A wild, dramatic, frenzied finish between Punahou and 'Iolani—the top-two boys basketball teams in the state—left one squad sprinting down the court in jubilation and the other to limp off as it bore the brunt of a physical Interscholastic League of Honolulu contest.

'Iolani senior Kainoa Chu scored the game-winning layup with 5.2 seconds remaining, and the Raiders had to survive a Punahou shot that came tantalizingly close as it rattled in and out before the final buzzer that secured the host's 42-41 thrilling win yesterday in front of a raucous standing-room only crowd at 'Iolani.

“;This is as good as it gets,”; said a breathless Chu, who finished with a game-high 21 points.

The Raiders' win left things tight at the top with Iolani (16-7, 9-2) tied with Kamehameha (20-4, 9-2) for first. Punahou (17-3, 7-2) is a game back. If all three teams win out in the regular season, the ILH's tie-breaker becomes a convoluted mess.

But that is a problem to tackle down the road. Last night, these two teams weren't playing for the ILH standings. They were battling for bragging rights and pride.

Three weeks ago, Punahou pounded 'Iolani 46-31. Since that loss, though, the Raiders had won five straight, including last week's victory over Kamehameha. But if 'Iolani wanted to make a statement, to prove that it truly belonged in the upper echelon of the state, then it would have to beat Punahou.

While this game had its dramatics throughout, it was a wild final minute that decided it all.

With the score tied at 39, Punahou's Sean McFadden gave his team the lead on a short runner with only 40 seconds left remaining. Twenty seconds later, 'Iolani's Jarrett Arakawa drove the lane and earned a trip to the foul line. He made the first free throw and missed the second, but junior reserve Josiah Sukumaran poked the ball to Trevyn Tulonghari and 'Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto called a timeout.

Shimamoto knew he wanted the ball in Chu's hot hands (he had already scored six points in the quarter), so he set up a weave on the perimeter to get the ball to Chu on the right wing. Chu drove to his left, took a hop and skip in the lane, waited as the Punahou defenders flew by and found himself wide open under the basket. His layup gave 'Iolani the lead, the sixth lead change of the game, with just 5.2 seconds left.

“;There comes a point where Xs and Os don't always work and you have to dig deep,”; Chu said. “;With our team, how deep we go, we just have a lot of heart and play hard for each other.”;

The drama was far from over. On the ensuing out-of-bounds play—after a timeout by each coach to set up the offense and defense—Punahou pushed the ball the length of the court and got McFadden a shockingly wide-open look. His one-handed, 6-foot runner along the right baseline rattled around the rim but finally caromed out.

“;It was unbelievable,”; said Shimamoto. “;We were very fortunate. But you don't question luck.”;

No. 3 Kamehameha 47, Mid-Pacific 38

The Warriors jumped out to an early halftime lead and didn't look back as they defeated the Owls.

Micah Christenson guided the Kamehameha offense as he scored a game-high 23 points.

Saint Louis 60, Damien 50

The Crusaders used a big fourth quarter run to take out the Monarchs.

Acen Cabral had 22 points for Saint Louis while teammate Mika Wong had 15 points.

Lonn Iwashita led Damien with 14 points.