Saint Francis' Supilani Mailei puts up a shot against Hawaii Baptist Tuesday night. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Tue, Jan 17, 2017 @

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Hawaii Baptist

60

Saint Francis

76

Final	1	2	3	4
Hawaii Baptist (5-7, 13-13)	16	24	9	11	60
Saint Francis (10-0, 26-4)	22	15	11	28	76

S. Mailei 24 pts  2/3 FTs

M. Mitchell 23 pts  2 3pm  9/13 FTs

Saint Francis used a dominant fourth quarter to cruise past Hawaii Baptist, 76-60, in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II game at Saint Francis' gymnasium Tuesday night.

Reigning ILH Division II Player Of The Year, Supilani Mailei, scored 24 points and was effective on the offensive glass to help the Saints (5-0) remain undefeated in league play.

Hawaii Baptist (3-2) lost its second consecutive game without starting point guard Ty Minatoya and played without backup Adam Kikuta as well.

Despite being down by 10 points midway through the second quarter, the Eagles used a Kellen Takatsuka 3-pointer to spark a 17-4 scoring stretch, including a 12-0 run, to hold the lead 40-37 at halftime.

"We just shared the ball, made better decisions, took care of the basketball, that's really all it was," said Hawaii Baptist coach, George Weeks.

With the void at the point guard position, Micah Mitchell stepped up and was the primary ball handler for the Eagles, scoring 23 points. 

The game slowed down in the third quarter however, as Saint Francis used third and fourth shot opportunities to stop the Eagles' momentum and get easy buckets. 

The teams exchanged blows as Manoa Kualii-Moe scored a layup in transition to give the Saints a three-point lead. However, Mitchell drew a foul on the next Hawaii Baptist possession, going one for two at the line before Takatsuka sank his fifth 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 49-48 lead going into the final period. 

Hawaii Baptist's lead was short lived as Saint Francis came out aggressive to start the fourth quarter.

Mailei began a Saint Francis 10-0 run with two scores off of offensive rebounds in two consecutive possessions.

Bryce Nishida used the swing in momentum to beat his man and score on a layup before immediately stealing the ball and scoring again. Saint Francis forced 13 steals in the contest.

On the next Saint Francis possession Micah Kalei sank a midrange jumper making it a nine-point game with 4:01 remaining.

Saint Francis Coach Ron Durant shared the message he gave to his guys going into the fourth quarter. 

"We just told them they had to play smart on defense and stop fouling and be more aggressive. I think we weren't as aggressive early on, and then we started to push the ball and we got a lot of transition baskets in the fourth quarter," said Durant.

Max Wiemken was able to stop the bleeding with a layup, scoring the first Hawaii Baptist points of the quarter with 3:45 remaining.

The Eagles brought themselves within six after a Mitchell 3-pointer with two minutes remaining, but a quick 8-2 run, including back-to-back scores by Mailei, sealed the deal as the Saints were able to hold on to the lead with good free throw shooting down the stretch. 

Saint Francis outscored Hawaii Baptist 28-11 in the fourth quarter where Mailei contributed nine of his 24.   

Durant acknowledged the significance of having an unbeaten record and what it's going to take to keep it that way.

"Every game is a game, we know people are going to play their best when we're playing them so, it's like we have a target on our backs. So we've just got to be ready to play and we didn't come ready to play in the first half," said Durant. 

Weeks showed his appreciation for his player's effort playing under tough circumstances. 

"I'd like to give a lot of credit to my kids, they faced, just internally, a very adverse situation and I think that they really responded and played really well for having the lack of personnel that we normally have in certain spots. I'm super proud of their effort," said Weeks.

Kameron Ng added 15 points and Micah Kalei tallied 12 as well as six steals for Saint Francis.

Takatsuka poured in 15 points and Wiemken added 14 for Hawaii Baptist.