[ HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL ]
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Low lifts Behind a magnificent performance by sophomore guard Derrick Low, the Iolani Raiders captured the state boys basketball championship with a 58-57 win over Kalaheo last night at Blaisdell Arena.
Iolani to title
The sophomore guard scores 33
as the Raiders beat Kalaheo 58-57
for the state championshipBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comLow scored a game-high 33 points to lead the Raiders to the victory in the final of the Hawaiian Airlines Boys State Basketball Championship.
"I've been saying all along Derrick is a special player," Iolani coach Mark Mugiishi said. "He's going to make this whole state proud. And he showed a glimpse today of what he's going to become."
The title was Iolani's first since 1998, when the Raiders beat Kalaheo in a double-overtime thriller on the same floor.
Iolani, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion, completed a perfect season en route to the state championship, finishing 15-0. Kalaheo, the Oahu Interscholastic Association champion, suffered its first loss of the year and finished at 15-1.
The win was sweet redemption for the Raiders who lost to Kalaheo in last year's state final.
"We kept in our mind that last year we were on the other side of the scoreboard," Low said. "We kept it as motivation, came out tonight and brought home a victory."
Low , the tournament's most valuable player, made 12 of 16 shots from the field and ran the Raider offense to near perfection in one of the most dominant offensive showings in recent memory.
"In my mind I told myself I'm going to try to step it up and do everything I can to try to win this game," Low said.
While Low stole the show, Kalaheo's Ikaika Alama-Francis and D.C. Daniels did their best to keep the crown the Mustangs captured last year with a win over Iolani. Alama-Francis finished with 21 points, while Daniels had 20.
"We worked so hard this season, to end it with a loss I'm pretty bummed about it, but I'm proud of these guys," Alama-Francis said. "I'm really proud of this team and proud to be part of the Kalaheo tradition."
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Kalaheo had no answer for Low, who destroyed the Mustang defense on drives and outside jumpers to score 22 points before halftime. The sophomore accounted for all 14 of his team's points in the first quarter and made 8 of his 10 shots in the half."This was his first year as point guard and we've always told him his job is to choose who's going to score," Mugiishi said. "And we told him in big games sometimes he has to choose himself."
"It was a great performance, probably one of the best," Kalaheo coach Pete Smith said. "It didn't matter who we put on him tonight. They way he shot, he just took over the game. I'm just proud of our guys. They fought."
Low's jumper at the 2:21 mark of the first quarter gave Iolani its first lead at 9-8. He later fueled an 8-0 Iolani run midway through the second quarter to give Iolani its biggest lead of the half at 29-19.
A switch to a half-court trapping defense by the Raiders to start the run led to breakaways for Low, who turned in three-point plays on consecutive possessions.
"He really took it over," Iolani forward Bobby Nash said. "He should be on the most wanted list because he is deadly."
Alama-Francis and Daniels kept Kalaheo within striking distance, combining for 22 of Kalaheo's 26 first-half points.
"We just had to maintain our composure and we had to pick up our intensity," Alama-Francis said. "I knew we weren't going to give up, we're not that kind of team."
Low maintained his hot hand in the third period, nailing his first three shots to give Iolani a 43-34 lead.
But Kalaheo hung around and tied the game at 45 with 5:37 left in the game when Daniels scored on a put-back and was fouled by Nash.
MVP -- Derrick Low, Iolani All-Tournament team
>> Bobby Nash, Iolani
>> D.C. Daniels, Kalaheo
>> Ikaika Alama-Francis, Kalaheo
>> Daniel Tautofi, Kaimuki
>> Rashaun Broadus, Mililani
The Mustangs took the lead for the first time since the first quarter when Justin Pedrina with two free throws to give Kalaheo a 47-45 edge.
Iolani tied the game on a bucket by Nash and took the lead with 2:06 left on two free throws by Low. A jumper by Bobby Webster gave Iolani a 53-49 lead.
After Nash hit four free throws to give Iolani a 57-51 lead with 14 seconds left, the Mustangs responded with a 3-pointer by Michael Gayle. But Low made one of two free throws with 3.7 seconds left to seal the win for the Raiders.
Alama-Francis hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to provide the final margin.
THIRD-PLACE
Kaimuki 61, Mililani 54Daniel Tautofi recorded his third double-double of the tournament to lead the Bulldogs past the Trojans.
Tautofi, a junior forward, scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Bulldogs avenged their loss to Mililani in the OIA semifinals last week. Tautofi averaged 14.5 points and 11 rebounds in the tournament.
Kaimuki's Jesse Wong hit four 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 18 points.
Rashaun Broadus led Mililani with 15 points while Trey Brown added 14.
Kaimuki 20 12 8 21 -- 61 Mililani 18 4 20 12 -- 48 KAIMUKI -- Jesse Wong 18, Tino Caires 6, Daniel Tautofi 17, Isaiah Ano 2, Jimmy Miyasaka 6, Nick Milan 2, Alex Lauriano 4, James Davis 6.
MILILANI -- Thompson Ah Loo 3, Brandyn Fidel 3, Rashaun Broadus 15, Mitchell Rose 4, Trey Brown 14, Alex Patykula 6, Kaipo Patoc 1, Simeon Tavares 8.
3-point goals -- Kaimuki 8 (Wong 4, Caires 2, Tautofi 2), Mililani 5 (Broadus 2, Brown 2, Fidel).
FIFTH-PLACE
Castle 48, Kamehameha 46The Knights finished the game with a 15-0 run to stun the Warriors.
Trailing 46-33 with less than three minutes left in the game, Castle tied the game with 40.5 seconds left on a driving layup by Joel Botelho. The Knights took the lead with 7.2 seconds left on another layup by Botelho.
Botelho scored 11 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter. Pookela Craig-Rodenhurst also scored 12 for Castle.
Aaron Kahaloa, Willie Melemai and Sean Uyehara all finished with 10 points for Kamehameha.
Kamehameha 8 15 13 10 -- 46 Castle 10 9 7 22 -- 48 KAMEHAMEHA -- Pono Enos 3, Eric Shaver 6, Galen Santana 0, Nalu Perkins 3, Sean Uyehara 10, Caleb Spencer 4, Aaron Kahaloa 10, Walter Spencer 0, Aaron Aiu 1, Ianoe Spencer 0, William Melemai 10.
CASTLE -- Joel Botelho 12, Jacob Medeiros 0, Emmett Aberilla 2, Ryan Isip 1, Kurtis Kaneoka 0, Michael Proctor 2, Pookela Rodenhurst 12, William Harvest 7, Jordan Ukauka 0, justin Bruhn 8, Charles Teixeira 4, Nelden Torres 0, Tim Witala 0.
3-point goals -- Kamehameha 7 (Shaver 2, Kahaloa 2, Enos, Perkins, Uyehara), Castle 2 (Botelho, Harvest).
CONSOLATION
Punahou 50, Baldwin 44Kynan Pang scored 18 points and Dane Uperesa added 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Buffanblu to the consolation title.
Baldwin's Brandon Ahonima led the Maui Interscholastic League champions with 13 points.
Punahou (11-4) 11 13 7 19 -- 50 Baldwin (11-5) 10 11 21 2 -- 44 BALDWIN -- Mac Quedding 4, Nicholas Heyd 6, Sam Tolutau 4, Efren Oasay 3, Henry Abad 0, Akamu Aki 4, Kepa Akiu 0, Rodney Kekahuna 6, Brandon Ahonima 13, Kealhoa Range 0, Jay Uruo 0.
PUNAHOU -- Jason Ching 0, Kynan Pang 18, Jason Sakata 0, Stanley Fisher 0, Drew Monahan 2, Andrew Amigleo 5, Todd LaFountaine 3, Daniel Bertao 0, John Freese 3, Alex Fergus 4, David Dowsett 1, Kevin Lau 0, Derek Turbin 1, Scott Otake 0, Ryan Zabriskie 0, Dane Uperesa 13.
3-point goals -- Baldwin 1 (Oasay), Punahou 3 (Pang 2, Amigleo).
IOLANI 58, KALAHEO 57
RAIDERS (15-0) fg fga ft fta reb a tp Grobe 1 3 0 0 6 0 2 Low 12 16 7 9 2 0 33 Tollefson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Webster 4 8 0 3 3 4 9 Melemai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mageo 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Choy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nash 3 6 4 5 6 1 10 Udell 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Miller 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nakoa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Eberlin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blankenship 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kilborn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 McCready 2 5 0 0 5 1 4 Mateaki 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 22 39 11 19 23 7 58 MUSTANGS (15-1) fg fga ft fta reb a tp C.Elliot 1 5 0 0 2 1 2 Gayle 3 6 0 1 2 0 7 Robertson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Anton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Harada 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 Alama-Francis 8 13 3 4 5 0 21 W.Elliot 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Cabral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bowers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pedrina 1 3 2 2 1 2 5 Daniels 6 12 6 8 8 1 20 Fujita 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Garcia 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Neufeldt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wilhoite 1 3 0 0 2 1 2 Team 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 20 42 11 15 25 7 57 3-point goals--Iolani 3 (Low 2, Webster), Kalaheo 6 (Alama-Francis 2, Daniels 2, Gayle, Pedrina).
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