Kaipo Pale amassed 17 points and 15 rebounds as No. 10 Roosevelt captured the OIA White Conference basketball championship with another come-from-behind win over Kailua, 46-36.

Brendan Nakatani added 12 points for Roosevelt, which won its first OIA title since 2000. Both teams had already qualified for the state tourney. A Kailua win would have forced a winner-take-all rematch tomorrow.

“;Our conditioning helped. We've been running hard at practice, then resting the day before games,”; Roosevelt coach Steve Hathaway said. “;We don't worry about the first three quarters because we know we'll be strong in the fourth.”;

Corey Lau led Kailua (18-11) with 15 points, and center Jordan DeCorte added 12 points and 12 caroms.

Pale scored 11 of his 17 in the second half for Roosevelt (19-6), which trailed by eight in the first half. Brandon Mitchell, who had missed his first four foul shots, hit two tries with 5:07 remaining to give Roosevelt the lead for good, 34-32.

Kailua went cold in the final quarter, shooting 1-for-12 from the field.

Pale was at his best down the stretch, going coast to coast for a three-point play, and after Chase Yogi scored a layup on a feed from Agaese Tago, the Rough Riders led 39-33 with 3:25 to go.

A free throw by Lau kept Kailua close, 41-36, with 2:10 left, but Pale scored on a pass by Nakatani, and Mitchell and Tago put the game away with free throws.

It was another tough loss for Kailua, which had a 21-point lead against Roosevelt in a playoff game last week before losing.

“;We're just confident,”; said Nakatani, a 5-foot-10 forward. “;But we always have that slow first half.”;

Kailua was strong early, with Lau running the offense and attacking Roosevelt's man-to-man defense. Lau, a UH football recruit as a wide receiver, scored 10 points in the opening quarter, including two 3-point bombs.

Running coach Tim Harrison's flex offense, the Surfriders had command of the tempo and opened the lead to 20-12 early in the second quarter.

After halftime, the tide turned after a good talk by Hathaway to his team. Another factor: key contributions from role players like Johnson Delos Santos.

“;He's got a sore knee, but one of our guards (Yogi) got in foul trouble and we had to use Johnson,”; Hathaway said of the junior, who had two key assists in the second half against tight Kailua pressure.

The Surfriders shot 28 percent from the field (14-for-50) and shot just eight free throws, making five.

Roosevelt shot 16-for-42 from the field and 14-for-20 from the line. The teams were nearly even on the boards: 30 for Roosevelt and 29 for Kailua.