Hawaii football fans know of Daniel Tautofi's prowess on the football field. After all, the Kaimuki senior is headed to UH next year to play for June Jones. Thriller puts
Kaimuki in statesBy Tim Crouse
tcrouse@starbulletin.comBut last night he showed how much he means to the Bulldogs basketball team -- pouring in 37 points in a thrilling 67-64 win over Moanalua in four overtimes in the quarterfinals of the Oahu Interscholastic Association playoffs.
Kaimuki and Moanalua managed to take the spotlight away from the feature game between two-time defending OIA champion Kalaheo and host Radford.
Kalaheo beat previously undefeated Radford 46-34 to reach its 15th consecutive state tournament, and end the Rams' season.
Kaimuki also earned a berth in the state tournament and gets a chance to unseat Kalaheo in the OIA semifinals next week. The Mustangs have won 10 of the past 12 league titles, and beat the Bulldogs in the semifinals of the state tournament a year ago.
"I told the kids from the beginning, you've got to believe," Kaimuki coach Stephen Lee said. "I told them, if we get down, you have to believe. In the first two overtimes we were down and we came back."
Time and time again last night, Tautofi scored a crucial basket, pulled down a critical rebound or made a game-changing steal -- but in four overtimes, there were plenty of opportunities for other players to be heroes, too.
Tautofi scored 14 of the team's 20 second-half points to help send the game into overtime. Then he carried the Bulldogs through three tense extra frames before they could finally prevail in the fourth.
"Tautofi is the heart and soul of Kaimuki basketball," Lee said. "He makes everything happen for us. He's Mr. Basketball for Kaimuki."
Said teammate Jimmy Miyasaka: "He's one special player. He's determined to win."
Moanalua's Darin-Jay Shinagawa hit a 3-pointer to open the fourth extra frame, giving the Menehunes a 64-61 lead. It was the last points they would score.
Tautofi responded by scoring on an offensive putback. As the Menehunes tried to stall with a one-point lead, Tautofi stole a pass out of mid-air and scored on the fastbreak despite getting fouled. He added the free throw to put Kaimuki up 66-64.
After that, the Bulldogs just tried to survive.
Chris Young, who led the Menehunes with 20 points, missed a shot with 1:12 left and Isaiah Ano pulled down the rebound.
Then it was the Bulldogs' turn to stall, as they worked the ball around near halfcourt. Moanalua finally fouled with 24 seconds left. Jr. Maiava made one of two free throws, but Nick Milan snagged the offensive rebound and kicked the ball back out.
Jimmy Miyasaka missed the front end of a one-and-one for the Bulldogs, but Milan was there again to bat the ball out of a crowd for Kaimuki to recover.
Miyasaka went to the line again with 13.7 seconds left, and again missed his first free throw, but he hustled down the court and swatted away Moanalua's last chance at a tying 3-pointer.
"I missed those free throws but I came back with the block," Miyasaka said. "They had confidence in me for those free throws but I didn't put my head down."
Miyasaka said he wasn't worried about committing a foul on the last play.
"I got an opportunity (for the block) and I took it," he said.
Kaimuki made just four of eight free throws in the overtimes.
"We've been working on the free throws," Lee said. "Pretty much the same team is back and last year these guys shot very well from the free-throw line. I don't know what we're doing we're doing wrong this year, but we've been working (on it) in practice."
Miyasaka hit a tough leaner in the paint with 58 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 42.
Moanalua seemed to have control of the game in the first OT, taking leads of 47-44 and 51-47 with 33 seconds remaining.
But Tautofi calmly drilled a trey from the top of the key to give the Bulldogs hope. Moments later, he sent the game into a second overtime with an acrobatic reverse layup in heavy traffic, tying the score at 52.
Tautofi scored both of Kaimuki's baskets in the third OT -- both on layups after pulling down offensive rebounds.
Tautofi missed a shot at time ran out, sending the game into its final overtime, tied at 61.
"Four overtimes, two overtimes, it doesn't matter," Tautofi said. "A win is a win. We're looking forward to going a lot further than this."
At Radford H.S. gym
Moanalua (7-5) 9 15 12 6 10 4 5 3 -- 64 Kaimuki (10-1) 9 13 11 9 10 4 5 6 -- 67 Moanalua--Joseph Nishimura 6, Brian Bertulfo 2, Jaimie Rego 6, Chris Young 20, Darin-Jay Shinagawa 14, Eric Keys 12, Naiquise Durall 4, Gienn Fiascon 0.
Kaimuki--Davey Nguyen 0, Richy Miyasaka 1, Daniel Tautofi 37, Isaiah Ano 2, Jr. Maiava 4, Jimmy Miyasaka 13, Jon Torres 0, Dexter Tautofi , Nick Milan 10.
3-point goals -- Moanalua 5 (Young 2, Shinagawa 2, Nishimura). Kaimuki 4 (Miyasaka 3, Tautofi).
KALAHEO 46, RADFORD 34: Zane Cabral, the smallest player on the court at 5-foot-5, made the biggest plays in the second half to help the Mustangs beat the Western Division champions.Cabral, who was doubtful to even play after suffering a mild concussion on Thursday night, scored all 13 of his points in the second half. Eleven of them came at the free-throw line.
In the game, Kalaheo was 21 of 28 from the line.
"A lot of that was Zane Cabral being able to get inside and make things happen," Kalaheo coach Pete Smith said. "Radford played good D, they kept us from running our offense very well, but Zane was able to get inside and force some things and get us on the line."
Kalaheo led 19-14 at halftime, with center Sam Wilhoite scoring nine points. Charles Seanior tied the game at 19 early in the third quarter with a pair of free throws. Less than two minutes later, he drilled a 3-pointer to put the Rams up 22-21.
The lead changed hands several times as the quarter progressed before Cabral took over.
He hit two foul shots, then followed with a driving layup to put Kalaheo up 29-24. David Moore closed out the quarter with a pair of free throws to give the Mustangs a 31-27 lead.
The Rams didn't really threaten in the final quarter, as the Mustangs converted 10 of 15 free throws.
"These guys have worked hard," Mustangs coach Pete Smith said. "We have some talent. It's young and inexperienced and we still play like that but they're playing better each week.
"They wanted to get into states, that was one of our goals. I thought tonight on the defensive end we did a super job."
Kalaheo held high-scoring Seanior to six points, tied for his lowest offensive output of the season.
"We put David Moore and Matt Nakashima on Seanior, we rotated them every couple minutes, and we tried to make him work for everything he got," Smith said.
At Radford H.S. gym
Kalaheo (9-3) 10 9 12 15 -- 46 Radford (10-1) 8 6 13 7 -- 34 Kalaheo--Aaron Luis 0, Christopher Tumaneng 0, Matthew Nakashima 1, Nicholas Heldreth 0, Theodore Fujita-Lukachyk 7, William Elliot 1, Zane Cabral 13, Neil Bowers 2, Joshua Perry 0, David Moore 6, Jeremy Neufeldt 7, Ryan Belles 0, Sam Wilhoite 9.
Radford--Will Kerins 0, Jordan Rellin 0, Mike Davis 4, Joshua Auelua 0, Charles Seanior 6, Richardo Shipley 0, Martin Lara 11, Tauran Moore 10, Jason Opetaia 0, Daniel Downs 0, La Michael Wilkins 3.
3-point goals -- Kalaheo 1 (Fujita-Lukachyk). Radford 2 (Seanior, Moore).
MILILANI 52, ROOSEVELT 49: After being tied after the third quarter, Brandyn Fidel came up big and scored 10 of his 15 points and was 5-for-6 from the free-throw line to seal the victory for the Trojans. ° Daniel Balbas and Anthony Holyfield carried Roosevelt with 18 and 17 points.At Roosevelt H.S. gym
Mililani (9-3) 9 10 14 19 -- 52 Roosevelt (9-2) 8 13 12 16 -- 49 Mililani--Aaron Kanno 5, Puna Neumann 8, Brandyn Fidel 15, Jordan Woolsey 2, Clarence Gray 2, Andrew Tokumi 2, Alex Patykula 9, Tony Gabriel 3, Simeon Tavares 6, Mikhail Mabry 0.
Roosevelt--Shane Kamakura 4, Bryson Borges 6, Ryan Keomaka 4, Daniel Balbas 18, James Castro 0, Anthony Holyfield 17, Ricky Eusebio 0, Danton Balbas 0.
3-point goals -- Mililani 4 (Fidel 2, Kanno, Tavares). Roosevelt 2 (Borges, Holyfield).
LEILEHUA 37, CASTLE 36: With the game tied at 36 and 16 seconds left, Zacarius Rivera made one of two free throws. The Mules' Tyrell Couch then stole the ball and Leilehua was able to run the clock down.At Roosevelt H.S. gym
Castle (9-3) 7 9 9 11 -- 36 Leilehua (10-1) 10 11 6 10 -- 37 Castle--Bryan Pelangka 4, Emmett Aberilla 6, Kevin Brooks 0, Kanai Craig-Rodenhurst 0, William Harvest 5, Jordan Ukauka 0, Kurtis Kanekoa 8, Charles Teixeira 9, Antone Watanabe 4, Soli Lefiti 0.
Leilehua--Andrew Talaeai 10, Demetrius Washington 6, Tyrell Couch 2, Angelo Massey 7, Antonio Carter 0, Zacarius Rivera 3, Anthony Hall 0, Angel Fontanez 7, Jonathan Scruggs 2.
3-point goals -- Castle 2 (Pelangka, Harvest). Leilehua 6 (Talaeai 2, Washington 2, Massey, Fontanez).
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