Saturday, February 16, 2002

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Kalaheo's Ikaika Alama-Francis, left, and James Robertson celebrated after the Mustangs beat Mililani 61-57 in the OIA championship game. Alama-Francis scored 25 points.

Alama-Francis leads
Mustangs to OIA title

The Kalaheo senior scores 25 points
in a victory over Mililani

---

By Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.com

Kalaheo head coach Pete Smith tried to get the ball into Ikaika Alama-Francis' hands throughout the second half of his team's 13th OIA championship.

But it wasn't until Alama-Francis created his own fortune that Kalaheo finally put away a gritty Mililani squad 61-57 last night at the Blaisdell Center.

Alama-Francis skied and slammed home a D.C. Daniels' miss with 40 seconds left to give his team a 59-57 lead. It was only his second basket from the field in the second half.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Kalaheo's D.C. Daniels, left, Ikaika Alama-Francis, middle, and Mililani's Kaipo Patoc fought for a rebound yesterday during the OIA championship game. Kalaheo won 61-57.

Mililani still had a breath -- it always does as long as Rashaun Broadus is in the game -- but Broadus missed and Alama-Francis grabbed his 19th rebound of the night.

James Robertson sealed it for the Mustangs with a pair of free throws to push the margin to four points with 30 seconds left. Robertson had not scored until he was put on the line with the game in the balance.

Getting the ball inside to Alama-Francis seemed like a sound idea, as he scored 19 of his 25 points in the first half, but his team could not rid itself of the Trojans, who answered each Alama-Francis basket with one by Broadus.

Broadus scored 23 points in the game -- hitting four 3-pointers -- and forced Smith to run two point guards at him. It still did not slow him, as he began going to the line and getting his points there.

"Broadus is a great player," Smith said. "I knew we weren't going to stop him, I just wanted to keep a fresh guy on him."

Alama-Francis was 2-for-11 in the second half after torching the Trojans in the first. The more he struggled to put the ball in the basket, the more Smith told his troops to pound the ball in to him. And the more Alama-Francis -- who scored only a single point after getting hurt in last year's championship game -- called for the ball.

"You don't give up on an all-state player," Smith said. "You just keep going to him and eventually he will make something happen."

Alama-Francis maintains that he was not getting frustrated with the misses because he knew that Daniels, who had 13 of his 15 points in the second half, and the rest of his teammates had his back.

"It wasn't frustration, it was more of a sense of urgency," Alama-Francis said. "We all played our role and finally got it together."

Mililani (12-1)	15	14	12	18--57
Kalaheo (13-0)	17	15	11	16--61

MILILANI -- Kaipo Patoc 8, Trey Brown 9, Alex Patykula 2, Simeon Tavares 4, Mitch Rose 4, Rashaun Broadus 23, Andrew Min 3, Gary Deliz 4.

KALAHEO -- Ikaika Alama-Francis 25, DC Daniels 15, Justin Pedrina 9, Micheal Gayle 6, Sam Wilhoite 4, James Robertson 2.

3-point goals -- Mil: Broadus 4, Deliz, Brown. Kal: Alama-Francis 1, Pedrina, Gayle 2.

Castle 61, Kaimuki 36: In the third-place game, Castle used 10 points by Joel Botelho in the first half to run out to an eight-point lead and extend it in the second half.

The Knights held the Bulldogs to only two baskets in the third quarter. Botelho led all scorers with 21 points and was helped out with 10 from Boo Boo Harvest. Daniel Tautof led the Bulldogs with eight points.

Kaimuki (9-4)	8	12	4	12	--36
Castle (10-4)	11	17	13	20	--61

KAIMUKI -- Jesse Wong 5, Tino Caires 2, Daniel Tautofi 8, Isaiah Ano 1, Jr. Maiava 6, Jimmy Miyasaka 6, Alex Lauriano 3, James Davis 7.

CASTLE -- Joel Botelho 21, Doonie Aberilla 2, Ryan Laip 8, Kaika Konekoa 3, Mike Proctor 9, Pookela Craig-Redenhurst 6, Boo Boo Harvest 10, Ikaika Bruhn 2.

3-point goals -- Kai: Wong, Lamiano. Cas: Botelho 3, Laip 2, Harvest 2.

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