Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Fri, Dec 2, 2016 @ Radford

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Honokaa

37

Leilehua

34

Final	1	2	3	4
Honokaa (11-3, 23-12)	5	9	13	10	37
Leilehua (10-3, 15-11)	6	6	9	13	34

L. Fitzgerald 16 pts  4/5 FTs

K. Spencer-Herring 9 pts  3/4 FTs

ALIAMANU — Pretty, it was not. But gritty, it certainly was.

Kamuela Spencer-Herring scored nine points and Micah Lorenzo and Gene Ansagay added eight points apiece to help Honokaa to a 37-34 win over Leilehua on the third day of the 18th annual James Alegre Invitational Friday night.

The Dragons rallied from a first-quarter deficit and held off a large charge by the Mules, who were led by Liam Fitzgerald's game-high 16 points.

Honokaa, which finished fourth in the Division II state tournament last season, played all 15 players Friday.

"Right now I'm trying to find a rotation. I'm carrying like a football team with me, so I'm trying to get everybody in there and get their time," Dragons fourth-year coach Jayme Carvalho said. "I'm just happy that guys stepped up in the moment and they didn't take the easy way out."

Honokaa took its largest lead of the game at 27-14 on a basket by Fernando Poncho off the Kea Callihan assist with 3:31 left in the third quarter. However, Fitzgerald had a layup on the other end to start a 12-0 Leilehua run that was capped by a steal and breakaway layup by Genesis Ofoia that cut the Dragons' lead to 28-26 early in the fourth quarter.

Lorenzo hit a 3-pointer on Honokaa's next possession, but Fitzgerald put back his own miss to keep Leilehua within a bucket. Kevin Falk answered for the Dragons with a 3-pointer on the other end — his only points of the night.

Leilehua cut it to 35-34 on Kalei Kauhi's bucket with 12 seconds left, but Ansagay hit both ends of a one-and-one to stretch it to a three-point lead for Honokaa. The Mules had a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer on their final possession, but committed a turnover and the clock ran out.

"We thought we were going to get the shot we wanted, but we have younger guys and Honokaa make their free throws down the stretch," Mules coach Russ Fitzgerald said.

Honokaa held a 14-12 lead at halftime.

Ball-handling issues plagued Leilehua throughout the game. It committed 27 turnovers for the contest.

"You kind of expect that because we're such a young team," Fitzgerald said. "Half of our players are brand new and before (Thursday) night, they haven't played in either a junior varsity or a varsity game, so it's going to be a while until they get that trust and understanding of how the ball moves."

Liam Fitzgerald, the coach's son, is the lone returning starter for the Mules.

"It's tough because he is the one guy on our team that has a lot of experience and we're not playing him to showcase him by any means," Russ Fitzgerald said. "I'm a school teacher and you don't just teach three or four — you want to bring up the whole class. Liam is kind of that stick on a tree that lets other guys grow for a while, but eventually they have to stop leaning on the stick and they have to go and grow on their own."

Carvalho was pleased with his team's defensive effort against the Mules.

"I know our offenses struggled, but in the preseason offenses are going to struggle," said Carvalho, whose team turned it over 26 times in a 43-32 loss to Kalaheo Thursday. "One thing that nobody can take from you is the effort and we had a lot of effort tonight recovering and rebounding."

Both teams return to the court Saturday in the Alegre Invitational. Honokaa will play Farrington at 2 p.m. and Leilehua takes on Hayward (Calif.) at 5 p.m.