Maybe it was only fitting that Kainoa Chu's clutch 3-point shot with 5 seconds left gave 'Iolani a 46-43 win over Kamehameha.

Perhaps more fitting is that 'Iolani's 21-7 season and state title, its first since 2006, wasn't Plan A when Chu was an eighth-grader.

Chu's father, Ed, was a junior-varsity coach at Kamehameha a few years back. Little Kainoa tagged along, and both father and son figured the kid would end up playing for the Warriors one day. Instead, Kainoa didn't get into Kamehameha. After going to St. Patrick's, he wound up at 'Iolani, and became a major factor in ending the Raiders' four-year drought without a state crown.

“;These guys deserve it,”; Chu said of his teammates. “;Everybody made a lot of sacrifices, but we stuck together like a family, like brothers.”;

Few teams made halftime adjustments as well.

“;They threw (something different) at our second unit and we had a bunch of turnovers. Even though we were down 12-2, our defense was good. We were creeping up a point at a time,”; first-year head coach Dean Shimamoto said. “;At halftime, we talked. We just needed to be us. We were taking shots that were out of our character. For us, the main thing is we weren't attacking the basket.”;

Chu took those words to heart, scoring 21 of his 27 points after the break.

“;It feels great, feels even better for the kids,”; Shimamoto said. “;You associate 'Iolani with a lot of championships. I played on one. But these kids never had one before.”;

Andrew Skalman and Jarrett Arakawa knew the taste of ultimate success last fall as members of 'Iolani's Division II state championship team in football. It was Arakawa who set the perfect screen for Chu on his winning shot Saturday night. Skalman, normally a distributor and defensive ace, hit two key perimeter shots in the turnaround third quarter.

“;I think our offense did a good job setting me up, driving and dishing. Trevyn found me on the last one,”; the senior said.

Even in the midst of football season, they were mindful of their basketball family.

“;It was about club league, summer league, offseason workouts. When we were playing football, the rest of the (basketball) team was running on the track while we had practice,”; Skalman recalled.

To return to the champions' circle, 'Iolani had to withstand a miraculous performance by defending state champ Kamehameha, which played its fifth game in six nights. The Warriors got a superlative performance from Micah Christenson, who took over in the final minutes and scored nearly every way possible and finished with 23 points.

But for one night, Raider Nation couldn't be stopped, thanks in large part to a Raider who once wanted to be a Warrior.