Chance Kalaugher scored a team-high 23 points to help lead the Cougars to a win over the Spartans. Steve Erler | SL

Purchase image 1 of 1

Mon, Dec 28, 2015 @ Punahou

---

Maryknoll

53

Kaiser

67

Final	1	2	3	4
Maryknoll (3-8, 20-10)	11	10	16	16	53
Kaiser (12-2, 28-7)	21	10	18	18	67

C. Kalaugher 23 pts  2 3pm  1/4 FTs

H. Kamata 16 pts  2 3pm  4/14 FTs

MAKIKI — Chance Kalaugher scored 23 points and Kaleb Edison and Keoua Mahiko added 11 points apiece to lead Kaiser to a 67-53 win over Maryknoll in a quarterfinal-round game of the 44th Punahou Basketball Invitational at Hemmeter Fieldhouse Monday night.

The third-ranked Cougars (12-2) trailed only in the opening minutes before using a 19-3 run en route to their third straight win in the preseason.

The seventh-ranked Spartans (15-2) had a six-game win streak snapped.

Kalaugher, a 6-foot-5 senior forward, hit a pair of first-half 3-pointers and had 15 points by halftime. Edison came off the bench and scored all of his points in the second half, including three 3-pointers, while Mahiko had six points by the end of the first quarter.

Maryknoll scored on its first four possessions. Andreas Jankovic and Hayato Kamata had back-to-back putbacks to give the Spartans an early 8-2 lead.

However, Kalaugher answered with consecutive buckets to ignite an 8-0 run that was capped by a Kamu Scheer jumper to tie it that gave his team a 10-8 lead.

Jaylen Cain hit a 3-pointer from the left wing two possessions later to put Maryknoll back ahead, 11-10.

The Spartans held the lead for about 20 seconds, or until Scheer drained a 12-foot jumper that was the start of a 12-0 Kaiser run to close out the first quarter. Jalen Pinks banked one in from behind the arc just before the buzzer that stretched the Cougars' lead to 21-11.

"We stress to our guys all the time about staying solid and just continuing to grind all game, trying to get stops and get good looks at the basket and sometimes when you're hitting shots things go your way and I think that's what happened," Kaiser coach Branden Kawazoe said. "We got a couple stops, hit a couple shots and the next thing you know we're on a big run.

Maryknoll opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run to pull within 21-16, but Kaiser extended it back to a 31-21 lead at halftime.

The Cougars held a 49-37 advantage after three quarters and took its largest lead of the game at 55-39 on a layup by Ethan Hollandsworth early in the fourth quarter.

The Spartans got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.

Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant said Kaiser's early run put his team in a hole it could not dig itself out of.

"It was really tough to recover from that," Grant said. "When we started the game we started with two bigs and three guards and it seems like everybody is playing four guards so we've got to get ready for that. If our zone is not working and we cannot get the ball around to our big guys under the basket we're going to have to switch over to four guards also."

The Spartans were without senior guard Michael Mercado-Smith (hip). They got to the free-throw line 36 times, but made just 15 attempts and gave up numerous offensive rebounds and second-chance points to the smaller Cougars.

"The first thing I told our guys outside was, ‘We're considered a big team and Kaiser outrebounded us,' so my team has to come ready to battle and we cannot let anybody push us underneath the basket,"Grant said. "If guys are going to come and push you and the referee is not going to be calling fouls and is going to let you play, then you've got to respond and you've got to defend; you cannot let guys push you underneath the basket."

Kaiser recorded 13 offensive rebounds, much to the liking of Kawazoe.

"That's our emphasis every day is to finish possessions with rebounds because if we can win the possession battle then we give ourselves a better chance to be successful because we'll be getting more shots on the other end, so our goal is to get rebounds and don't turn the ball over," Kawazoe said. "I think we did a pretty good job tonight."

Kamata finished with 16 points, Brian Washington added 14 and Cain 10 for the Spartans. They will play Wuhan No. 2 (China) in a 3:30 p.m. consolation game Tuesday.

Kaiser will play top-ranked Iolani in a 6:30 p.m. semifinal.

MONDAY'S OTHER QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
-IOLANI 55, WUHAN NO. 2 (CHINA) 38: Bailey Alabanza and Justin Genovia scored 11 points apiece to help the Raiders advance in the 16-team tournament. Yixin Li and Dongxiao Li had 10 points each in a losing effort.
-KAMEHAMEHA 66, MOANALUA 38: Kaeler Kahana hit four 3-pointers en route to a game-high 19 points for the Warriors, who also got 11 points from Kobe Young and 10 from Jayden Zarriello in the win. Caleb Casinas led Na Menehune with 12 points.
-PUNAHOU 57, EL SEGUNDO (CALIF.) 40: Kaulana Makaula scored 11 points to lead the Buffanblu in Tuesday's semifinals. Chase Ali-Watkins led El Segundo with 11 points.