No. 9 Leilehua explodes on Mililani, 57-37

Leilehua point guard Joseph Gouty elevates for a shot against Mililani. Gouty scored a game-high 18 points in the Mules' win. Steve Erler | SL

MILILANI – Joesph Gouty and Liam Fitzgerald combined for 30 points and No. 9 Leilehua ambushed host Mililani, 57-37, Thursday night.

The Mules remain unbeaten in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I West at 5-0, while the Trojans fell to 2-4.

Gouty led the way with 18 points, 11 coming in the second half. Fitzgerald added 12, splitting his total in each half for the Mules.

Kalakaua Timoteo led the Trojans with 15 points, all coming in the second half.

Leilehua's man-to-man defense smothered Mililani from the start. Micah Gambol's 3-pointer early in the game was the Trojans' only field goal until about two minutes left in the half when Isaac Liva scored on an assist from Timoteo. The Mules took a commanding 34-7 lead into halftime.

"We got a few shots early that got us our confidence," Leilehua first-year coach Russ Fitzgerald said. "That first part, I think we played a really, really good man-to-man defense and everybody was helping each other."

Indeed it was a team effort. It wasn't just the scoring for the Mules, but it was rebounding, too. Trey Boatwright (6 points) had five boards, including a tip-in. Nicholas Duran (4 points) and Koalii Kauhi (9 points) each had four rebounds and a steal.

"We've really grown into a team," Coach Fitzgerald said. "There's nights where Joe (Gouty) carries, Liam (Fitzgerald) carries, Nick (Duran) carries, Koa (Kauhi) carries. Our reserves have great nights when they are carrying, so people are going to box-and-one or triangle-and-two us, we're a lot more deeper than people think. It may not show up in the stats, but we've got a bunch of good kids."

Mililani opened the second half with a 9-0 run, but hardly inflicted any damage, as the Mules still owned a 34-16 lead. The Trojans outscored the Mules, 19-12, in the third quarter with 11 points coming from free throws. Still, the Mules owned a 46-26 lead entering the fourth period. The deficit was too much for the Trojans to overcome, as the Mules still won by that margin.

There was a sizeable contingent from Leilehua for the battle of central Oahu teams.

"We were a little nervous," Trojans' first-year coach Jason Tittle said. "The crowd was more than what they've been used to. They knew that this was a tough team to play and they could feel it."

Liam Fitzgerald set the defensive tone with two blocked shots. He displayed some versatility later in the game when he made a steal and scored on a dunk.

"They got a couple of blocks real early," Tittle said. "That kind of threw us out. The kids were – you could see it in their faces – ‘Wow.'"

The Trojans came out with a little more spring to start the second half, but it was too little too late.

"We calmed down a little bit," Tittle said. "We played a little better defensively, rotating a little bit better. We started hitting our spots, getting the pass where it needed to go. From there, we outscored them in the second half. They looked a bit more confident in the second half. It was over, so I guess they knew, ‘OK, all we gotta do is play,' and they went out and played."

The Trojans host Aiea and the Mules host Waialua on Saturday.

JV: Mililani 50, Leilehua 42

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].