The Menehunes completed a physically exhausting and nerve-wracking four-day drive to the state tournament championship last night at the Blaisdell Arena with a 58-57 victory over top-seeded Iolani before a crowd of 3,657.
It was the third straight night that the Menehunes won a game in the closing seconds in the Hawaiian Air/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Tournament. They became the first team to repeat as state champion since University High won titles in 1987 and 1988 under two different head coaches - Bobby Au and Darryl Gabriel.
Moanalua's Eddie Maruyama became the first head coach involved in back-to-back state championships since St. Louis' Walter Wong captured three in a row between 1966 and 1968.
"It's unbelievable but I guess it was meant to be," said Maruyama amid the din of celebration and awards presentations after the game.
After Moanalua sophomore Bryson Kamakura's putback of his own shot with 8.9 seconds left made it 58-56, the state title remained on the line while the Raiders got three more field goal attempts and two free throws.
Derek Christensen took the inbound pass and missed a 3-point try. But Moanalua was penalized with a technical for having six players on the court with 3.4 seconds left.
"I take full responsibility for that mistake," said Maruyama who knew it could have cost him the vistory. "It was all my fault."
Christensen made one of his two free throws on the technical and Iolani got to inbound the ball for one last foray.
But the Christensen brothers - 6-5 senior Derek and 6-6 junior Shawn - could not get their attempts at a game-winning layup to fall before the buzzer.
The brothers combined for 34 of their team's points. The Menehunes were Maruyama's "Cardiac Kids" all week.
On Friday night, Ron Jones' jumper at the buzzer of a second overtime gave them a 57-55 semifinal victory over second-seeded Kalaheo. On Thursday, they held on by the skin of their teeth in the final seconds for a 46-45 quarterfinal win against third-seeded Baldwin. On Wednesday, the Menehunes rallied miraculously from a 15-point deficit in the second half to defeat Punahou in the first round. of the tournament.
That wild 64-56 final at the McCabe Gym set the stage for their improbable tournament run.
It was the second year in a row that Moanalua entered the tournament unseeded. Last year, the Menehunes also had to beat a first-round opponent (Seabury Hall) and three seeded teams (No. 3 St. Louis, No. 2 Hilo and No. 1 Kalaheo). But the outcomes were not nearly as close as this year's. Moanalua beat Kalaheo, 49-44, in the 1996 final.
Ramsey Williams, a 5-11 junior guard, scored 21 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead the Menehunes. Williams was named the Star-Bulletin's tournament Most Valuable Player.
He scored 14 3-pointers in the tournament - 11 in the last two games. He also went 19-for-21 at the free throw line and was perfect in his last 16 attempts.
Williams averaged 21.7 points a game.
"We kept coming back and coming back and we had a good chance to win at the end but it's just one of those things in athletics," said Iolani's head coach, Dr. Mark Mugiishi, a practicing local surgeon who was trying to capture his second state crown since 1994.
"Sometimes the bounce of the ball means all the difference in the world." In the third-place game, Kalaheo beat Hilo, 70-60.
Moanalua 16 14 14 14--58 Iolani 12 11 20 14--57Moanalua: Jones 2, Santiago 2, Kamakura 5, Kesaji 2, Rosado-Galindo 16, Williams 21, Marshall-Greene 4, Bruce 6. Iolani: Jackson 7, Ah Yat 2, Uejio 8, Yasuhara 6, D. Christensen 20, S. Christensen 14, Kishinami 0.
MVP: Ramsey Williams, MoanaluaG-Ramsey Williams, Moanalua
G-Kirk Uejio, Iolani
G-Steve Hess, Kalaheo
F-Brian Rosado-Galindo, Moanalua
F-Derek Christensen, Iolani
Defending state champion Moanalua will face Kalaheo, the No. 2 tournament seed, at 6:30 p.m.
Last season, the Menehunes upset the then-top-seeded Mustangs, 49-44, at the Blaisdell for the school's first-ever state boys' basketball title.
Moanalua defeated Kalaheo in the Iolani Prep Classic in December. But the Mustangs were not at full strength at that time, so that result is not regarded as a measure of what could happen tonight.
Prep fans had hoped to see the teams square off in the OIA playoff final last week but the Menehunes were upset by Waipahu in the semis.
In the other state semifinal at 8 p.m., top-seeded Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion Iolani will meet fourth-seeded Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion Hilo.
In last night's 46-45 quarterfinal victory over third-seeded Maui Interscholastic League champion Baldwin, the unseeded Menehunes battled to stave off an emotional letdown. Some had expected that after Moanalua's comeback from a 15-point deficit against Punahou on Wednesday.
"It's hard to match intensity levels two nights in a row," Moanalua head coach Eddie Maruyama said. "But we're fortunate things went our way."
Leading throughout and entering the fourth quarter with a 38-30 advantage, Moanalua suddenly found itself clinging to a one-point lead with one minute and 12 seconds left.
The Menehunes' Ramsey Williams went to the free-throw line with 34.7 seconds left with a chance to seal it for his team, but a lane violation gave the ball back to Baldwin.
Moanalua managed to hang tough in defending its basket in the closing seconds and foiled Baldwin's plan to have Kauila Houpo lob the ball into game-high scorer Ben Fuqua (19 points). Williams, who was held to seven points, grabbed the rebound of a desperation shot taken by Houpo and the game finally belonged to the Menehunes.
"We had to collapse and everybody had to crash the boards," Williams said.
"We shot ourselves in the foot in the early going with a lot of turnovers," said Baldwin head coach Wayne Gushiken.
Moanalua 22 8 8 8--46 Baldwin 15 8 7 15--45Moanalua Jones 7, Santiago 6, Kamakura 4, Kesaji 0, Rosado-Galindo 18, Williams 7, Marshall-Greene 0, Bruce 4.
Baldwin Abeytia 5, Kuhaulua 5, Fuqua 19, Houpo 6, Dixon 8, Habbas 4, Kuehu 2.
Iolani 50, Aiea 46Iolani guard Kirk Uejio tied the game, 31-31, on a drive, Akoni Ah Yat got another hoop off the break, and sophomore guard Doug Jackson grabbed a defensive rebound and raced the length of the court to score at the buzzer. He was fouled and converted his free throw to give Iolani a 36-31 lead.
The Raiders led the rest of the way.
"We went with a smaller, quicker lineup when Derek got his fourth," Iolani coach Mark Mugiishi said. "We used two point guards (Uejio and Jackson) and we tried to push the ball and get better penetration to the basket."
Christensen returned to help Iolani wrap up the win in the fourth quarter.
Aiea 8 11 12 15--46 Iolani 13 6 17 14--50Aiea Okano 17, George 10, Offerman 7, Aleaga 6, Mosqueda 3, Davis 2, Sullivan 1, Kolone 0.
Iolani D. Christensen 13, S. Christensen 10, Uejio 10, Ah Yat 8, Yasuhara 6, Jackson 3, Fuller 0, Kishinami 0.
Kalaheo 62, Waiakea 29"We didn't play all that well offensively but we did a good job defensively and that's what we've been doing all year," Kalaheo coach Pete Smith said. "Our defense has kept us in games while we wait for offensive spurts."
Guard Steve Hess led Kalaheo with 15 points, including two 3-pointers.
Waiakea 7 3 8 10--29 Kalaheo 6 22 5 30--62Waiakea Tengan 3, Kagawa 5, Cabral 3, Hartle-Schutte 3, Carvalho 0, Bartholomew 2, Cabreros 2, Bugado 7, Okimoto 0, Wallace 2, Makuakane 2.
Kalaheo Withy-Allen 5, Pelafoti 2, Furtado 4, Freitas 5, Freeman 6, Hess 15, Kamelamela 3, Hogue 7, Lutu 3, Abbott 2, Sensely 6, McCoy 4.
Hilo 55, Seabury Hall 49Hall scored eight points in the first quarter as Hilo took a 14-8 lead.
For Seabury, Royal Bell had 16 points.
Hilo 14 9 18 14--55 Seabury 8 3 18 20--49Hilo Delfin 4, Flores 3, Amador 3, Kauhi 14, Hall 17, Dias 4, Cuarisma 1, Blake 9.
Seabury Perez 10, Harris 2, Newirth 5, Anderson 3, Bell 16, Svesko 5, Mayer 8.
Kapaa 52, Waipahu 40
Waipahu 12 11 8 9--40 Kapaa 8 11 17 16--52Waipahu Barba 3, Canencia 0, Acidera 11, Aquino 5, Tailele 4, Vasega 6, Williams 6, Gossett 4, Wright 1.
Kapaa Hill 1, McKeague 2, Villarin 3, Moises 9, Inouye 5, Moe 4, Aguano 2, Torio 13, Miranda 8, Garcia 3.