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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveJanuary 3, 2024, 10:18pm
Wed, Jan 3, 2024 @ Mililani
MILILANI — LeCedric Brown scored all of his game-high 12 points after halftime and Timothy Dorn added 10 to help No. 5 Mililani fend off visiting Nanakuli for a 47-42 win in overtime Wednesday night.
The Trojans (3-0) rallied from a six-point deficit late in the third quarter to turn back the Golden Hawks (2-2) and remain unbeaten atop the Oahu Interscholastic Association's Division I West standings.
Mililani, which entered the game averaging more than 63 points per game, struggled shooting the ball and trailed for much of the night. However, it buckled down defensively down the stretch — holding Nanakuli to only nine points after the third quarter — and capitalized at the free-throw line, where it converted 14 of 19.
Conversely, Nanakuli was just 5 of 13 on free throws.
Brown, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, made 3 of his 8 field goals, but drained 6 of 7 from the charity stripe. He tallied eight points between the fourth quarter and the overtime period.
"I thought LeCedric did a good job getting into the key with his quickness and just finishing a bit more and challenging more, because (Nanakuli is) scrappy," Mililani coach Garrett Gabriel said. "They got shooters, they got (Zion Donnell) to penetrate and he kicks it out and guys get wide open shots, so it's hard to help and recover — we gotta do a quicker job with that — so that was challenging for us."
Not only did Brown pace the offense late in the game, he also defended Donnelll — Nanakuli's leading scorer at 18.5 points per game entering the contest — for most of the night. Donnell, was held to a regular-season low of seven points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field.
"(Brown's) always done a good job defensively. We just tell him to keep whoever it is that he's guarding below their average and offensively, especially late in the game, we'll get him the ball so he can utilize his quickness," Gabriel said.
Nanakuli's 33-27 lead after a 17-foot jumper by Caleb Paakaula with 1:47 left in the third quarter tied its largest lead of the game. However, Mililani cut into the deficit shortly thereafter with a 3-pointer from the right win by Davyn Joseph that banked in.
The Golden Hawks held a 33-30 cushion after three quarters, but Brown tied it on the Trojans' first possession of the fourth quarter. He drove left to the bucket and was able to finish the lay-in and draw the foul; Brown hit the ensuing free throw to convert the three-point play and even the score.
"That helped," Gabriel said of the sequence. "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, but I think we needed it at that time and he just found a way to get it in. It's definitely not what we drew up, but sometimes those things gotta happen in order for us to get through some of the tough spurts."
Mililani briefly took a 35-33 lead after a bucket by Dorn, but Nanakuli pulled back ahead on its next trip down the court with a 3-pointer by Blaze Kaululaau from the right corner.
The Golden Hawks held a 40-37 lead with about three minutes to play, but Brown spun into the lane to make another layup, then got to the line one possession later, where he hit one of two free throws to tie it at 40 with 1:25 remaining.
Both teams had a chance to pull ahead in the final minute, but Donnell's shot did not fall, nor did Lauvai Pine's for Mililani in the closing second of regulation to send it into overtime.
Mililani struck first in the extra period with a bucket in the lane by Roman Gabriel, but Kaululaau came back with a tough runner in the lane to tie it at 42. It was all Mililani from there, however.
After his initial shot attempt was blocked, Pine got the ball from Brown on the ensuing inbounds play and scored on a tough bucket inside to give his team the lead for good.
Kaululaau drew a foul in the act of shooting on the other end, but missed all three free throws. The Golden Hawks missed their next three shots from the field and committed a loose-ball foul that send Pine to the line with 33.6 seconds left. Pine made the first free throw and missed the second to make it a 45-42 Mililani lead, but the Trojans got a couple of stops on the defensive end before Brown came down with a timely rebound with 8.3 seconds on the clock.
"I thought we played well," Nanakuli coach Nathaniel Donnell said. "We fought hard, executed the game plan what we wanted to do, especially as far the individual matchups and what we wanted to limit them doing. Some big, big missed free throws down the stretch, I think it has to do with our lack of experience being in big games, but this is good for us, hopefully we can continue to get better and prepare for the postgame and if we see this team again or play in this type of environment again, hopefully we can execute better."
Brown was fouled after he grabbed the rebound and went to the line, where he made both shots to make it a two-possession game and seal the win.
"I think the only thing we did well was finish at the end and find a way to win, but I told my team that sometimes you're always gonna get tested here and there, but sometimes you gonna find ways to grind it out and win the tough ones because Nanakuli has been good since last year, they're up and coming so I told their coach that he's done a great job with that team and they're solid," Gabriel said.
Mililani shot 35.5 percent from the field (16 of 45), but largely altered its shot selection after halftime. After it was 1 of 8 from beyond after the arc in the first 16 minutes, Mililani went 2 of 4 on 3-pointers the rest of the way.
"We told them that we needed to go inside. Nanakuli was playing tough, they were doing a good job and I think that was the hardest part for me to accept is they were a little tougher than us in the post in the first half and then we found our way in the second half," Gabriel said.
Pine finished with nine points, Roman Gabriel had seven and Ezekiel Virtudes five.
Nanakuli shot 31.4 percent (16 of 51) from the field and 26.3 percent (5 of 19) from distance.
Kaululaau scored nine points, Dragon Kekahuna and Paakaula had eight apiece, Zion Donnell seven and Ezekiel Donnell chipped in six points in the loss.
The Golden Hawks averaged more than 64 points per game through their first three OIA West games. They were coming off of a 60-53 loss to No. 10 Leilehua Saturday.
Nanakuli will look to rebound Friday, when it hosts Kapolei (0-3).
Mililani will visit Aiea (2-2) Friday.
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