Punahou digs deep to take down University Lab, secure state berth

Brien Ing | SL

For at least one night in the ILH, second place is where its at.

Punahou got 25 huge points from Zion White in a 53-50 win over University Lab, helping secure an automatic berth to the upcoming HHSAA Division I state tournament by clinching a runner-up finish in the ILH Division I regular season.

"It's huge," said White of the win. "Win or lose in the ILH championship game, we're state bound, so that's what kept us pushing on."

The most relieved guy in the building to see the result go in favor of the Buffanblu might have been Tanoa Scanlan, who sat out a second straight contest due to an apparent hand injury that occurred in the game against Kamehameha back on Feb 3.

"Every guy just stepped up and did their thing, they came with confidence in themselves and each other and I think that's what helped us get going today," said Scanlan of the win.

The point production by White, by the way, was a career best, improving on previous his 24 point outing just five days previous against this same Jr. Bows' squad, and put on display once again what he brings to the table as scorer. He was particularly lethal in the fourth quarter, where he attacked the basket with speed and precision, scoring 10 of the final 16 points in the process.

"When he's playing with energy, I think he's really unstoppable," said Scanlan of White. "So him staying positive and having confidence in himself and scoring the basketball, it's a game changer for us and i'm excited for what the future holds for him."

With White shouldering the offensive load and then some, it was a team effort tackling the void left with Scanlan on the bench, particularly in rebounding and defending the frontlne of University Lab.

"We knew we had to make up what Tanoa brings to the table every single game so our coach told us to stay humble, stay to ourselves, control what we can control," said White. "It's not just one player that makes the team. It's the whole team, so we used our strengths to make up for that."

That said, White was quick to point out the role that reserve Nahua Lloyd played.

"Nahua stepped us huge for us today guarding (Koa) LaBoy so I could guard Trey (Ambrozich)," said White. "(Nahua) is a solid player that just hasn't been able to see time, and (today) he stepped up and he just did his job."

"I play with Koa a lot, so I kind of know how he plays," said Lloyd of his assignment.

LaBoy had eight points to hover right around his season average, but Ambrozich was held to just five points in the contest, equalling his lowest output on Jan 7 against Saint Louis.

The Buffanblu led 25-18 at the half, but saw the Jr. Bows rally late in the fourth down by as many as seven, eventually tying the score at 48-all on a mid-range jumper by Trey Ambrozich.

That would be as close as University Lab would get down the stretch, as Punahou made the free throws it needed to down the stretch to push the lead out to 53-48 with less than 10 seconds of game clock, where a meaningless layup at the buzzer made the final margin 53-50.

Alika Ahu led the Jr. Bows with 18.