Iolani's Hugh Hogland and Robbie Mann defend a shot attempt by Mid-Pacific's Daniel Florenco. Sylvia Lee | SL

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01171640_BBKB-MPI_IOL-5473.jpg - Sylvia Lee | SL

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No. 5 Iolani held off No. 3 Mid-Pacific, 30-27 in a low scoring affair at Iolani's Lower Gym on Saturday night. The Raiders improve to 3-1 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu standings, while the Owls (2-2) drop their second consecutive game in three days.

"It was an ugly game and a grind, but that's how the ILH is and anytime you can get one by 3 or 20, we'll take it," said Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto.

MPI got the ball with 33.7 seconds left and worked the ball around in their half court set. Daniel Florenco had two 3-point attempts near the top of the arc, but both shots hit back iron. Hugh Hogland grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 0.8 seconds left. Hogland missed the free throw and Zion Shepherd's full court throw was no good.

"We wanted to get our shooters some looks and we were strong on the offensive glass so we were going to get one or two opportunities. We had two or three looks at the end, but unfortunately we came up short," said MPI coach Ryan Hirata.

Hogland scored a team-high 10 points, he scored six of them in the fourth quarter. He also added three blocks and altered some MPI shots. 

"When he's working hard, we want to get it to him. He's a tough guard and a mismatch problem for everyone in the state," said Shimamoto.

"You have to credit Iolani, Hugh affects a lot of shot opportunities against us. We got used to it in the second half, but you can't mimic it in practice," said Hirata. 

Iolani went 2 of 8 free throw line— Hogland went 2 of 7. MPI went 2 of 4.

MPI took a 6-5 lead after the first quarter, however Iolani went on a 10-2 run in the second quarter to go up 15-8 prompting coach Hirata to call a full timeout.

"We hope it wouldn't," said Shimamoto, on the low scoring. "If we could get on track on offense, so those easy buckets were good, but we came out poorly in the third."

The Raiders led 18-12 halftime.

Robby Mann scored all four of Iolani's third quarter points. MPI rallied to cut the deficit to two, after two consecutive 3-point plays, from Daise and Shepherd, but they could not convert the free throws as they trailed, 22-20 heading into the fourth. Shepherd scored 10 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

"We gave ourselves opportunities, but we have to convert those opportunities when you get them. You have to credit Iolani, they made shots the down the stretch," said Hirata.

Daise managed to tie the game at 24 in the fourth quarter, but Hogland's basket in the post gave the Raiders a 26-24 lead. Jacen Kimura hit a 3-pointer in the right corner to put MPI up, 27-26. It was the first lead for the Owls since the first quarter.

"They don't beat themselves and they make you beat them. That's the type of grind it out style we're used to playing and they adopted it as well. It's tough to play against," said Shimamoto.

Hogland's turn around near the left block put Iolani back up, 28-27 and Mann added another basket to put the Raiders up by three.

MPI will host Iolani on Feb. 2 in the second round of the ILH regular season.