ULS' Kenna Quitan (0) led the Jr. Bows with 15 points and goes up for a layup past HBA's Colton Wong (21). Brandon Ching

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Thu, Feb 1, 2024 @ Hawaii Baptist

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University Lab

50

Hawaii Baptist

31

Final	1	2	3	4
University Lab (12-1, 24-5)	16	19	4	11	50
Hawaii Baptist (6-10, 14-17)	10	6	5	10	31

E. Shibuya 10 pts  2/2 FTs

K. Quitan 15 pts  3 3pm  0/0 FTs

NUUANU—University Laboratory School got rolling and pulled away in the second quarter to soar past Hawaii Baptist Academy, 50-31, at Dan Liu Gymnasium Thursday.

The Jr. Bows win their 11th consecutive game and with two games remaining, locked up the ILH Division II title and a seeded state berth. ULS will take on Hanalani (3-8) on Saturday and Le Jardin (5-5) on Feb. 9 to close out the regular season.

Last season it was HBA (4-7) that beat ULS twice but the visiting Jr. Bows reversed the roles to dampen the Eagles' Senior Night.

"It feels good. Last year we lost to these guys twice and Damien. It felt good to beat them both times. We clinched the state tournament berth," Kenna Quitan said.

"The experience last year definitely helped and we're just ready to get it on," Koa Laboy said of the late season push.

Quitan led ULS with 15 points and connected on three 3-pointers and Laboy and Alika Ahu added 12 apiece. Leading scorer Trey Ambrozich (13.9 PPG) scored three points and played the first half while recovering from an ailment.

ULS held HBA's Eli Shibuya, the league's leading scorer (22.5 PPG) to a season-low 10 points. He scored 18 points in a 56-39 loss one week ago.

"Definitely tried to get him going with different looks. Base on the first game, he had 17 of our 18 first half points in the last game. We knew they were going to key on him and we were trying to get him his looks but making sure everyone else was ready to shoot the ball when they had the opportunities," HBA coach Kellen Kaneshiro said.

"At practice, we game planned for these guys on Shibuya and Shigetani. Just being aware of where they are on the court at all times," Quitan said.

Shibuya scored 31 then followed up with a career-high 35 against Le Jardin this season and increased his scoring average each season since his sophomore year.

"He's been our guy since his 10th grade year. We pulled him up into our starting lineup and he performed. Obviously he was Player of the Year last year, and coming into this year a lot of attention was going to be on him. He was up for the challenge. He's meant so much to this program, he's been our guy since 10th grade. Just to see where he's at now since then, it shows a lot of how hard he works and what he puts in the off season," Kaneshiro said of Shibuya.

Preston Gonzalez was the next leading scorer with eight and Colton Wong added six points of two 3s for the Eagles.

The Jr. Bows made it tough for the Eagles to drive and funneled them to 6-7 Ambrozich, 6-4 Laboy, and 6-4 Ahu in the interior.

"Their defense, it's their length, athleticism gave us a lot of problems. Sitting in the zone, even the driving lanes weren't very big. They good job recognizing where Eli was and it was tough for him to get to his spots, their defense was very tough," Kaneshiro said.

Quitan unleashed a 3 to beat the shot clock for a 5-3 lead before Preston Gonzalez answered from the left block. Ambrozich split a pair of free throws and Todd McKinney converted an assist from Ahu to make it, 8-5. Colton Wong tied the game with a triple from the top, but ULS pulled away with an 8-0 run.

"When we have guys inside who can score and guys outside, it's hard to defend. When you double on the inside, we have shooters out. It's good to have an all-around game," Laboy said.

Ahu accounted for the next four points, Laboy hit a turnaround and Ambrozich added a shot for a 16-8 lead. Gonzalez hit a shot from the right block before the buzzer to trail, 16-10 going into the second.

Quitan opened the quarter with a 3-pointer and banked in a jumper to force an HBA timeout. Gonzalez scored off a basket interference and Shibuya drove it in for his first points to trail, 21-14.

Laboy scored from the inside and Aaron Hamada kicked it out to Quitan, who drained his third 3-pointer to put the Jr. Bows up 12. Shibuya hit a baseline jumper but Laboy cleaned up his own miss and Quitan hit a floater. Ahu launched and hit a 3-pointer from deep to complete a 19-point quarter to go up, 35-16 at halftime.

"The game plan was to get it inside. We trust these guys to pound it inside, but when they start double teaming, they have trust in us and kick it out and it gets me open, I shoot it. Good passes by them," Quitan said of his first half 3s.

Both teams cooled off the scoring in the third quarter as Mathew Shigetani hit a 3-pointer at the 6:32 mark. Ahu scored in the paint from Laboy's dump off and Laboy put the Jr. Bows up 20 with a shot from the right block. Shibuya beat the shot clock with a jumper to trail, 39-21 going into the final period.

The Jr. Bows maintained a 21-point lead throughout the fourth and emptied their bench to let the reserves play with over a minute to go.

HBA goes to Damien (8-3) on Saturday at 1 p.m. to wrap up its regular season. With seeding to be determined, the Eagles will play in the first round of the Division 2/3 integrated tournament on Monday, Feb. 12.

"We knew a couple games ago, this is the route we're headed. Our focus was to make sure we're playing the right way headed into the tournament and take it from there," Kaneshiro said.

ULS is exempted from the single-elimination tournament and will start state tournament play on Thursday, Feb. 22 at a site to be determined.