounds play, drained both ends of a 1-and-1, and Punahou led 67-64 with 16.3 seconds left. The Warriors missed on a drive to the basket a few seconds later, and Fowler sank a foul shot with four seconds remaining to put the game out of reach.

“We put ourselves in a position to win. We just didn’t finish strong,” Waiakea head coach Jay Bartholomew said. “Punahou didn’t do anything fancy. We just didn’t take care of the ball.”

“We got to day two, and that’s a first for me,” said Tacon. “I’m not gonna watch the tape.”

For Fowler, a senior, it was a new experience. “I couldn’t sleep last night. This is my first time in the state tournament,” he said. “Waiakea has excellent shooters, and next year, they’ll be even better. Kudos to them.”

Punahou had not played since finishing second in the ILH. The rest of the league, with the exception of Iolani, entered the third-place tournament. “The whole team was a little rusty. We had 12 days without a game,” Fowler noted.

Waiakea, which played in Punahou’s preseason tournament two months ago, didn’t play like an underdog. “We saw them and we know they’re a disciplined, excellent team,” Bartholomew said. “But we know that anyone can beat anybody else.”

The Warriors aren’t about to relax. “We’re gonna try to win the consolation championship,” Bartholomew said. “I’m proud of the kids. They did everything we asked. Give Punahou credit. They hit their free throws and took care of the ball.”

Now the Buff n’ Blue have a showdown with Maui, which went unbeaten in the MIL. “They come out with a whole lot of effort,” Fowler said. “We have to play tough, from one to 12.”

Tacon does expect more of the same from his young team. “We have a lot of resolve to us. Not too high or too low,” he said, noting the Buffs’ fourth-quarter execution. “We put two hands on the ball and secured it. We went from being a decent free-throw shooting team to a good one in the final minutes.”

Kamehameha 56, McKinley 38—The Warriors were wary of the Tigers, a team that finished sixth in the OIA East and finished the late season with a Cinderella state-tournament march.

Kamehameha, ranked No. 8 in the HondaReport.com Top Ten, entered the state tourney as the third-place team from the ILH. The Warriors were, however, a popular favorite to overpower McKinley.

Kamehameha led 35-30 midway through the second half before exploding. McKinley, showing signs of fatigue, lost center Iakopo Taumua to a groin injury at that point. That compounded the problem.

After Abel Werner barely missed on a 3-point shot, the Warriors went on a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach. With four minutes to play, Kamehameha led 45-30.

Waika Spencer dominated the paint with 11 points—on 5-of-5 shooting—and 10 rebounds. The 6-4 center had his way against the much smaller Tigers, but Kamehameha also got help from the perimeter.

Swingman Kawika Hepa found his shooting stroke, drilling all three of his 3-point attempts and finishing with 15 points. “The last part of the season, I was struggling,” the senior said. “Today, coach (Jesse Nakanishi) said, ‘Kawika, you and Waika are the seniors. You gotta step up.’”

Gabriel Spencer added nine points on 4-of-5 shooting. Kamehameha committed 17 turnovers, matching McKinley’s total, but outrebounded the Tigers, 37-20.

Robert Holder led the Tigers with 18 points and four steals, hitting seven of his 14 attempts from the floor. McKinley shot 34 percent from the field. They made 2-of-9 attempts from 3-point range and attempted just seven free-throw attempts, making six.