KAKAAKO — The Aiea boys basketball team wrote its own ending this time around. 

Noah Park scored 17 points and Shealand Kazama recorded a double-double to lead Aiea to a 54-43 win over Kaiser in the title game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II boys basketball tournament Wednesday night. 

Na Alii (8-4) never trailed the Cougars (8-4) en route to their third league title and first since 2008. 

Park scored 11 of his points after halftime and Kazama tallied 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go with 14 rebounds, three assists and three steals to pace Aiea, the top seed out of the Western Division. 

"It feels great. We know we made history and we wanted it since day one and we got it," said Kazama, a 6-foot-3 senior swingman. 

Na Alii held a 21-17 lead at halftime, but the Cougars had momentum on their side going into the break with a quarter-closing 8-0 run. However, memories — or perhaps, nightmares — of last year's title game collapse spurred Kazama and company to seize back control. 

A year ago, in the very same game, Aiea saw a 20-point lead early in the second half eventually evaporate at the hands of Kaimuki in a five-point loss to the Bulldogs for the 2024 OIA D2 title. There would be no reoccurrence this time around. 

Na Alii outscored the Cougars by a 21-10 margin in the third quarter. They shot 50 percent (9 of 18) from the field in the stanza and Kazama tallied eight points in the eight-minute stretch. 

"Last year we were up 20 and they came back so we knew we couldn't let that happen again," Kazama said. "That extra motivation definitely made us play harder and want it more."

Whereas last year against the Bulldogs, when things went awry in the final two quarters, Aiea coach Robert Godinez credited his players for staying locked in after the break. 

"Well, at halftime it was, ‘Hey, we've been in this position before where we kind of have a mental lapse or a collapse,' but to close the season we've been having some really good third quarters and second halves, so I think we were still confident and it kind of showed, we kept our energy up," Godinez said. 

Four of Aiea's five starters played all 32 minutes. Only Taylor Moku was spelled for three minutes by reserve Jeremiah Hill. 

"We didn't rotate too much at the end of the season so these boys, they're in great condition but we know we're gonna need a full squad heading into states next week," Godinez said. 

Na Alii opened the game on an 8-0 run that was spurred by a Hiki Kim Choy Keb Ah Lo runner. However, the Cougars came back with a 7-2 run that was ignited by a straightaway Emmanuel Tiritas 3-pointer.

Aiea held a 12-7 lead after the first quarter and opened the second with a 9-2 run that was capped by a Hill layup in transition to take a 21-9 with 3:34 left in the first half. 

Kaiser closed out the second quarter on an 8-0 run. Tiritas hit an off-balance shot from the left elbow with 21 seconds left to pull his team within 21-17 at the intermission. 

Na Alii scored on five straight possessions early in the third quarter, capped by a 10-foot jumper by Kazama to stretch it to a 34-20 advantage. 

Kazama made five of his six shots from the field in the second half and also grabbed 10 rebounds after halftime. 

"Shealand's been our most efficient player," Godinez said. "He's been shooting a high percentage, he does take good shots and he's very versatile — he can go inside, outside — there's times where if his first couple of shots don't fall he might lack some confidence, but he's got all his teammates and coaches behind him just telling him to keep playing, keep shooting and he just responds well."

Na Alii grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and finished plus-seven in total rebounding margin. Santi Sarbeland pulled down 10 boards, including four on the offensive glass, to go along with five points, two blocks and a steal. 

"Our coach definitely emphasized the rebounding and we got it done," Kazama stated. 

Aiea led 42-28 after three quarters and took its largest lead at the 2:39 mark of the fourth quarter after Park drove for a layup to make the score 51-33. 

Kim Choy Keb Ah Lo finished with 10 points, five rebounds, six steals, one assist and a block. Moku tallied five points, six rebounds and two assists, but Godinez pointed out his work on the defensive end of the floor that played a integral role in the holding Kaiser to 34 percent shooting. 

"He's been our defensive stopper all year and he's been that energy guy in practices. There's times in practice we gotta tell him, ‘Take it easy, hey, this is our own teammates here,' but it was really infectious and the rest of the players feed off of that energy and it really showed and he really starts our defense and keeps it going," said Godinez, who has been at the helm of the program since 2019; prior to that he was the JV coach for nine years. 

"I've been coaching for a while and just to see this and bring it back to Aiea, it's just so cool — it's special," Godinez said. 

Emmanuel Tiritas and Norris Birdsong each scored 11 points to lead Kaiser, the top seed out of the East. Tiritas also had 11 rebounds. Connor Sasaki contributed seven points and three steals and Billy Dunbar chipped in nine rebounds, four points and three blocks in the loss. 

Both teams will represent the OIA in next week's HHSAA State Championships.