Maryknoll's Joshua Burnett soars for a dunk attempt against Kamehameha. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Kamehameha's Jaycob Smith puts up a shot attempt against Maryknoll. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Kamehameha's Fatu Sua-Godinet drives to the basket against Maryknoll. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Maryknoll's Kaleb Gilmore dribbles down court as Kamehameha's Noa Kinimaka defends. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Wed, Feb 12, 2014 @ Maryknoll

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Kamehameha

41

Maryknoll

59

Final	1	2	3	4
Kamehameha (6-6, 18-10)	11	6	10	14	41
Maryknoll (10-3, 26-6)	7	16	15	21	59

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. Burnett 19 pts  7/7 FTs

N. Kinimaka 12 pts  2 3pm  4/4 FTs

K. Gilmore 8 tot  4 off  4 def

A. Freitas 5 tot  3 off  2 def

S. Ogata 4 ast

F. Sua-Godinet 4 ast

MAKIKI – It may have took them a whole quarter to get out of first gear, but once they did, Maryknoll was firing on all cylinders the rest of the way.

Led by a pair of 19-point scorers, the Maryknoll Spartans bounced back from a turnover plagued first quarter to blitz Kamehameha, 59-41, in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I Boys Basketball Single Elimination semifinals at the Clarence T. C. Ching Gymnasium Wednesday night. The Spartans will advance to the single elimination tournament finale against Iolani, who defeated Punahou 53-37, in the other semifinal game. 

“It’s a big win,” said Maryknoll’s Josh Burnett, who finished with 19 points alongside Kaleb Gilmore.

Maryknoll, ranked No. 1 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, was the ILH regular season champ coming into the single elimination tournament. This feat ensured the Spartans of one of the two ILH berth into the 12-team Division I state tournament. All that’s left to be determined is who will be the league’s overall champion.

“We knew we was going to be in the (ILH) championship game automatically, but we didn’t want to take any chances,” explained Burnett. “We just ran our game plan and it worked.”

It was a tale of two halves for the Spartans’ tandem of Gilmore and Burnett. Gilmore pitched in 14 of his 19 points in the first half while Burnett poured in 15 of his 19 points after halftime. They also combined for 15 total rebounds.

“(Kaleb) knows that the (other) teams can’t double team the both of us. Whoever they’re double-teaming, the opposite guy knows he has to step up; that’s what Kaleb did,” said Burnett. “Second half (Kamehameha) pretty much evened out on us and I was able to help my team as well.”

The game started off to a slow start as each team methodically worked their half court offense to generate good shots. Turnovers also plagued the Spartans, who committed seven of their 11 total turnovers in the opening period. This allowed the Warriors to go on a 7-0 run, breaking a 4-all deadlock. Kayson Smith-Bejgrowicz’s breakaway dunk capped the run, forcing Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant to call timeout to talk things over.

“They came out pretty aggressive. We didn’t react well in the beginning of the game,” said Burnett. “After our coach called a timeout we settled down and were able to do what we’re supposed to do.”

A Gilmore 3-pointer off of a pick and pop helped trim the Warrior lead, making the score 11-7 after the first period of play.

Things got a little heated in the second quarter when Gilmore and Kamehameha’s Noa Kinimaka each got called for a technical foul. Kinimaka made both of the ensuing free throws while Gilmore split a pair at the line, making the score 15-9 with 6:02 to go in the first half. This got the crowd riled up, which coincidentally kick started the Maryknoll offense up to speed. 

After the two technical fouls were issued, Maryknoll went on a 14-2 run to close out the first half. The Spartans held a 23-17 lead heading into the locker rooms. 

“Even when you’re doing good things, you can only stop them from doing what they do for so long,” said Kamehameha coach Greg Tacon. “We struggled to score after we played really well in the first quarter and we fell behind.”

The Warriors could never really recover from Maryknoll’s second quarter surge as Maryknoll outscored Kamehameha in each and every quarter the rest of the way.

“That’s not the type of team that you chase. It’s really hard to chase a team like that because they have good finishers and they’re going to take advantage of your own mistakes,” said Tacon.

Maryknoll also received strong performances from Sean Ogata and Kamakana Winquist, who finished with nine and eight points respectively. Ogata also did a little bit of everything, dealing four assists and picking up four steals. 

“We had a lot of people step up and make big shots; Sean made a couple of threes, Tyson (Kaloa) made big shots, everybody was rebounding, playing (and) defense,” said Burnett. “Everybody did their job tonight; that’s why we was able to get a pretty good win.”

Maryknoll will play Iolani at home Friday, in the single elimination tournament championship game. If Maryknoll wins that game, they will become the overall ILH champion and will receive the league’s seeded berth and first round bye in the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball Championships. If Iolani wins instead, they will force a playoff game the following day to determine who will be the overall ILH champion. An extensive breakdown of the ILH’s postseason scenarios can be found here.

The Warriors finished their season with an 18-10 record (6-6 in league play), under Tacon’s first year at the helm. Despite not making it into the state tournament, Tacon remained positive.

“I thought it was a terrific season, we had a great year. We had some really big wins over some really good teams,” said Tacon. “It’s unfortunate that only two teams in our league (can) go (into states).

“We have a really competitive league top to bottom and only two get to go. We are in a situation that only two are going to go. We want our best two teams to go and represent us and obviously the (team) we played tonight is one of our two best.”

Kinimaka led the way for the Warriors, scoring a team-high 12 points with two 3-pointers. Senior post Alakai’i Freitas also chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds.