Boys’ Basketball: No. 4 Trojans hang tough, rally past Radford, 57-52

Talkstory central for the Hawaii high school sports fanatic!

By Paul Honda
Editor
HondaReport.com
Tuesday, January 20, 2004

HONOLULU—Athletic, quick and helpful, the Radford Rams took everything away from the Mililani Trojans Tuesday night.

Everything but the 3-ball.

With Radford defenders sliding into the paint to help against penetration, the Trojans took advantage, draining seven 3-pointers en route to a key 57-52 win at James Alegre Gymnasium.

“They must shoot a lot at practice,” longtime Radford coach Kai Enos said of the sharpshooting Trojans. “We told our guys, ‘Don’t help, period.’ But we left their shooters open.”

The come-from-behind win lifted Mililani to 6-0 in the O’ahu Interscholastic Association West (16-1 overall). The Trojans, ranked No. 4 in the HondaReport.com Top Ten, were patient, tough and relentless on defense. They limited Radford guard Mike Davis to just three points.

Tenth-ranked Radford, which was on a roll after an early season loss, dropped to 4-2 in the tougher-than-ever West. Securing a win on the Rams’ homecourt left Mililani head coach Mike Coito with a rare smile.

“I’m very happy. Radford is a mirror image of us. They’re not tall, but they have lots of quickness and speed,” he said.

Puna Neumann led the visiting Trojans with 19 points on a variety of pull-up jumpers and clutch shooting. He hit three treys. Scott Neumann and Aaron Kanno added 11 points each, with Kanno sparking Mililani’s comeback by draining three 3-pointers—two from beyond 22 feet.

Alex Patykula scored just eight points, but provided critical defense, including a big steal and layup off Davis late in the game.

Tauran Moore paced Radford with 18 hard-earned points. Ricardo Shipley added 12. The two combined for 18 points in the first half, but had just 12 after intermission.

The game was tied at 48 before Patykula sank a 13-foot baseline jumper. After a Mililani time out, Patykula stole the ball from Davis in the backcourt, drove the baseline and scored again to give Mililani a 52-48 with 2:31 remaining.

Moore hustled for an offensive board on the baseline and hit a 10-foot fadeaway to pull the Rams within 52-50 with 1:44 to go. Unconsciously, Puna Neumann launched an off-balance 16-footer on the right baseline moments later. Fortunately, for the Trojans, Jon Santos came up with the offensive rebound with 1:25 left.

With just one team foul, Radford was in a tight spot. The Rams fouled over and over before finally reaching the limit with 33 seconds to play.

Puna Neumann sank both ends of a 1-and-1 to push Mililani’s lead to 54-50. Moore responded by driving for a left-handed layup, bringing Mililani within 54-52 with 15 seconds remaining.

Neumann returned to the line and made the front end of his 1-and-1 to give the Trojans a 55-52 lead with 14.4 seconds to play. He came up short on the second try, but Santos came up with another huge play inside. The 6-foot-1 senior tipped the ball out toward the foul line, and Neumann came up with the ball before being fouled.

He returned to the line and sank both of his free throws to put the game out of reach. Mililani led 57-52 with 11.7 seconds left.

Radford played well enough to win, sinking six treys against Mililani’s tough defense. Wil Keins sank two treys, as did Moore. However, timing was everything. Mililani hit their big shots when momentum swung the Trojans’ way.

“I told ‘em to keep their heads up,” Enos said. “We’ll work on some stuff.”

The first half was a display of Mililani’s resilience, as well as Moore’s streaky scoring prowess. Moore scored the last seven points of the first quarter for Radford, including a 25-foot trey at the buzzer. That gave Radford a 13-10 lead going into the second quarter.

The Rams extended the lead to 17-12 before Aaron Kanno came alive. He drilled an open trey from the left wing to help the Trojans pull within one, but Radford went on a 7-0 run. Moore sank a pair of foul shots and a 3-pointer from the right wing as the Rams took a 24-16 lead with 3:10 left in the second quarter.

Mililani, using a mix of man, 1-2-2 halfcourt zone, and fullcourt and three-quarter presses, remained tough. Neumann came through with 3-pointers, one from each corner, and Patykula drove for a turnaround jumper in the low post as Mililani rallied within 24-23. Radford led at intermission, 26-25.

That’s when the Trojans made some key adjustments. “We switched to a different press,” Coito said. “In the first half, we used a more aggressive press. But Scott got hot. We’ve got a lot of players, so someone can always step up.”

The third quarter is when the Rams seemed on the verge of pushing ahead. A 3-pointer by Keins gave Radford a 33-29 lead with 4:29 to play in the third, but Mililani caught fire. Scott Neumann sank a baseline jumper, then a sky-high 16-footer from the right elbow. His next bucket, another baseline jumper, tied the game at 35.

Kanno, three feet behind the arc, swished a trey from the top, and Mililani led 38-35. After Scott Neumann drove and dished to Clarence Gray for an easy layup, Mililani led 40-35 with 57 seconds left in the third.

After Scott Neumann drilled a trey from the left wing, the Trojans led 43-37 going into the final quarter. He scored nine points in the final four minutes of the third quarter.

Radford fought back and took the lead, 44-43, after Davis sank a 3-pointer from the right wing. Kanno responded quickly with a 23-foot trey from the left wing, giving Mililani a 46-44 lead with 5:02 to go. Radford hustled and tied the game at 48, but that’s when Patykula came up with his clutch plays.

Enos believes his Rams will withstand the defeat well. “That’s what the regular season is all about,” he said. “It’s preparation for the playoffs.”

In the junior varsity game, Jordan Torres scored 15 points, while Brian Prentice and Brandon Dela Cruz each tallied 10 to lead Mililani to a 50-38 win. Chris Hollis paced Radford with 12 points.

@ Alegre Gymnasium	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	F
Radford	13	13	18	14	57
Mililani	10	15	11	15	52

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