By Paul Honda
Editor
HondaReport.com
Friday, Feb. 27, 2004

HONOLULU—When it rains, it pours, and that fact can’t be forgotten on a wet day on O’ahu.

Torrential rain and gusts battered O’ahu Thursday afternoon, but it was a flurry of 3-pointers and fastbreak opportunities that lifted Kalaheo past Punahou, and Iolani over Mililani in the semifinals of the Hawaiian Airlines Boys’ Basketball State Championships.

Kalaheo, ranked No. 2 and seeded second, gets its shot at two-time defending state champion Iolani Saturday night. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. at Blaisdell Arena.

Saturday’s schedule:
Baldwin vs. McKinley, 3 p.m., consolation title game
Kamehameha-O’ahu vs. Kealakehe, 4:30 p.m., fifth place
Mililani vs. Punahou, 6 p.m., third place
Iolani vs. Kalaheo, 8 p.m., championship

Kalaheo 62, Punahou 43—The final score doesn't indicate how close it was until the fourth quarter. Punahou was down 39-34 when Kalaheo went on a 10-0 run and never looked back. It was yet another good defensive effort by Kalaheo, and the Mustangs also took decent care of the ball against Punahou's tough man defense.

For several weeks, Punahou (26-7, 12-2 Interscholastic League of Honolulu) has been voted No. 2 in the HondaReport.com Top Ten, just ahead of third-ranked Kalaheo (24-5, 13-1 O’ahu Interscholastic Association).

Sam Wilhoite scored 20 and grabbed 13 boards, and was also 6-of-6 from the line. Theo Fujita scored 17 points for Kalaheo, which lost to Punahou on back-to-back weeks during December’s preseason slate. “It was real good to avenge those losses, but it’s real sweet to win when it counts,” Wilhoite said. “We want to be the spoilers now. We have three, four years of being pent up inside.”

Jeremiah Ostrowski scored 24 points for Punahou, which shot 33 percent from the field—the Buff n' Blue's first cold-shooting night of the tournament. “Jeremiah is a great scorer. We wanted to shut him down, but not let the other guys score too much,” Kalaheo head coach Chico Furtado said.

Ostrowski made 8-of-13 attempts from the field, but no other Buff n’ Blue scored in double figures.

Punahou was behind most of the way, and trailed by just two at one point in the third quarter. Trailing 39-34, the Buff n’ Blue offense struggled early in the fourth quarter, and Kalaheo’s man defense helped trigger some quick points.

Theo Fujita broke away for a layup and foul, converting a three-point play. On Kalaheo’s next possession, William Elliott pushed the ball upcourt and launched a 3-pointer from the right wing that bounced on the rim and glass three times before tumbling in.

Moments later, Wilhoite powered inside for a deuce, and Matt Nakashima and Chris Tumaneng added free throws. With three minutes left to play, Kalaheo had a comfortable 51-34 lead on a Punahou team that had shot lights-out since Wednesday.

“I think they settled too much for 3s,” Furtado said. “When the lead was seven, eight, nine points, I think they forced some shots up.”

Kalaheo’s offense sputtered for a spell in the third quarter, but for most of the night, the Mustangs got open looks on the perimeter and inside. “We ran almost a zone offense because they do all that switching,” Furtado said. “We ran one side and put our shooters on the other side. We hit enough shots to keep them honest.”

Almost forgotten in the midst and flurry of Kalaheo’s scoring was the finely-tuned entry passing by Fujita, Elliott, David Moore and Neil Bowers.

Bowers, a senior jack of all trades, hit a key 3-pointer in the second half to help propel Kalaheo’s momentum. “He’s a coach’s dream. He does all the little things that we need to win,” Furtado said.

Though the semifinal appearance is a good sign for a Buff n’ Blue squad filled with talented underclassmen, the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for their seniors. Their two freshman standouts, Ostrowski and 6-5 Spencer McLachlin, will help lead what could become a mini-dynasty at Punahou—in similar fashion to the early learning curve of Kalaheo’s D.C. Daniels and Ikaika Alama-Francis in the recent past.

“We still have the next three years, but we wanted to win for our seniors,” Ostrowski said. “You can’t think ahead. We have the talent and skill to win now. We were stopping Sam, but once they had that run, we had mistakes.”

McLachlin echoed that sentiment. “It’s disappointing, more so for the seniors. It was their last chance,” he said. “I wanted to play Iolani one more time,” he said. Punahou lost to Iolani twice in the regular season, but the second game went down to the final minute, when Iolani pulled out a 63-58 win.

Kalaheo, McLachlin believes, could give Iolani a real battle. “If Kalaheo shoots the way they have, if Sam goes out and scores his usual 30, and if they handle the press, it could be a real good game,” he said. But would McLachlin straight-out pick Kalaheo over Iolani.

“No,” he said.

Handling Iolani’s tenacious pressure defense is something Kalaheo hasn’t done well yet. The Mustangs played Iolani twice in preseason, and led at halftime on both occasions. Iolani won those games by margins of 18 and 23 points.

“We need to take care of that pressure systematically, with some confidence and poise,” Furtado said. “Derrick’s always a matchup nightmare, and Hirata won’t get too many open looks. Whoever leaves him open won’t be playing that much.”

Iolani 71, Mililani 45—A good effort by the Trojans could not overcome Iolani's relentless halfcourt traps. Iolani took command with a 19-0 run to finish the first quarter.

Ryan Hirata scored 15, and Derrick Low and Todd Blankenship added 12 each. Seventeen of Iolani's 27 baskets came on assists.

Aaron Kanno scored 13 and Alex Patykula added 10 for Mililani, which shot 36 percent and turned the ball over 21 times.

See the complete wrapup on the Iolani-Mililani game in tomorrow’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Other games
Kealakehe 56, Kaimuki 39—Iaone Spencer came alive with 13 points and eight rebounds, and Kyle Teves and Jared Ursua added 12 points each for No. 5-ranked Kealakehe.

Spencer, a 6-5 junior who played at Kamehameha-O'ahu last year, was too quick for Kaimuki's big men inside. After missing most of the season with a broken arm, he was nearly unstoppable when he worked the low and high posts.

Kealakehe (16-1) shot 52 percent from the field (25 of 48).

Jimmy Miyasaka led No. 7 Kaimuki (20-9, 11-4 OIA) with 15 points and five rebounds. Dexter Tautofi added 11 points and seven caroms. Kaimuki shot 31 percent (12 of 39) and turned the ball over 16 times. Kealakehe had just eight giveaways.

Kamehameha-O'ahu 53, Maui 44—The Sabers, champion of the Maui Interscholastic League, looked much better today, but still missed the leadership of their top player, Gene Rivera.

Playing with a sore left ankle, Rivera logged just 19 minutes. Kamehameha center Waika Spencer powered his way for 20 points on 3-of-11 shooting. Kawika Hepa added 10 points and six boards for the Warriors, who outrebounded the Sabers 33-24.

Rivera, a 6-3 senior, finished with four points and four rebounds. He sat the entire fourth quarter as the Sabers stayed close. The Warriors sealed the win with good free-throw shooting down the stretch.

Ronald Belany led fourth-ranked Maui (12-2) with 13 points and four rebounds. Eighth-ranked Kamehameha (21-9, 10-6 ILH) made 11-of-15 attempts from the line. Maui was just 2-of-7.

Consolation
McKinley 66, Waiakea 65—Abel Werner posted 16 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals as the Tigers went on a key 7-3 run to take the lead for good late in the game.

Robert Holder tallied 14 points, Kapena Quisano added 13, and Joshua Valdez had 12 points, five rebounds and four assists for McKinley (10-7).

Michael Belmes scored 16 points and Abe McGrew had 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead Waiakea (21-10, 12-3 BIIF). Jon Moniz added 10 points. All three Warriors are juniors.

Waiakea committed 23 personal fouls to McKinley’s 10. The Tigers made 17-of-28 attempts from the line; Waiakea made 8-of-10.

Quisano's layup put the Tigers ahead, 60-59, with two minutes to play. After Tyler Nishimura missed a 3-point try from the left corner, Quisano snagged the rebound in traffic under the basket. That led to Holder's two free throws, giving McKinley a 62-59 win with 51 seconds remaining.

Seconds later, McGrew missed a turnaround bank shot on the low post, and Werner rebounded. The senior sank both of his foul shots to push McKinley ahead by five with 37 ticks left.

Belmes, a 5-9 senior, drew a foul on a 3-point try and made all three of his free throws to pull Waiakea within 64-62 with 32 seconds remaining.

Valdez made the second of his two free-throw attempts, giving his team a 65-62 lead with 29 seconds left. Waiakea had two opportunities to tie the game, but Belmes and Kyle Correia missed on open 3-point attempts.

McKinley center Iakopo Taumua made the second of his two foul shots, giving the Tigers a 66-62 lead with 13 seconds left.

Kahanu Irizarry missed a 3-point try for Waiakea, and Belmes sank a trey at the horn for the final scoring of the game.

Previous Article: Boys' Basketball: Iolani, Mililani, Kalaheo, Punahou in state semifinals
Next Article: Boys' Basketball: Standings, scores, Sunday, March 1, 9 a.m.

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