No. 8 Mililani dominates Radford in battle of unbeatens

Mililani's Trey Lieb puts up a 3-point attempt in the second half as two Radford defenders converge. Michael Lasquero | SL

MAKALAPA — The Mililani boys basketball team made a statement Friday night

Senior Trey Lieb poured in 23 points with five made 3-pointers as the eighth-ranked Trojans overpowered host Radford, 74-32, at James Alegre Gymnasium in a matchup that featured two unbeaten teams heading into the contest.

Mililani outscored the Rams in every quarter to improve to 7-0 in league play as it took sole possession of first place in the OIA Division-I West standings. Radford dropped to 5-1 and pulled into a three-way tie for second place with Kapolei and Leilehua.

"We just knew we needed to come out strong because this was two undefeated teams coming out of the west," said Lieb, who added three assists and four steals. "This was a big game for us, a statement game for us."

Lieb did most of his scoring in the opening period, scoring 11 of his game-high 23 points. His first triple of the night tied the game at 7-7 while his second trey of the game gave the Trojans the lead for good, 12-10. He added another 3-pointer just before the end of the quarter to make it a 20-12 game heading into the second quarter.

"When he gets in that kind of a roll, he's pretty successful," Mililani coach Garrett Gabriel said of Lieb. "He's a senior, been there with us. We depend on him for a lot of stuff. Definitely the best player in the West and arguably the OIA."

But Lieb wasn't the only one that got it going from distance. Lecedric Brown and Jayden Kipapa each had two 3-pointers off the bench. Reserve Creighton Ofsonka also had a triple while finishing with a game-high seven rebounds. In addition, all the starters and the first five players off the bench got into the scoring column.

"I thought our ball movement was the best all season," said Gabriel.

"As long as everybody gets the ball, everybody is going to start feeling it," added Lieb.

The Trojans rode the momentum of the hot streak offensively while also pestering the Rams with their press defense. Mililani's lead continued to balloon in the second quarter as Radford was unable to get a basket until there was 2:40 remaining in the first half. The result was a 44-19 lead at the half for the Trojans.

Mililani was able to cruise the rest of the way and called off its press in the fourth quarter. The Trojans also emptied their bench with under four minutes to play as the Rams were held to their lowest scoring output of the season.

Tyler Grover led Radford in the loss with 10 points and three assists.

Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].