Rattlers slow down, take Iolani Classic

The normally fast-paced LeFlore squad beats Roman Catholic at its own game for the title

There's more, much more to the LeFlore Rattlers than run-and-gun basketball.

When push literally came to shove, the orange-and-green hoopsters from Mobile, Ala., knew how to grind out a halfcourt battle. Behind 24 points and nine rebounds by Nick Williams, LeFlore outlasted Roman Catholic of Philadelphia 59-49 last night to capture the Iolani Classic championship.

"This group of kids has never been in a game like that," Rattlers coach Otis Hughley said. "We had some new wrinkles without having the chance to rehearse it. That shows corporate intelligence and poise."

The Cahillites hope to continue their early success when they go back East.

"We'll keep our heads up. We played as hard as we possibly could against a ranked team," Roman Catholic coach Dennis Seddon said of LeFlore, rated No. 11 by USA Today. "Obviously, we've got to work on our free throws, and if we don't have those five turnovers in the first quarter, who knows? But congratulations to LeFlore. They're a great team."

A near-capacity crowd saw LeFlore go to work in the low post.

"They wore us down in the frontcourt," Seddon noted. LeFlore outrebounded Roman Catholic 22-15.

LeFlore (14-0) went to a 1-3-1 zone defense for the first time in the tourney and stymied Roman Catholic (7-1) for much of the game. That gave interior defenders Derrick Young (6-5) and Williams plenty of chances to dominate in the paint against a strong, resilient Cahillite squad.

"We've had it all along," Hughley said. "It's one of our base defenses."

Their defensive play above the rim stifled Roman Catholic's third-quarter surge and gave the Rattlers a 41-36 lead entering the final stanza.

From there, LeFlore shot 12-for-17 from the foul line, while Roman Catholic hit the tank. The Cahillites were just 2-for-7 from the line in the final 8 minutes, and three of those misses came on the front end of 1-and-1 opportunities.

Roman Catholic got within 52-47 on a free throw by Bradley Wanamaker, but Christopher Blake and Joshua Wesley each sank two foul shots to give the Rattlers a 56-47 lead in the final 24 seconds.

The Cahillites got no closer than seven the rest of the way. Wanamaker led them with 14 points.

Iolani 46, Vincent (Milwaukee) 45

Case Miyahira sank the tying and go-ahead free throws with 14 seconds left as the Raiders stunned the Vikings.

"Surprisingly, I was relaxed," said Miyahira, who finished with 20 points and four 3-pointers. "What went through my head was what Ryan (Dung) told me: get one and try to get two."

The win gave Iolani a third-place finish, its highest ever in the tournament.

"Case had a big game," Iolani coach Mark Mugiishi said of his senior guard. "We're a young team and this is one of the first close games we've won against a quality team."

Liloa Nobriga added 13 points for Iolani (8-3), the five-time defending state champion.

Dominique Sharp led Vincent with 17 points.

After Miyahira sank his foul shots, Bryquis Perine had an open look from the 3-point line in the right corner, but missed with 3 seconds left.

"We were actually trying to stop the dribble penetration," Mugiishi said. "But our guy got stuck."

That was Miyahira.

"That was my man," he said. "They hadn't been hitting a lot of their (outside) shots."

Iolani rebounded and ran out the clock.

"The play went pretty good, but we just didn't get the shot down," said guard Diante Garrett, who scored 10 points, all in the first half. "It's heartbreaking. We're supposed to come out here and win."

Kalaheo improves to 1-2 in Las Vegas

Cheynne Lishman scored 12 points as the Mustangs (6-3) posted their first win in the Vegas Valley Invitational. Koa Siliga, Lishman and Clifton Pires drilled key 3-pointers down the stretch.

The game wasn't pretty, Kalaheo got the win, and coach Chico Furtado is concerned.

"It was ugly," said Furtado, whose team committed 25 turnovers and shot 7-for-27 from the line.

Kalaheo, filling in for another team, will get one more game today.

"One of the teams had to leave early back to Colorado. The airport is down so they took a bus back to make it home for Christmas," Furtado said.

Fairfax (Los Angeles) 48, White Station (Memphis) 41

Chace Stanback poured in 23 points and Ja'Shon Hampton added 14 as the Lions outlasted the Spartans for fifth place. The Lions, last year's tournament champions, led 35-34 at the end of three quarters.

Stanback, who has signed with UCLA, scored inside, outside and from the line. The 6-8 senior sank two treys and shot 9-for-10 from the free-throw line.

Furman-bound Jordan Miller, a 6-3 guard, led White Station with 16 points.

St. Dominic (N.Y.) 61, Georgetown Prep (Md.) 56

Roland Davis scored 20 points, including three second-half treys, as the Bayhawks escaped from the Hoyas for seventh place. Brian Katz sank all three of his treys in the first half and finished with 13 points. Markeys Deans added 11 points.

Garvey Young led the Hoyas with 22 points. Chris Harrington added 13 points.

Saint Louis 59, Kaimuki 51

Micah McClinton scored 17 points and the Crusaders (6-2) closed out the game with a 6-0 run to edge the Bulldogs. Cole Shidaki added 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting, and center Scott Smith tallied nine points and five rebounds against Kaimuki's collapsing defense.

Beau Albrechtson had 18 points and eight boards to pace Kaimuki (9-3). Keone Reyes added 15 points, but had six of his team's 18 turnovers. Guard Daniel Colon also scored 15 points, but was 1-for-6 from the 3-point arc.

Moanalua 58, Kamehameha 42

Stevie Austin poured in 17 points and Na Menehune used a 12-5 run in the third quarter to pull away. Pono Hanson led Kamehameha with 10 points.

Radford 53, Mililani 45

Four Rams scored in double figures to lead the Rams over their OIA West rivals. Justin Lord and Gary Satterwhite scored 11 points each, and Travis Daniels and Antonio Williams tallied 10 apiece.

Donovan Olmos paced the Trojans with 11 points.

McKinley 53, Campbell 43

Nainoa Lessary and Earvin Sione scored 12 points each as the Division II Tigers upset the Sabers. Mike Makinano paced Campbell with 14 points.