Hanisch lifts Seabury Hall over Saint Francis, 40-37, in OT


Seabury Hall players celebrate after Cameron Hanisch knocked down the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to defeat Saint Francis in overtime. Steve Erler | SL

Cameron Hanisch sank the game-winning 3-pointer with no time remaining to lift Seabury Hall over top-seeded Saint Francis, 40-37 in overtime in the OC16/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division 2 Boys Basketball State Championships semifinals nightcap at Kaimuki.

"Coach said the next shot is the one that matters. Forget the last one, it's always the next shot," said Hanisch.

The Spartans end their state tournament frustrations to become the first Maui Interscholastic League team to make it to the Division 2 state championship game and will play University High at 5 pm at the Stan Sheriff Center. Lahainaluna was the last Maui team to make it back in 1982 when they had the single "A" tournament.

"It's still feels surreal and we came here many times and things never worked out, but there is some magic about this team and when they believe in each other and play well together. The sky's the limit for these guys and it's working in their favor," said Seabury coach Scott Prather.

Seabury Hall got the ball back with 1:32 left in the overtime period. They worked the ball around on offense until Isaiah Payne threw a skip pass to Hanisch in the right corner where he buried the 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.

"It was designed for Cameron. We call him Kid Clutch and he's been the guy that finishes our practices a lot of times with the last shot. That play was designed for him from the get go and we believed in him and he did his job," said Prather.

The message was simple and clear in the time out.

"Execute," said Hanisch, on the game-winning play. "We executed perfectly, we set the screens and I got an open shot and a great pass from Isaiah Payne."

It was a tale of two halves as the Spartans could not buy a basket, shooting 6 of 22 (27.3 percent) from the field. However, when the final buzzer sounded, they made one more shot than the Saints. They were 1-for-13 from the perimeter until the last shot.

"Slowly but surely, guys stepped up, made stops we needed, next thing you know we're hitting the last shot of the game," said Prather.

Saint Francis took a 11-9 lead going into the second quarter and hurt Seabury inside and out. Noah Kurosawa drained a pair of 3's and Supilani Mailei exerted his will in the paint. Mailei was relentless on the offensive glass as he followed his own shot four times and his putback gave the Saints a 10 point lead, 22-12 and went up, 25-14 at halftime.

"You have to stick with it and we were down at halftime. That's four possessions, four good stops and we have to chip away and can't get away with that in one possession," said Prather.

Mailei led the team with 17 points and 16 rebounds—14 were offensive. Kurosawa added 11 points.

Payne, who led the team with 15 points and 10 rebounds, showed off his speed as he went coast-to-coast for a layup to bring the Spartans within seven, 27-20 forcing the Saints to call timeout. Josh Acidera had a 3-point play to bring Seabury within three, 28-25. The Saints held a 30-25 lead going into the fourth.

It was a relatively clean game as both teams combined for 15 fouls.

Seabury converted two consecutive 3-point play opportunities. Saint Francis went up, 37-33 after Mailei's basket. But Payne made a layup and Hanisch hit a baseline jumper to tie the game at 37. The Saints called a full timeout with 35.7 seconds left and worked the clock all the way down for the last shot, but came up empty handed as the game headed into overtime.



Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].