Saint Louis holds off Kalaheo, 63-60 for title

Saint Louis' Jaymason Nunuha had a game-high 19 pts in a win over Kalaheo to win the Pete Smith Classic title. Steve Erler | Special to SL

KAILUA—Tristan Nichols' two free throws with 13.6 seconds left made the difference as Saint Louis held off host Kalaheo, 63-60 to capture the 2015 Pete Smith Classic title at Kalaheo High School on Saturday evening.

"This game I really had to worked on it all yesterday, after the game I stayed late at the gym working on it. I had a really bad performance and I knew today it would be a close one and free throws would be the difference," said the 6-foot-8 Nichols, who went 12 of 16 from the line.

The Crusaders shot 29 of 40 (72.5 percent) from the free throw line, while the Mustangs shot 14 of 20 (70 percent).

"We had to," said Kalaheo coach Rob Pardini, on fouling Nichols. "He had a layup so we either give him that or put him on the line. He did a great job and credit to the big man for hitting those free throws."

Following the free throws, Kalaheo called a full timeout. The Mustangs worked the ball around and Captain Whitlock had a good look from the top of the arc, but it did not fall as the Crusaders held on.

"I'm proud of them. We battled and we were down, we did not take care of the ball like we do in the first half. We have to look at the end and we thought Captain's shot was going in and it was a good look," said Pardini.

"We were sloppy with the ball and we need to make better passes and decisions. We missed layups throughout the course of the game and it's correctable," said Saint Louis coach Allan Silva.

Nichols led the team with 20 points and eight rebounds.Jaymason Nunuha added 19 points and hit three 3's.

"We worked as a team and talked about it in timeouts and we executed together," said Nunuha. "We stayed under control and kept pushing through."

"Tristan is a good big man for us and he can move. He's a football player, but I love him as a basketball player. He's very good inside and taking good shots and powering up," said Silva, on Nichols.

Whitlock scored 18 points, including three 3's and dished out five assists. Kekai Smith, shook off a leg injury midway in the second quarter to score 17 points and had five steals.

The Mustangs trailed 49-39 heading into the fourth quarter, but managed to chip away. Kalaheo got within two, 54-52 after Kekai Smith hit a 3-pointer from the left wing. Nunuha's converted the 3-point play to put Saint Louis up five.

"The thing is playing them last year in the state tournament when I was at Maui High, they were a scrappy team and won't give up on anything. Even though they are undersized, they play very well," said Nichols.

Kalaheo cut it the deficit to one after Andrew Kearney's basket and Whitlock hit two free throws to give the Mustangs the lead, 59-58 with under two minutes remaining. Zach Choo made a free throw after Kalaheo was called for a lane violation to tie it at 59.

Whitlock made 1 of 2 free throws to put the Mustangs back up, but Nichols converted the give-and-go from Isaac Slade Matautia to put Saint Louis back up, 61-60 with 28.2 seconds remaining. Kalaheo outscored Saint Louis, 21-14 in the quarter.

Despite taking a 17-16 lead after the first quarter, the Crusaders outscored Kalaheo, 17-8 to take a 33-25 lead at halftime.

"Coach Silva was calling timeouts to tell us we had to put pressure on every shot they took. Defense is an emphasis and that's what we had to do today," said Nichols.

Winning the Pete Smith Classic was a special moment for coach Silva.

"It's a special tournament and Pete was a good friend of mine and he was like an older brother to me. He took me down to the park to teach me how to play this game. He was an amazing player and person."

Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].