Raiders go wire
to wire

There's no drama here, not after Iolani swept through three foes by double-digit margins to capture yet another boys state basketball championship.

But there's a lot of splitting hairs, especially for hardcore fans of Campbell and Punahou.

Iolani collected all 15 first-place votes to close the season exactly where it began: No. 1 in the Star-Bulletin Top 10.

Runner-up Kahuku, which lost to Iolani 62-51 in Saturday's championship game, moved up two notches to No. 2. Baldwin, which came extremely close to playing in the title game, slipped one spot to No. 3.

And then, it gets somewhat interesting. Campbell, which led Iolani by nine in a semifinal game before losing, wound up fourth in the state tourney. The Sabers (21-6) lost to Baldwin 65-62 in Saturday's third-place game.

That opened the door for Punahou. Many voters considered Punahou good enough to be No. 4 in the final poll, especially since the team that eliminated the Buffanblu in the state tourney was Baldwin.

All things being equal, even with Campbell's win over Punahou at the Kalaheo Classic nearly three months ago, panelists wound up with a not-so-decisive No. 4 team. Campbell amassed 96 points to Punahou's 95.

Kalaheo, Kamehameha, Kauai, Konawaena and Waiakea round out the Top 10.