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Friday, February 23, 2001
Honokaa joins The boys' state basketball trophy won't be staying with Hilo this year -- but it might stay on the same island.
powerhouses
Kalaheo, Iolani, St. Louis
also make it to the
state semifinalsBy Tim Crouse
Special to the Star-BulletinHonokaa, the undefeated Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion, joins three other usual suspects in tonight's Hawaiian Airlines Boys State Basketball Championship semifinals.
The Dragons haven't gotten this far in the state tournament since 1989 -- and they're not ready to pack it in yet.
Today's semifinals: State Boys' Basketball
At Stan Sheriff Center
Kalaheo vs. St. Louis, 7 p.m.
Today's consolation games
Yesterday's results:
"It's not like we came over here to play just one game," Honokaa coach Cheyenne Meyer said. "We know that (yesterday's win) was just one game and that it doesn't mean anything."
Three powerhouses -- Kalaheo, Iolani and St. Louis -- also won yesterday. They have combined for 16 final four appearances since 1995.
The Crusaders, in their seventh consecutive semifinal, made it to the final last year before falling to Hilo.
The Raiders have advanced to the final four in four of the past six seasons, and won the title twice.
Top-seeded Kalaheo won a championship in 1995 and finished second three times and third once before getting knocked out early in last year's tournament by St. Louis -- tonight's opponent.
The players must earn the wins on the court, but a winning tradition can provide a boost.
"Even though they haven't been on all those teams, the kind of success we've had (in recent years) gives the kids confidence that we should win," Iolani coach Mark Mugiishi said.
Yesterday's quarterfinals:
IOLANI 65, LEILEHUA 63 (OT):
Freshman Derrick Low made a steal and fed the ball to Bobby Webster for a fast-break layup to give the second-seeded Raiders the win.Iolani (12-1) led by seven points with a minute left in regulation, but Leilehua (12-2) forced three turnovers and tied the game.
The Mules took a four-point lead in the extra frame.
"Give Leilehua credit, because they took advantage of the momentum swing," Mugiishi said. "It was a major downer (to lose that lead)."
Travis McGaughy and Webster connected on 3-pointers to tie the game with under a minute left.
The Mules were playing for the final shot when Low made the pick.
Bobby Nash blocked the final Leilehua shot to seal the win.
Low played all 36 minutes and finished with 11 points. McGaughy hit four treys and 18 points.
Eric Marshall poured in 31 points, including 13-of-14 free throws, for the Mules.
"I know it's a coach's cliche, but I'm really sorry someone had to lose," Mugiishi said. "Leilehua came back with sheer heart and determination.
"They played their hearts out."
Leilehua 7 11 18 19 8 -- 63 Iolani 11 8 19 17 10 -- 65 LEILEHUA: Garland Gantt 6, Ricardo Bachelor 7, Joshua Jumawan 4, Clifton Feliciano 5, Mike Helgerson 6, John Dolac 4, Eric Marshall 31, Duon Adams 0.
IOLANI: Derrick Low 11, Travis McGaughy 18, Bobby Webster 11, Robert Mageo 7, Bobby Nash 4, Tyler McCready 6, Jon Grobe 8.
3-point goals--Leilehua 1 (Bachelor), Iolani 6 (McGaughy 4, Webster 2)
HONOKAA 51, MILILANI 47:
Senior guard Derek Gabriel drilled three of his four treys in the second half to help the Dragons overcome a 32-24 halftime deficit.The Dragons (14-0) took early leads of 10-4 and 12-7, but the Trojans went on a 13-3 run to take a 20-15 second-quarter lead.
Kaniela Aiona and Austin Souza nailed back-to-back treys for Honokaa to tie the game at 24-all.
Mililani (11-4) ended the half with an 8-0 spurt, with the final six points coming on fastbreaks.
Five players scored for Honokaa in a fast-paced third quarter, and the Dragons trailed by only one entering the final quarter.
Gabriel swished a trey with 5:37 left to give Honokaa the lead for good.
Rashaun Broadus converted two steals into fastbreak baskets to make it 47-45, but the Trojans never got any closer. He finished with 16 points.
Mililani 11 21 8 7 -- 47 Honokaa 12 12 15 12 -- 51 MILILANI: Gary Deliz 4, Rashaun Broadus 16, Troy Wailehua 0, William Broadus 8, Andrew Min 2, Hoku Patoc 7, Kaipo Patoc 10.
HONOKAA: Derek Gabriel 14, Kaniela Aiona 13, Austin Souza 13, Erwin Valenzuela 4, Kenny Ruiz 5, Edward Aldridge 2.
3-point goals--Mililani 2 (R. Broadus, K. Patoc), Honokaa 9 (Gabriel 4, Souza 3, Aiona, Ruiz).
KALAHEO 71, PUNAHOU 56:
The Mustangs (14-0) lost senior point guard Skyler Wilson to an injury early in the second half, but got 23 points from D.C. Daniels to win.Wilson was hit over the eye by an inadvertent elbow after scoring on a coast-to-coast drive a minute into the third quarter.
Wilson was down on the court for some 15 minutes as play was halted. He was taken to a hospital for stitches.
His status for tonight's game was unknown as of this morning.
It was the second time in a week that a Kalaheo player was injured. In the OIA championship game against Mililani on Feb. 15, Ikaika Alama Francis fell to the court, incurring a gash on the back of his head that required stitches.
Last night, the teams combined to shoot 81 free throws, with the Mustangs making 26-of-42.
Alex Fergus was 12-of-19 from the line and scored 14 points for Punahou (11-4).
Punahou 15 7 17 17 -- 56 Kalaheo 16 21 17 17 -- 71 PUNAHOU: Kynan Pang 4, Richard Kim 10, Lucas Love 6, Dane Uperesa 2, David Kowen 0, Jason Ching 11, Alex Fergus 14, Ryan Zabriskie 2, Andrew Amigleo 0, Daniel Lam 7, John Freese 0.
KALAHEO: C.J. Kaimiola 3, Skyler Wilson 8, D.C. Daniels 23, Ikaika Francis 13, Shaydon Marumoto 8, Nate Ijima 2, Keoki Duarte 7, Remington Chun 2, Justin Pedrina 3, James Robertson 0, Aubrey Bradley 0, Shaine Harada 2, Charles Elliott 0, Michael Garcia 0, Mikey Lefever 0.
3-point goals--Punahou 0, Kalaheo 5 (Francis 3, Marumoto 2)
ST. LOUIS 39, MAUI 32:
The Crusaders (13-4) forced 19 turnovers and limited the Sabers (13-5) to just eight field goals in the game to win the defensive struggle.Jason Rivers paced St. Louis with 11 points and Justin Harris scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Maui had a decided height advantage -- with three starters over six feet, including 6-6 Dio Dante -- but took just nine shots inside the paint the entire game.
The Sabers were eight-of-24 (33 percent) inside the three-point line for the game. They fared a little better on the perimeter, hitting four-of nine treys.
St. Louis made 14-of-37 field goal attempts (38 percent) and nine-of-13 free throws.
St. Louis 10 8 6 15 -- 39 Maui 9 8 5 9 -- 32 ST. LOUIS: Bobby Tappy 6, Jose Vidad 7, Jason Rivers 11, J.P. Kanoa 5, Frank Rivers 2, Justin Harris 8, Jonah Lakatani 0, T.J. Moe 0, Brenden Clement 0.
MAUI: Cheyne De La Garza 9, Brandon Chu 2, David Tufaga 5, Les Johnson 4, Dio Dante 12, Gdansk Corpin 0, Kevin Wunder 0, Shaun-Ryan Batson 0.
3-point goals--St. Louis 2 (Vidad, J. Rivers), Maui 4 (De La Garza 3, Tufaga).
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