Maryknoll's Joshua Burnett slams home two points against Moanalua. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Moanalua's Aaron Stuart puts up a shot against Maryknoll. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Moanalua's Antoine Hines puts up a shot against Maryknoll. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Maryknoll's Kaleb Gilmore puts up a shot as Moanalua's Jamaal Willis defends. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Wed, Feb 19, 2014 @ Radford

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Moanalua

54

Maryknoll

59

Final	1	2	3	4
Moanalua (10-5, 17-12)	16	11	10	17	54
Maryknoll (10-3, 26-6)	12	12	16	19	59

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. Burnett 26 pts  2 3pm  2/2 FTs

A. Stuart 19 pts  1 3pm  4/4 FTs

B. Floyd 10 tot  4 off  6 def

A. Stuart 7 tot  5 off  2 def

K. Gilmore 2 ast

E. Badua 2 ast

ALIAMANU – After two back-to-back losses on their home court, the Maryknoll Spartans are back in the win column. 

Maryknoll, ranked No. 2 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, came away with 59-54 win over Moanalua in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball Championships at Radford’s Jim Alegre Gymnasium Wednesday night. The Spartans were coming off a two game losing streak prior to the contest.

“It meant a lot,” Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant said on the victory. “It’s one and done so we had to step it up. I thought we played well, intensity was high.”

Maryknoll was forced to play in the first round of the state tournament after following to Iolani in two straight nights. Had the Spartans won one of those two games against the Raiders, they would have earned the Interscholastic League of Honolulu’s seeded berth and first round bye in the state tournament. 

“This win was crucial. We had to get our heads straight,” said Maryknoll’s Kaleb Gilmore. “When we lost everyone was down; it wasn’t a fun period of time. To come out here and get this win feels good. We needed it.”

The Spartans move on to face third-seeded Baldwin, the Maui Interscholastic League champion, in the quarterfinals of the state tournament.

“Just one game at a time, I’m not going to complain about what our path is,” said Grant. “We play who we got to play, that’s just the way it is.”

The tandem of Josh Burnett and Gilmore led the Spartans to the win, combining for 51 of the Spartans’ total 59 points. Coach Grant was pleased with their performance.

“The one thing I like about the both of them, they were both unselfish and they thought about the team first. They made the extra pass,” said Grant. “Kaleb gave Josh some tremendous passes and Josh gave Kaleb some tremendous passes. If we play like that and we move the ball around, it’s very hard to stop us.” 

It took some time for the duo to get going however. Moanalua took a 16-12 first quarter lead thanks to a poor shooting start from the Spartans. Maryknoll was a dismal 5-for-14 shooting in the first quarter (35.7 percent), while Na Menehune were 6-for-11 (54.5 percent). 

Maryknoll was able to come on strong in the second quarter, even taking their first lead of the game at the 4:19 mark. However, Moanalua’s Antoine Hines scored the last four points of the first half to give Na Menehune a 27-24 lead at the break. The Spartans also didn’t do themselves any favors by committing 11 first half turnovers.

The Spartans bounced back in the third quarter with seven quick points from Josh Burnett. His layup to retake the lead forced Moanalua coach Byron Mello to call timeout at the 5:39 mark. Moanalua was able to tie the game on an Aaron Stuart runner, but had no answer defensively for a deep 3-pointer from Gilmore.

“We just had to make smart passes, smarter plays,” said Gilmore. “We ended up doing that in the second half; it just worked out for us.”

Gilmore’s deep triple helped the Spartans take a 40-37 lead into the fourth quarter. It also gave Maryknoll the lead for good, in a game that nine lead changes and six ties.

Moanalua was able to stay in the game thanks to some timely 3-pointers, but could never really sustain enough momentum to get over the hump. The clock eventually ran out and Maryknoll came away with a five-point win.

“We just needed to stick together more, play as a team,” said Gilmore. “We eneded up doing that in the second half. It just worked out for us.” 

Maryknoll also received a solid effort from senior forward Brandon Floyd, who finished with five points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

“Brandon has tremendous hops,” Grant said on Floyd. “If he’s in the right place and he has the right mindset, he can get a lot of offensive and defensive rebounds. People fall asleep on him because he’s only 6-feet tall – but he has la 40 something inch vertical leap.” 

Stuart led Moanalua in the loss, scoring 19 points with seven rebounds and four steals. Hines also chipped in with 18 points.

Tip off between Maryknoll and Baldwin will follow a 5:00 p.m. quarterfinal between second-seeded Farrington and Mililani, which beat Waiakea Wednesday, 70-62.

“We got to get ready for Baldwin tomorrow because Baldwin is an excellent team,” said Grant. “They’re very physical so we got to make sure we’re ready for them tomorrow. It’s going to be a dog fight tomorrow.”