Punahou escapes
first-round scare
from WaiakeaThe Buffanblu rally for a victory
in their tournament opener
Punahou pulled off a great escape yesterday and it may have awoken a sense of urgency ahead.
State tournament
Yesterday's scores>> Punahou 68, Waiakea 64
>> Mililani 67, Baldwin 56
>> Kaimuki 48, Waimea 46
>> Kamehameha 56, McKinley 38
The Buffanblu (13-2) overcame a late deficit to finally shake Waiakea 68-64 in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines Boys State Basketball Tournament at Blaisdell Arena.
The Warriors (12-4), who finished second in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation, nearly delivered what would have been a shocking blow to Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up Punahou, which is unseeded, but is No. 2 in the Star-Bulletin Top 10 poll.
"I knew Waiakea had good shooters, but I didn't know how good," Buffanblu coach Greg Tacon said. "They flat-out fill it up. We're not used to these types of games -- back and forth, back and forth. But our kids don't let how the game is going dictate their emotions. They don't get disappointed when things go bad. They could see things were going wrong and they listened to the instructions and we finally got it back to a possession game."
Immediately after Waiakea coach Jay Bartholomew yelled from the bench, "It's gut check time," the Warriors went on an 11-0 spurt to grab a 61-58 lead with under four minutes left. Abe McGrew, who grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds, capped the run, sandwiching two three-point plays around Tyler Nishimura's 3-point bomb.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, the high energy leveled off in crunch time.
Two Spencer McLachlin free throws and Brenton Lee's rebound bucket put Punahou on top again, and Reid Fowler's steal and layup with 1:37 to go gave the Buffanblu a lead -- 64-62 -- it wouldn't relinquish.
"We came in rusty, not having played for 12 days," said Fowler, who finished with 15 points and tied for game-high honors with teammate Jeremiah Ostrowski and Waiakea's Michael Belmes. "They shot exceptionally well against us and we also had a mental lapse in the fourth quarter. But we made the shots when it counted."
The Buffanblu also got a winning push from McLachlin, who pulled down two important defensive rebounds in the final minutes. The freshman ended with a team-high nine boards.
"Spencer was absolutely phenomenal," Tacon said. "You would see a bunch of bodies under the basket and there he'd be with the ball, protecting it and making smart outlet passes."
Nishimura went off the glass on a drive with 20 seconds to go, cutting the Buffanblu's lead to 65-64, but McLachlin hit two free throws four seconds later and Fowler added one more with four ticks left to end it.
"Everybody in the building didn't think we could advance," McGrew said. "We showed that we can play with one of the best teams in the state. We probably could have played better by slowing it down a little more and taking better shots at the end."
Punahou made eight of 18 3-pointers, including three each from Ostrowski and Fowler. The perimeter shooting enabled the Buffanblu to turn Waiakea's slim second-quarter lead into a 36-29 Buffanblu edge at halftime.
Bartholomew was proud of his team after the near miss.
"We shot fairly well (42 percent from the field to Punahou's 38 percent) and the boys got us in a position to win. It was one of the better games we've played."
Tacon wasn't shy about talking about his team's intentions.
"Sure, I was worried about not advancing, but I'm worried about (today's) game and all the games after that. We want one more game against (two-time defending champion) Iolani. Our bracket is a tournament to see who gets a shot at Iolani and we believe we can make some waves."
The Buffanblu, who came up short to the Raiders twice in the regular season, came the closest to knocking off the state's top-ranked team in a 63-58 loss.
At Blaisdell Arena
Waiakea (12-4) 18 11 17 18 --64 Punahou (13-2) 18 18 21 11 --68
Waiakea--Kahanu Irizarry 7, Kyle Correia 9, Jon Moniz 5, Cheynne Hirota 4, Tyler Nishimura 8, Sean Soriano 0, Michael Belmes 15, David Doll 5, Justin Pascual 0, Abe McGrew 11.Punahou--Jeremiah Ostrowski 15, Storm Bridgewater 0, Daniel Cho 5, Reid Fowler 15, Scott Otake 8, Brenton Lee 13, Morgan Ellsworth 2, Spencher McLachlin 10, Kasey Ko 0.
3-point goals: Waiakea 5 (Nishimura 2, Irizarry, Moniz, Belmes), Punahou 8 (Ostrowski 3, Fowler 3, Otake, McLachlin)
BACK TO TOP |
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mililani's Mikhail Mabry put up a shot against Baldwin's Cody Nakamura and Trenson Himalaya last night.
Patykula, Kanno lead
Mililani to 67-56
victory over Baldwin
If Oahu's high school basketball fans needed reason to believe neighbor-island opponents could offer stiff competition, they saw two examples last night at the Hawaiian Airlines State Championships.
For Baldwin of Maui and Waimea from Kauai, however, coming close just wasn't good enough.
Mililani, the Oahu Interscholastic Association runner-up, rallied from a seven-point, second-half deficit to oust Baldwin 67-56, and Kaimuki fought off Waimea 48-46 at Blaisdell Arena to advance to today's quarterfinals.
Mililani (13-1), which was unbeaten through the OIA season until losing in the title game, got hot in the second half against Baldwin. Alex Patykula scored 26 points and Aaron Kanno added 14 for the Trojans.
"We expected that from Patykula, but who's 23? He killed us," Baldwin coach Wayne Gushiken asked of Kanno. "He was the unknown factor."
Puna Neumann added 10 points for Mililani, which forced Baldwin into 25 turnovers. Kanno added seven assists and five steals.
Trenson Himalaya led Baldwin with 16 points, along with five rebounds. Point guard Cody Tesoro had 12 points, and Cody Nakamura tallied 10 points and six rebounds.
Baldwin (10-3) shot well in the opening half and carried that momentum into the second half. Scott Suzuki hustled for a pair of layups as the Bears opened a 37-30 lead with 3:52 left in the third quarter.
The Trojans called timeout and regrouped. They went on a 15-3 run to close the third, including a couple of power moves down low by reserve center Mikhail Mabry. Kanno's pull-up 17-footer at the horn gave Mililani a 45-40 lead going into the final quarter.
"I knew we had lots of time left. We just had to be a lot smarter and get quality shots," Mililani head coach Mike Coito said. "Whatever open looks we get, they'll go down."
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mililani's Nick Rogers defended Baldwin's Trenson Himalaya in last night's 67-56 Trojans victory.
Baldwin pulled within two on Himalaya's three-point play under the bucket, but the Trojans pulled away. Kanno sank a pull-up jumper and a 3-pointer, and Patykula made another 15-footer and a 3-pointer.
Mililani led 59-47 with 1:51 remaining. Baldwin got no closer as the Trojans finished strong. They shot 65 percent from the field in the second half.
The first half was a study in contrasts.
Baldwin, runner-up in the Maui Interscholastic League, started slowly. The Trojans took an 8-2 lead and had the tempo in their favor despite Baldwin's methodical style.
Mililani gradually extended its lead behind some hot shooting by Patykula. The 6-foot-1 senior sank a trey, a foul-line jumper and another 3-pointer as Mililani took a 22-15 lead with 3:46 left in the half.
Patykula sank another pull-up jumper, but the Trojans began to shoot blanks. The Bears switched out of their 2-3 zone to a man defense, and went on a 9-0 run to close the half.
Tesoro fueled the run with a steal and coast-to-coast layup, and Matt Heyd drove for a three-point play with one-tenth of a second left in the half. Baldwin led at intermission, 26-24.
The Trojans shot just 36 percent from the field and were outrebounded 14-7 by the similarly-sized Bears. Turnovers, however, were a factor. Baldwin had 14 giveaways by halftime, negating a good shooting performance (12-for-21, 57 percent).
Mililani (13-1) 10 14 21 22 -- 67 Baldwin (10-3) 8 18 14 16 -- 56
Mililani--Lorenzo Abernathy 0, Puna Neumann 10, Scott Neumann 6, Aaron Kanno 14, Clarence Gray 0, Andrew Tokumi 3, Alex Patykula 26, Jonovan Santos 2, Nick Rogers 0, Mikhail Mabry 6.
Baldwin--Jeff Tumacder 0, Scott Suzuki 8, Cody Tesoro 12, Kawika Liftee 2, Cody Nakamura 10, Donnie Dadiz 0, Matt Heyd 8, Levi Aki 0, Trenson Himalaya 16.
3-point goals: Mililani 7 (Patykula 5, Kanno 2), Baldwin 2 (Tesoro)
Kaimuki 48, Waimea 46: Jimmy Miyasaka scored 17 points, including his team's last six in the final 2:27, as the Bulldogs advanced by beating the Menehune.Tone Fa'asoa added 10 points for Kaimuki (12-4).
"Kaimuki's a good team, and Miyasaka is a good player," Waimea coach Matt Taba said. "I knew they would go to him. That's why he's an all-state player."
Jeremy Manuel, a junior point guard, led Waimea (8-1) with 18 points.
"Manuel is tough. He's so quick, and he was picking us apart," Kaimuki coach Stephen Lee said.
Jordon Dizon scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half for the Kauai Interscholastic Federation champion.
One of the differences was at the free-throw line, where Kaimuki made 14 of 16 attempts (88 percent). Waimea converted just seven of 13 tries.
"This team, in crunch time, makes free throws," Lee said.
The Menehunes also hit just three of 11 attempts from 3-point range against Kaimuki's 2-3 matchup zone.
"You lose by two points, anything can make a difference. In the first half, we turned the ball over a lot, and we could've blocked out better," Taba added. "It was a tough draw.
Kaimuki, the OIA's third-place team, has a win over league champion Kalaheo on its resume. "It hurts," Taba said.
Dizon, who missed a month of action with an injury, was rusty for nearly three quarters. He warmed up in time to help the Menehune rally from a 10-point deficit.
"I watched him warm up. He looked a little stiff," Lee said. "But give him and Waimea credit. He hit some tough shots."
Trailing 38-28, Waimea rallied and took a 41-40 lead on Dizon's foul-line jumper with 3:13 to go.
Miyasaka answered with a spin move through the paint for a layup, pushing Kaimuki back in the lead, 42-41, with 2:27 remaining. Dizon responded with a tough turnaround jumper on the baseline moments later for a 43-42 Waimea lead with 2:14 left.
Miyasaka came through again, swishing a hanging 14-footer from the left elbow for a 44-43 Kaimuki lead with 1:14 to go.
The Menehunes nearly lost the ball on the next trip upcourt, but the possession arrow pointed in their favor. Still, Manuel forced up a tough shot from the right wing, and Kaimuki rebounded with 44 seconds left.
Kaimuki's Kekoa Onaga went to the line with 34 ticks remaining and sank both ends of a 1-and-1 for a three-point Kaimuki lead. The Bulldogs, in a man defense, stifled Waimea's offense. Manuel launched a 23-footer from the right wing, which was short and rebounded by the Bulldogs.
Miyasaka sank two free throws with 3.4 seconds left to seal the hard-earned win. Dizon made a 22-foot shot at the horn to close the scoring.
Now Kaimuki matches up with two-time defending state champion Iolani. "We can be real good when everyone knows their roles and we play as a team," Lee said. "We have nothing to lose, and we just have to play our game."
Iolani has not played in nearly two weeks, but Lee discounts any talk of rust. "I heard they had an alumni game," he said.
Kaimuki (12-4) 18 9 11 10 -- 48 Waimea (8-1) 13 11 11 11 -- 46
Kaimuki -- Kekoa Onaga 9, Isaiah Ano 2, Jimmy Miyasaka 17, Tony Fa'asoa 10, Nick Milan 6, Davey Nguyen 0, Dexter Tautofi 4, Reginal Palfrey 0.
Waimea -- Jeremy Manuel 18, Bully Emayo 2, Kamu Kawaihalau 0, Casey Kaohelauli'i 3, Akeem Allen 2, Chad Barba 0, Jordon Dizon 15, Lanikai Kanahele 6.
3-point goals: Kaimuki 2 (Onaga, Miyasaka), Waimea 3 (Manuel, Dizon, Kaohelaulii).BACK TO TOP |
HHSAA boys basketball
At Blaisdell Arena
Seeds: 1. Iolani (14-0). 2. Kalaheo (13-1). 3. Maui (12-0). 4. Kealakehe (15-0).
YESTERDAY
Game 1: Punahou 68, Waiakea 64
2: Mililani 67, Baldwin 56
3: Kaimuki 48, Waimea 46
4: Kamehameha 56, McKinley 38
TODAY
5: Baldwin vs. Waimea, 12:30 p.m.
6: Mililani vs. Kealakehe, 2:15 p.m.
7: Punahou vs. Maui, 4 p.m.
8: Kamehameha vs. Kalaheo, 5:45 p.m.
9: Kaimuki vs. Iolani, 7:30 p.m.
TOMORROW
10: Waiakea vs. McKinley, 1:45 p.m.
11: Game 6 and 9 losers, 3:30 p.m.
12: Game 7 and 8 losers, 5:15 p.m.
13: Game 6 and 9 winners, 7 p.m.
14: Game 7 and 8 winners, 8:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Consolation final: Game 5 and 10 winners, 3 p.m.
Fifth place: Game 11 and 12 winners, 4:30 p.m.
Third place: Game 13 and 14 losers, 6 p.m.
Championship: Game 13 and 14 winners, 8:30 p.m.
