Hawaii Prep overwhelms Seabury Hall to reach title game

Hawaii Prep's David Ovbagbedia puts up a shot at the rim over Seabury Hall's Jackson Stinger. Sylvia Lee | SL

Ainakoa – Hawaii Preparatory Academy took down undefeated MIL champion Seabury Hall, 58-35, in a convincing win at Kalani High School Gymnasium.

Hawaii Prep and Seabury Hall faced each other in each of the last two Hawaii High School Athletic Association tournaments in the third place game, but greeted each other a day early in a semi-final match this time around.

Spartans' senior guard Cameron King hit a 3-pointer from straight away to start the game, giving Seabury its only lead of the game as the Ka Makani followed with a 16-2 run to end the first quarter.

The 6-foot-2 King finished as Seabury Hall's top scorer with nine points and three rebounds.

The Spartans made a push and closed the gap to 8 on a 3-pointer near the right wing from junior guard Duncan Harrison.

HPA would find success when they broke the Seabury press and pushed the ball inside to senior forward David Ovbagbedia, who finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds.

Ka Makani had doubled up on the Spartans to lead 32-16 at halftime.

"We wanted to come out try to establish our inside game, play at our pace, run when we could and play a really nice half-court game," remarked Hawaii Prep head coach Fred Wawner.

At times there seemed to be an imaginary lid on the rim for the Spartans who shot a paltry 29.7 percent from the field, while Hawaii Prep seemed to be able to score at will, notching a 51.2 shooting percentage from the field in the contest.

The high percent shooting was due in large part to the combination of 6-foot-7 forward Evaldas Vegertas and junior guard Justin "Juice" Gecas, who combined for 9-of-11 shooting.

Vegertas contributed nine points and seven rebounds, and Gecas added a team-high 16.

"It starts with getting it inside that takes pressure off our guards. We want to hammer it in there and be deliberate about it and David did a good job and Evaldas of finishing in there. That gives "Juice" and the other guards some space and with space they can make their shots," commented Wawner.

Seabury was able to stay in contest defensively by getting seven steals and six blocks but were unable to capitalize on any of their opportunities when they got the chance, and surrendering 10 steals to Hawaii Prep did not help the cause either.

"It was the first time we played somebody with some height like us and so our guys had to adjust a bit. They were taking shots that we wanted them to take but we weren't hitting them and we couldn't finish as strong to the basket as we normally would," commented Seabury Hall head coach Louis Turbeville about their first loss of the season.

With the 58-35 win, Hawaii Prep advanced to play in the Division II championship game for the first time ever.

"That's a huge opportunity for us. We're playing for the first time in our school history for the D II championship and Kalani's a game team. We'll look forward to it," said HPA's Justin Gecas a transfer from Lituania.

"Totally opposite we can't play their way and be successful. We have to be the best at HPA basketball and that means slowing it down and trying to hammer it inside. We'll try to stay in front of them," remarked Wawner about playing Kalani.