HHSAA Boys Basketball
Kalaheo outduels Punahou in OT, 55-48, to reach D1 title game


  



Fri, Feb 22, 2013 @ Blaisdell


F/OT 1 2 3 4 OT  
Punahou (8-4, 22-8) 15 998748
Kalaheo (14-0, 28-4) 8 15 14 41455
D. Morgan 18 pts  6/12 FTs
K. Fey 13 pts  3/4 FTs
K. Fey 17 tot
S. Tucker 2 ast
D. Andrews 2 ast

For the second time in as many years, Kalaheo will be playing for an HHSAA Boys Basketball title.

The second-seeded and defending Division II champ Mustangs dethroned the reigning Division I titlist Buffanblu in the semifinals of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball Championships, using a 9-1 scoring run to open the overtime period to come away with a 55-48 win.

With Kalaheo up 41-38 with just over 6 seconds to play, Punahou pushed the ball up court quickly, finding Jordan Tanuvasa for a deep three-pointer from the left wing with just over a second left in regulation, the only shot Punahou would make in the fourth quarter. That bucket tied the score at 41-all, giving the Buffanblu new life and seemingly a momentum swing heading into the overtime period.

But Harrison and the Mustangs had other plans in mind.

Harrison, who ended the evening with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals, opened up the account for the Stangs in the overtime period with a bang, draining a three-pointer from the right wing just 33 seconds into the OT to give Kalaheo a 44-41 cushion, a lead they would not relinquish.

"We're just trying to just run clock and just get good shots," said Harrison. "And Josh (Ko) just got it in the middle and he kicked it out to me and I just really wanted to make it cause I missed the free throw in regulation that would have sealed the deal so I wanted to make up for it."

Punahou led at the end of the first quarter, powered by forward Kupono Fey's 6 points and reserve Justin Kam's 5, amd capped off by a three-pointer just before the buzzer by Jordan Tanuvasa to make the score 15-7.

As if on cue, Kalaheo swung the momentum their way in the second, going on a 15-9 spurt to bring the Stangs to within a point at the intermission. Derick Morgan was a major factor in the Kalaheo comeback in the second, scoring eight of his game-high 18 points in the period.

The Mustangs picked up where they left off in the third, outscoring the Buffanblu by a 14-9 margin in the quarter, highlighted by a huge three knocked home in the closing moments by Silila Tucker to push the margin to 37-33.

Shem Sukumaran, who was saddled for much of the game with foul trouble, was the spark plug for Kalaheo in the early stages of the second half, nailing a deep three-pointer at the 5:10 mark that seemed to energize both his teammates and the Stang fans.

"He (Shem) is one of those silent hero kind of guys." said Kalaheo head coach Alika Smith. "He goes out there and does what needs to be done. That kid has come such a long way and he was a huge part of this victory."

"I just wanted to pick up slack, just try to do all the dirty work like grab boards, get our guys open shots." said Sukumaran, who scored all nine of his points after the intermission.

Both teams found the scoring tough in the fourth, but Punahou slowly chipped away at the line, hitting 5-of-6 attempts in the quarter to put them in position to tie.

The Mustangs certainly helped make things interesting down the stretch in regulation, missing on at least two front-ends of 1-and-1s that could have sealed the win.

Two baskets were made out of 16 attempts (1-of-4 for Kalaheo and 1-of-12 for Punahou) for both teams from the field, the biggest of the two coming off the hands of Tanuvasa right before the horn.

"We set up all the plays and get all the shots and just couldn't hit (them), and then the one thing we don't set up he nails it." remarked Punahou head coach Darren Matsuda.

In the overtime, Kalaheo found its groove early on the Harrison three, then added a jumper from the right corner by Ko to extend the margin to 5, before free throws by Sukumaran and Morgan ballooned the scoring run to 9-1.

"They dug deep and they fought and scratched and clawed against a great team and we were fortunate to come out on top." said Smith.

Despite being down by as many as 8 points in the overtime, the Buffanblu refused to go out without a fight, and managed to trim the margin to just four on a Justin Kam three-pointer with just over 30 seconds to play.

"I thought we executed really well, we played really hard," said Matsuda. "We played great defense, our baskets just didn't fall for us unfortunately."

Down the stretch in the overtime period, the Mustangs did what they needed at the stripe, hitting 7-of-9 free throws to preserve the victory for the OIA Red champs.

Kupono Fey played a monster game for Punahou, grabbing a game-high 17 boards to go along with 13 points, 2 steals, 2 assists and 3 emphatic blocks.

Kalaheo will face Maryknoll, a 45-32 winner over Konawaena, in Saturday's Championship game. A win will be significant for either school. The Mustangs will become the first school to ever capture a Division I title the year after winning the Division II crown, while the Spartans are gunning for their first state boys basketball crown since 1984.

"Since the first day of practice, its been our main goal." said Harrison of making it to the title game. "Its something we've been wanting to do. That's what we've worked for, this next game."

Ko echoed the same sentiment. "This year we wanted to prove that we can play with anybody, and hopefully we come out firing tomorrow."



Reach Brien Ing at [email protected].




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