StarBulletin.com

Montrose belts 'Iolani


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POSTED: Sunday, December 20, 2009

Sometimes it's about the blend, not the flash.

Montrose Christian has that blend. The Mustangs got dominant performances from big men Terrence Ross and Josh Hairston, while guards Donell Diggs and Nazareth Long combined for 11 assists in a 71-49 win over host 'Iolani in the quarterfinals of the 'Iolani Classic last night.

Ross, a 6-foot-6 forward, drained six 3-point bombs and finished with 24 points. Hairston, a 6-9 forward, had 22 points and a game-high 12 boards, including six on the offensive glass.

Jarrett Arakawa (9-for-9 at the foul line) and Kainoa Chu led 'Iolani with 16 points each.

“;We competed really hard. That's what coach (Dean Shimamoto) wanted,”; Chu said. “;It's possible (to beat Montrose) if we'd executed perfectly.”;

A capacity crowd saw the tourney favorite meticulously handle 'Iolani's 2-3 zone. The Raiders took their only lead at 3-2 on one of Chu's four 3-pointers.

Montrose then scored the next 15 points, though it was still just 8-3 with 3 minutes to go in the first quarter before Ross connected from deep.

The Maryland-bound gunner stroked a 3 from the left corner, then swished two more from the left wing to give the Mustangs a 17-3 lead.

“;We wanted them to shoot outside shots, but they shot well,”; Chu said.

'Iolani, smaller and outrebounded 17-8 in the first half, was within 32-23 on a layup by Josiah Sukumaran late in the second quarter.

Montrose took command in the third, opening with three more treys by Ross. After Hairston scored on a putback and again on a spin move in the paint, the visitors had a 47-27 lead with 1:20 to go in the third.

Ross finished with nine boards to go with 6-for-11 shooting from beyond the arc. The Mustangs used a mix of halfcourt man and a 2-2-1 three-quarter press, but it came down to rebounding and eight zone-busting treys.

“;Terrence and Josh are good players, and good players are versatile,”; coach Stu Vetter said, noting past Mustangs Kevin Durant and Linas Kleiza. “;Terrence is a prototype 2-guard.”;

Ross' finely tuned shooting stroke is a product of 1,000 jumpers per day in the offseason.

“;Playing here, the rims are a little stiff, but I know if I keep shooting, they'll fall,”; Ross said.

Hairston, a Duke recruit, didn't lose any energy from start to finish. He shot 12-for-19 from the field, scoring 12 points in the final quarter, but rebounding is his strength.

“;Early in the season, we weren't getting rebounds. Terrence and I usually have mismatches down low,”; Hairston said.

Chu was impressed with Montrose's zone offense.

“;There's a lot of things they did good, like their offensive rebounding,”; he said.

Montrose had a 32-19 edge on the boards, grabbing 15 on the offensive end. The Mustangs shot 56 percent from the field (30-for-54) and 55 percent from the foul line (6-for-11).

'Iolani shot 30 percent from the field (13-for-43), including 4-for-21 from the arc, and 83 percent from the line (10-for-12). The Raiders had only 11 turnovers.

Montrose plays Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia) in the semifinals tomorrow.

 

Neumann-Goretti 75, Kinston 72

In a back-and-forth game, the Saints of Philadelphia snuck past the Vikings of Kinston, N.C.

Tony Chennault led the attack for Neumann-Goretti with 24 points.

Kinston's Reggie Bullock matched Chennault's 24-point performance.

 

Columbia 55, Gonzaga 53

The Eagles of Decatur, Ga., moved on to Monday's semifinals with a win over the Eagles of Washington, D.C.

Jarmal Reid scored 19 points for Columbia. Cedrick Lindsay led all scorers with 23 for Gonzaga.

Columbia will play either Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) or Yates (Houston) tomorrow in the semifinals.

 

Tsinghua 37, Kaimuki 18

The Dragons from Beijing jumped out to an early 24-5 lead at halftime and cruised from there.

Kai Guo led the way for Tsinghua with 16 points and Shijia Sun contributed 10 points.

 

Radford 61, Kahuku 59, 2OT

The Red Raiders made a fourth-quarter run to push the Rams into overtime, but Radford pulled out the double-overtime victory.

JB Fontenot sparked the Rams from outside the arc, connecting on six 3-pointers en route to 19 points.

Nehoa Akina led all scorers and helped keep the Red Raiders in the game with 20 points.

 

Hamilton 47, Moanalua 42

Led by Micah Fetters, the Huskies of Chandler, Ariz., overcame a nine-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat Na Menehune.

Fetters scored 21 points and was the Huskies' only double-digit scorer.

Marcus Monroe scored 15 points and Josiah Kauola added 11 for Na Menehune.

 

Kamehameha 85, 'Iolani II 43

Four Warriors scored at least 12 points on the way to a victory over the Raiders' Division II team.

Micah Christenson led the way for Kamehameha with 15 points, and Dyrbe Enos had a hot hand with 12 points on four 3-pointers.

Frank Ho and Charlton Tang each had 13 points for the Warriors.