Saturday, December 22, 2001
[ PREP BASKETBALL ]
Bench boosts Raiders The Iolani basketball team's starting five accounted for the bulk of the team's points against Northwestern (Miami, Fla.) last night. But it was the reserves who sparked the Raiders to their 67-51 victory over last year's Iolani Classic champion.
into fifth-place game
Host Iolani meets Wilson on the
final day of the Prep ClassicBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com"I credit this win to our bench," Iolani coach Dr. Mark Mugiishi said. "The starters came out, they were a little down, they didn't have the energy right away, so we put the bench in and they got us back on track."
Iolani will be the highest Hawaii finisher in the Classic and will try to match its finish in last year's tournament when it faces Wilson (Florence, SC) in today's fifth-place game at 5 p.m. Northwestern will meet defending state champion Kalaheo for seventh-place at 3:30.
Still recovering from a heartbreaking loss to Fairfax in Thursday's quarterfinals, the Iolani starters came out flat against an athletic Northwestern squad and fell behind 10-3 early in the game. Mugiishi changed the entire lineup and the reserves responded by cutting the Bulls' lead to 10-9.
Chad Miller scored on a putback, Joe Udell knocked down a free throw and Robert Mageo hit a jumper to jump start the Raiders. The second five also turned up the heat defensively on the Bulls.
"They played with hustle and that's all we ask our kids to do," Mugiishi said. "If they hustle and they play hard, then good things can happen."
When the Iolani starters returned, they went on a 16-3 run to take command of the game. Iolani led 34-25 at halftime and didn't let Northwestern get closer than five points the rest of the game.
Jon Grobe led Iolani with 18 points. Derrick Low added 16, while Bobby Nash scored 15.
"I told our kids we wanted to show that our performance (against Fairfax) wasn't a fluke, that we're really that good," Mugiishi said. "We need to keep coming out and being ready to play every day. If we can keep playing at this level we'll keep getting better and better and our ultimate goal is to be state champion."
Devon Pearson led Northwestern with 19 points, while Cedrick McGowan chipped in with 12.
SEMIFINALS
Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.) 62, Garfield (Seattle) 57: Montrose point guard Eric Price may be a freshman, but he played with the savvy of a senior down the stretch as the Mustangs rallied to beat the Bulldogs and advance to tonight's championship game."He's an outstanding young player and that was a good test for our team, especially with the young team that we have," Montrose coach Stu Vetter said.
With his team trailing 54-52 and less than two minutes left in the game, Price hit a jumper to tie the contest. On Montrose's next possession, he knifed through the Garfield defense for a layup to give the Mustangs the lead with 44 seconds left. After a steal by Rich Baker, Price drove in for another layup to extend the lead to 58-54.
Garfield's Marcellus Kemp kept the Bulldogs alive with a 3-point shot, but Price knocked down both ends of a one-and-one to seal the win for Montrose.
"I'm proud of the way we played under pressure," Vetter said. "This was the first time we've been in a close game this season and good teams respond to pressure."
Linas Kleiza paced the Mustangs, ranked 14th in the country by USA Today, with 20 points. Troy Haley added 17 and Price finished with 12.
Kemp led Garfield with 21 points. Brandon Roy, who has already signed with Washington, had 17.
Fairfax (Los Angeles ) 80, Clovis West (Fresno, Calif.) 64: Fairfax joined Montrose Christian in the finals with a convincing win over the Golden Eagles.
Fairfax and Montrose will square off at 8 p.m. in the tournament championship game. Clovis West will play Garfield in the third-place game at 6:30.
Fairfax jumped out to a 27-13 first quarter lead and cruised to victory in the second half.
Evan Burns led Fairfax's first half outburst by scoring 18 of his team-high 22 points in the first two quarters. Jason Gilzene finished witth 21 points, while Joshua Shipp added 14 and Alex Bausley had 12.
Clovis West forward Nick Debban led all scorers with 26 points, 17 coming in the second half. Tyson Parker hit four 3-point shots and finished with 25 points.
FIFTH-PLACE BRACKET
Wilson 61, Kalaheo 56: Major Wingate and Raymond Dorsey scored 18 points each as the Tigers held off Kalaheo to move on to the fifth-place game.The Mustangs, who played without injured guard D.C. Daniels, were led by Ikaika Alama-Francis's 20 points. Justin Pedrina added 10.
Consolation bracket
Damien 46, Kealakehe 42
Roosevelt 64, Farrington 44
Aiea 61, Mililani 53
Punahou 43, Cathedral (Erie, Penn.) 41Today's games
Kealakehe vs. Farrington, 9:30 a.m.
Damien vs. Roosevelt, 11 a.m.
Mililani vs. Cathedral, 12:30 p.m.
Aiea vs. Punahou, 2 p.m.
Kalaheo vs. Northwestern, 3:30 p.m.
Iolani vs. Wilson, 5 p.m.
Garfield vs. Clovis West, 6:30 p.m.
Montrose Christian vs. Fairfax, 8 p.m.
Hawaii School Web Sites