Thursday, February 14, 2002
A rowdy home crowd and an almost unstoppable guard lifted Mililani to a 60-55 win over Kaimuki last night in an Oahu Interscholastic Association semifinal basketball game. Guard keys
Trojan comebackBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comWith the Mililani Maniacs, clad in matching shirts and afro wigs, exhorting the Trojans on, Rashaun Broadus scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second half and Mililani (12-0) erased a 12-point deficit to advance to tomorrow's OIA championship game at Blaisdell Arena.
"We haven't lost in a long time and we don't want to start now," Mililani coach Mike Coito said. "We've had some close games, maybe there's somebody watching over us."
Kaimuki (9-3) controlled the pace of the game while holding Broadus to four points in the first half to take a 30-20 lead into intermission. But the senior guard heated up in the second half, shooting 8-for-12 after halftime.
"He just killed us. We couldn't stop him," Kaimuki coach Stephen Lee said. "He just penetrated and scored. We tried to see if we could deny the ball to him, but he's too quick. Once he gets the ball, it's tough to defend."
Mililani also did the job defensively, holding Kaimuki to five fourth-quarter points.
Kaimuki slowed the game in the first half, using a 2-3 zone to frustrate the Trojans and dominate in the paint. The Bulldogs grabbed 23 rebounds to Mililani's 11 in the first 16 minutes.
Kaimuki opened its biggest lead of the game at 44-32 halfway through the third quarter and went into the final period with a 50-44 advantage.
The Trojans chipped away and tied the game at 52 with 2:40 left when Brandyn Fidel came up with a steal and fed Simeon Tavares for a layup.
The Bulldogs' Jessie Wong answered with a 3-pointer. It would be Kaimuki's last bucket.
After a putback by Kaipo Patoc closed the Kaimuki lead to one point, Broadus stole the ball and broke away for a layup to give Mililani its first lead with 1:10 left.
Broadus came up with another steal on Kaimuki's next possession and sliced to the basket for a layup to give Mililani a 58-55 lead.
"The coaches just let me run the point and I would just drive so I could shoot or dish it to another player," Broadus said.
Broadus put the game away by hitting both ends of a one-and-one in the closing seconds.
At the final buzzer, the Mililani cheering section joined the team at center court to form a celebratory mosh pit. The Trojans credited their fans with helping them pull off the comeback win.
"They get in everybody's heads," Broadus said. "Everybody plays the crowd, so with them cheering, it helps us and gets us hyped in the game. Our crowd is pretty nuts, it's like a college crowd."
Kaimuki 16 14 20 5 -- 55 Mililani 10 10 24 16 -- 60 KAIMUKI -- Jesse Wong 17, Tino Caires 0, Daniel Tautofi 16, Jimmy Miyasaka 0, Alex Loriano 2, James Davis 14, Junior Maiava 6.
MILILANI -- Brandyn Fidel 3, Gary Deliz 4, Rashaun Broadus 22, Mitchell Rose 2, Jose Santos 2, Andrew Min 10, Alex Padykula 1, Kaipo Patoc 9, Simeon Tavares 7, Tony Gabriel 0.
3-point goals -- Kaimuki 4 (Wong 3, Tautofi), Mililani 4 (Min 2, Fidel, Patoc).
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