Wednesday, January 30, 2002

Iolani 1 away
from ILH title

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By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com

Four Iolani starters scored in double-digits as the Raiders clinched at least a tie for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu basketball title with a 63-55 road win over Punahou last night.

Senior guard Bobby Webster led Iolani with 20 points, while Derrick Low finished with 16. Bobby Nash scored 13 points and Jon Grobe chipped in with 10.

"We have so many guys who can put the ball in the basket," Iolani coach Dr. Mark Mugiishi said. "We never have a run where we can't score."

Iolani improved to 9-0 in the ILH with three games left in the regular season. One more win gives the Raiders the league title and a berth in the state tournament.

Punahou dropped to 6-3 and are in a dogfight with St. Louis (5-3) and Kamehameha (6-3) for second place in the league and a state tournament berth. The Buffanblu, who lost to St. Louis last Saturday, must recover quickly for their meeting with Kamehameha tomorrow night at Kekuhaupio Gym.

"We've created a mess for ourselves and we have nobody to blame but ourselves," Punahou coach Greg Tacon said. "Kamehameha and us are in the same boat, we have to win. We have another big game on Thursday. Talent-wise, Punahou, St. Louis, Kamehameha, we're all pretty even, so it becomes a game decided by will and emotion."

Emotions were high last night for the second meeting between two of the state's fiercest rivals. But Iolani took command early by jumping out to a 17-7 lead in the first quarter.

"It was Iolani-Punahou, so it's a big game every time we play," Webster said. "But I think the key was we came out and matched their intensity from the start."

The Raiders got a scare late in the first quarter when Low went in for a layup and fell hard on his side. He sat out the next four minutes, but returned midway through the second quarter.

"He's a really strong kid," Mugiishi said. "You just put some ice on it and he's ready to go back out there."

"It was a scare when Derrick went down," Webster said. "But we have a lot of guys who can play, so the other guys just stepped it up."

Dane Uperesa scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Punahou, which made 19 of 48 field goal attempts.

At Punahou

Iolani (9-0)	17	15	15	16	--	63
Punahou (6-3)	9	14	9	23	--	55

IOLANI -- Jon Grobe 10, Derrick Low 16, Zach Tollefson 0, Bobby Webster 20, Robert Mageo 2, Matt Choy 0, Bobby Nash 13, Joe Udell 2, Chad Miller 0, Gage Eberlin 0, Todd Blankenship 0, Tyler McCready 0.
PUNAHOU -- Jason Ching 4, Kynan Pang 6, Jason Sakata 0, Stanley Fisher 0, Drew Monahan 0, Andrew Amigleo 3, Todd LaFountaine 4, Daniel Bertao 0, John Freese 5, Alex Fergus 6, David Dowsett 2, Derek Turbin 5, Ryan Zabriskie 5, Dane Uperesa 14.
3-point goals -- Iolani: 3 (Webster 2, Nash). Punahou: 1 (Amigleo).

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