The postgame celebration was short for Leilehua basketball coach Keith Spencer last night after his Mules played themselves into the Oahu Interscholastic Association championship game with a 60-49 victory over visiting Mililani. Leilehua wins spot
in OIA finalBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comThere were gym maintenance duties to take care of, and then a plan to devise for tomorrow's title game against Kalaheo.
"Sorry, I've got to go put away chairs now," Spencer said. "This is not Iolani, you know. This is the OIA."
Spencer is a good one to compare Oahu public and private school basketball, since he was a member of one of the most storied fives in state history when he was at Iolani in the early 1980s.
And while Interscholastic League of Honolulu coaches might have a few more support personnel, Spencer's Mules showed last night that Wahiawa still provides a good share of the island's on-court talent.
Leilehua's quickness gave it an 8-0 lead, and its depth allowed it to hold off the feisty Trojans who rallied back in front of a crowd of around 700.
"We traditionally do pretty well here," Mililani coach Mike Coito said. "We just gave up too many points early and had to battle back the whole time. But give Leilehua credit. They played a good all-around game."
Angelo Massey led the Mules with 15 points, and Andrew Talaeai and Zacarias Rivera added 10 apiece.
After beating Mililani for the second time this year, Leilehua improved to 11-1 including league and postseason play. The Trojans fell to 9-4.
"This was the first game we played on all cylinders," Spencer said. "I told the kids to just go out and have fun. I think they were really relaxed and it came out as good basketball."
Leilehua, which hasn't won the OIA crown since 1988, meets perennial champion Kalaheo tomorrow night at Blaisdell Arena for the title.
"They cleaned us out in preseason, by 30 points," Spencer said. "But we're a totally different team now. No one thought we'd get this far, so we'll just give it our best."
Talaeai led the Mules' early surge. After Rivera's two free throws opened the scoring, Jonathan Scruggs scored a layup off a move from the high post.
Talaeai then hit a 5-footer. On the next series, he grabbed a Mililani miss and dribbled downcourt to make a 12-footer and give Leilehua an 8-0 lead.
The lead was up to 31-19 at halftime, but the Trojans came back strong after the break. Mililani scored the first seven points of the third quarter on two free throws by Brandyn Fidel (who finished with a team-high 13 points), three free throws by Simeon Tavares (11 points), and a layup by Andrew Tokumi off a sweet inbounds pass from Fidel.
"We know when we play Mililani it's going to be a good game," Leilehua guard Demetrius Washington said. "We didn't come out the way we needed to at halftime, and Mililani's a tough team that's going to fight back. But we stayed together as a team, and that was what we needed."
Leilehua finally scored with 4:24 left in the third quarter when Washington converted off a nice dish from Tyrell Couch. Then Talaeai made a beautiful cut to the hoop and Antonio Carter found him. Talaeai was fouled and converted a three-point play. The Mules' lead was back to a more comfortable 36-26.
The Trojans never got closer than 56-49 when former Leilehua player Zac Anduha hit a 3-pointer for Mililani with 50 seconds left in the game.
Mililani center Tony Gabriel did not start and missed most of the game -- including the entire second half -- with a sprained right ankle.
"We had to go with a smaller, pressing lineup in the second half anyway," Coito said.
AT LEILEHUA H.S. GYM
Mililani (9-4) 11 8 11 19 -- 49 Leilehua (11-1) 18 13 9 20 -- 60 Mililani--Zac Anduha 3, Aaron Kanno 0, Puna Neumann 2, Brandyn Fidel 13, Jordan Woolsey 0, Clarence Gray 6, Andrew Tokumi 2, Alex Patykula 10, Tony Gabriel 2, Simeon Tavares 11, Mikhail Mabry 0.
Leilehua--Andrew Talaeai 10, Demetrius Washington7, Tyrell Couch 5, Angelo Massey 15, Antonio Carter 6, Zacarius Rivera 10, Anthony Hall 0, Angel Fontanez 5, Jonathan Scruggs 2.3-point goals -- Mililani 2(Anduha, Fidel). Leilehua 3 (Couch, Fontanez, Massey).
Junior Varsity -- Leilehua 50, Castle 42
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