[ HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL ]
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@ STARBULLETIN.COM
Iolani's Derrick Low, who is headed for Washington State next year, put up a shot over Kalaheo's Matt Nakashima in the first period of Saturday night's state basketball championship game at the Blaisdell Arena.
Iolani’s Low goes
out on topHawaii’s top player heads to
Washington State having won
three straight state titles
with Iolani
Iolani's Derrick Low added a little crimson to his traditional white and red Raiders uniform in Saturday's night's 64-54 state basketball championship victory over Kalaheo.
Crimson ... as in the main color in Washington State University's logo, which was stitched into his white socks.
Low wore it as a sign of things to come -- understated, but direct and effective, much like his presence on the court. After all, it was his last high school game -- Raider one night, Cougar the next.
"I got those socks at the school bookstore on my recruiting trip there," said Low, whose 24-point performance and clutch play down the stretch put an end to the Mustangs' dreams of spoiling Iolani's bid for a third straight title. "Me and three other recruits all bought a little something. I said, 'Oh wow, these socks are pretty cool.'
"I put them on for my last high school game as a reminder and motivation for what I have ahead of me and so I could keep on giving that 110 percent and spilling everything I have on the floor in order to leave without any regrets."
Next winter, the crimson won't just be on his socks. The pride of Hawaii high school basketball joins the Cougars to compete in the grueling Pac-10 conference. Kalaheo, Punahou, Saint Louis, Kamehameha, Kaimuki and Mililani -- and all the others who chased him and his teammates -- will surely get a sense of relief while Low tests his skills against some of the top college programs in the nation, including conference foes UCLA, Stanford and Arizona.
A Blaisdell Arena crowd of nearly 5,000 watched Low wrap up four fantastic years Saturday night. When the Raiders trailed in the second quarter, he brought them back for a halftime lead.
More importantly, when Kalaheo tied it 47-all at the end of three quarters and threatened to overtake the momentum and the lead, Low somehow made a turnaround, fall-away jumper look easy. After that, he hit four pressure free throws to help clinch another championship.
The 6-foot-1 point guard is the prohibitive favorite to be named the Star-Bulletin's player of the year for the third season in a row.
"People were asking me before the season started if I thought about it much that this was my last season," Low said yesterday after working out for three hours at a basketball clinic. "I was trying not to think about it too much. Now that it's over, it's hitting me that I won't be playing high school basketball any more.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Iolani's Derrick Low knocked the ball away from Kalaheo's Chris Tumaneng in first period of Saturday night's game.
"I remember my freshman year, when I was the youngest one on the team and we unfortunately lost to Kalaheo in the finals. And I remember my sophomore year when it was our revenge season and we beat them for the championship in a close victory. As a junior, we started sensing our high school careers were slowly coming to an end and we really wanted to finish those last two years strong."
Kalaheo also made this year's tournament memorable, since all the talk had centered on the Raiders and how they might walk through everybody. Instead, the Mustangs gave Iolani all it could handle with the dead-aim 3-point shooting of William Elliott and Theo Fujita, and the determined inside work of Sam Wilhoite.
They put a real scare into Low and the Raiders, a performance that put a smile on the face of retired legendary Kalaheo coach Pete Smith, who is recuperating from being in a coma late last year, and who came to watch the Derrick vs. Sam showdown.
One team, Punahou, made an undeniably strong statement. The Buffanblu rallied to win the third-place game against Mililani as freshman guard Jeremiah Ostrowski proved why he's the top candidate to fill the void left by Low in the Hawaii high school basketball vortex.
Punahou coach Greg Tacon thinks that it's fine, but not totally fair, to compare Ostrowski to the one-of-a-kind Low.
"Jeremiah started the season really strong and made me think that he might be the second coming (of Low), but then he went into kind of a lull," Tacon said. "In this tournament, he really showed me something, though. He's ready to be a premier player."
The Buffanblu have a strong contingent of youngsters coming back, including 6-foot-5 freshman forward Spencer McLachlin, and are already being considered by some as the team to beat next year.
Another ILH team, Kamehameha, finished its up-and-down season and proved it belonged among the state's best by winning the fifth-place game in overtime against Kealakehe.
It was the year of the Raiders, though.
Many other Iolani players were vital to team's 17-0 season -- among them seniors Ryan Hirata, Zach Tollefson and Todd Blankenship and junior Kyle Pape.
"Right after the game, I saw Ryan crying and it made me want to cry, too," said Blankenship, the Star-Bulletin's state volleyball player of the year whose smooth power moves to the basket made it difficult for teams to put extra defensive pressure on Low and the sharp-shooting Hirata.
The "Derrick Low Era" is over in Hawaii but it will continue for island fans charting his progress at WSU.
And beyond.
It might not mean anything at all -- just a boy chasing a dream -- but Low's long-term aspirations were in plain sight during last week's tournament opener -- white socks with the NBA logo stitched in.
Low's highs
Iolani won three state championships and appeared in the final all four years with Derrick Low on the team, winning 11 of 12 state tournament games. Low's points and other statistical highlights for each game are in parentheses.2001
Quarterfinal: Iolani 65, Leilehua 63, OT (11 points)
Semifinal: Iolani 49, Honokaa 47 (20 points, 4 assists, 4 steals)
Final: Kalaheo 68, Iolani 60 (15 points)2002
Quarterfinal: Iolani 70, Castle 57 (13 points, 4 assists)
Semifinal: Iolani 62, Mililani 51 (17 points)
Final: Iolani 58, Kalaheo 57 (33 points)2003
Quarterfinal: Iolani 78, Baldwin 50 (17 points)
Semifinal: Iolani 53, Kamehameha 48 (20 points, 3 steals, 2 assists)
Final: Iolani 61, Saint Louis 37 (13 points, 3 assists)2004
Quarterfinal: Iolani 63, Kaimuki 41 (12 points, 5 assists)
Semifinal: Iolani 71, Mililani 45 (12 points, 7 assists)
Final: Iolani 64, Kalaheo 54 (24 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists)Sources: starbulletin.com and hhsaa.org
