Kailua head coach Tim Harrison started to think about what to tell his squad after it squandered an 11-point fourth quarter lead and trailed Kohala by five points with 30 seconds to play.

But he altered his speech to one of congratulatory nature after the Surfriders stormed back to tie the game at 57 on Dylan Farias' three-pointer with 15.3 seconds to play, and outscored the Cowboys 9-0 in overtime to down second-seeded Kohala 66-57 before a raucous crowd at Kalani's Earl C. Holmer Gym in the semifinal round of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Boys Basketball Division II State Championships last night.

“;That was big for us because we hadn't been able to do that before,”; said Harrison of his team's inability to come back when faced with adversity late in the season. “;That's big for our program, we've always been able to blow away teams and run away from 'em, but to be down tonight and hit a big shot, and then in the overtime take it away, that was incredible.

The game appeared to be well in hand for Kailua, which led 44-33 through three quarters thanks to its strong guard play led by Farias and Corey Lau, who ended up with 19 and 12 points for the evening.

But Kohala (21-5) came out of the gate firing in the fourth, putting together a 9-0 run, thanks in part to five points from Kapanai'a Carvalho, and forced Harrison to call timeout with 5:38 remaining in the game and his team up by just two, 46-44.

The Cowboys, champions of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation's Division II, surged ahead for their first lead of the game, 49-48, with 3:16 remaining in the contest. Kohala pushed its lead to 57-54 until, with less than 30 seconds to play, the Surfriders turned to Farias, who nailed a 3-pointer to tie it with 15.3 seconds remaining.

Neither team could come up with a score in the final seconds of regulation, and the game went to overtime.

The Surfriders (20-11) employed a 2-3 zone in bonus time, and the defensive scheme worked to perfection, as Kohala could not find any open looks. Kailua forward Kenny Ellis scored four of his 14 points in overtime, and led the defensive push down low.

“;As soon as we got it up to a tie, we went into a 2-3 and that confused them a little bit,”; Harrison said. “;They were trying to shoot 3s, but we had guys out on them. They're an extremely quick team and it was hard for our guys to defend them.”;

Kailua advances to face Oahu Interscholastic Association White Conference foe Castle today at 5 p.m. for the tournament championship at the Blaisdell Arena. The Surfriders fell to the Knights in the OIA White championship game, and tonight's matchup could prove to be the perfect means of revenge.

“;It's going to be something (tonight), it's going to be a knock-down, drag-out game,”; Harrison said. “;It's going to be a helluva game.”;