Sunday, December 23, 2001
[ PREP BASEBALL ]
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When they needed a lift, the Fairfax (Los Angeles) Lions turned to their best athlete to carry them to the Iolani Classic championship. Late Fairfax basket
burns MontroseBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comEvan Burns skied for a lob from Kevin Bell and dropped in the winning basket with 18 seconds remaining in the game to lead Fairfax to a 43-40 win over Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.) in the tournament title game last night at Iolani gym.
"It's something we've done before and they executed it well," Fairfax coach Harvey Kitani said of the game-winning play.
Fairfax trailed 40-39 with 33 seconds left after Montrose's Rich Baker hit both ends of a one-and-one.
After a timeout, Bell lobbed the ball high above the rim toward the 6-foot-8 Burns, who outjumped a Montrose defender to tip the ball into the goal.
Montrose turned the ball over on its next possession and Burns hit two free throws to ice the game for the team from Los Angeles.
"It was a great basketball game between two national caliber teams," Montrose coach Stu Vetter said. "It all comes down to execution ... and they executed very well when they had to.
"That was a perfect pass and a perfect catch. I thought it was going to be too high."
Burns was held to nine points in a game marked by stubborn defense. Both teams packed the paint, preventing the opposing post players from getting into a rhythm.
Montrose forward Linas Kleiza, who scored 20 points on Friday and 30 the night before, was held to six points. He didn't score a field goal until late in the third quarter.
"He's their leading scorer and our kids did a great job against him," Kitani said.
Bell led all scorers with 10 points.
Montrose finished second in the tournament for the second consecutive year.
Third-place game
Garfield (Seattle, Wash.) 74, Clovis West (Fresno, Calif.) 68: Brandon Roy scored 28 points Marcellus Kemp added 19 as the Bulldogs claimed third place.Garfield led 34-27 at halftime and was content to trade baskets with Clovis West in the second half en route to its third win of the tournament.
Clovis West, which went 0-for-19 from behind the 3-point line, was led by Nick Debban's 32-point performance.
Fifth-place game
Iolani 63, Wilson (Florence, SC) 44: Bobby Nash scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Raiders to their second consecutive fifth-place finish in the tournament.Derrick Low added 14 points for Iolani while Jon Grobe scored 10. Raymond Dorsey led Wilson with 16 points, but Iolani held Major Wingate, the Tigers' 6-foot-10 junior center, to three points.
Iolani never trailed in the game as Nash got the Raiders started with eight points in the first quarter. The Raiders led 29-15 at halftime and maintained a double-digit advantage throughout the second half.
Iolani finished 3-1 in the tournament and gave coach Dr. Mark Mugiishi reason for optimism entering the Interscholastic League of Honolulu season.
"I though we played a lot better (than last year), and we played all mainland teams," he said. "Our one loss (to Fairfax) was a real heartbreaker and we played well against a very athletic team. We played three solid teams and against a number of different styles and did well."
Seventh-place game
Kalaheo 53, Northwestern (Miami, Fla.) 51: The Mustangs got 17 points from Ikaika Alama-Francis and 13 from Michael Gayle to defeat last year's tournament champion.Gayle hit four 3-point shots and Alama-Francis nailed three for Kalaheo. Gayle hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 42 with 5:40 remaining. The Mustangs took the lead for good at 50-49 with less than two minutes left on a layup by Justin Pedrina, and held off the Bulls the rest of the way.
Cedrick McGowan led Northwestern with 18 points. Jerrett Williams added 12.
Consolation championship
Punahou 61, Aiea 55: Dane Uperesa and Kynan Pang led a balanced Buffanblu attack with nine points each as Punahou finished the tournament with a 3-1 record.Lamont Williams managed 21 points for Aiea.
Consolation bracket games
Farrington 66, Kealakehe 60
Roosevelt 68, Damien 46
Cathedral (Erie, Penn.) 57, Mililani 43
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