SALT LAKE — There was little to slow down Trey Ambrozich Wednesday night. 

Ambrozich, a junior forward, scored a career-high 28 points and finished one rebound shy of a double-double to power third-ranked University Lab to a 51-45 win over No. 4 Kailua in the quarterfinals of the HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball State Championships. 

A crowd of about 800 fans at Moanalua High School saw the Jr. ‘Bows (21-9) punch their ticket to Thursday's semifinal round, where they will face ILH foe and second-ranked Punahou in a 5 p.m. game at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium. 

The OIA champion Surfriders (24-5), who were seeded second in the 12-team tournament, were dealt their first loss since the preseason. They will face third-seeded Baldwin in a consolation semifinal Thursday, 6:30 p.m. at Moanalua. 

Ambrozich shot 10 of 18 from the field and a perfect 7 for 7 at the free throw line. He accounted for all of UH Lab's 15 fourth-quarter points. 

"We wanted him to be aggressive and he took that to heart and I think that he wanted to come out and play in the paint and he hit some perimeter shots as well, some midrange stuff and again, when he gets going like that he's unguardable almost, so we're fortunate," Jr. ‘Bows coach Ryan Tong said of Ambrozich. 

Although UH Lab led for most of the contest, Kailua twice took a brief lead late in the third quarter. 

Skyler Unten hit a 15-foot jumper with 2:26 left in the stanza to give the Surfriders a 33-32 lead, their first advantage since the opening minutes of the game . It was short-lived, however, as Ambrozich answered with a 17-foot jumper on the other end of the floor about 24 seconds later to nudge the Jr. ‘Bows back ahead. 

Kailua reclaimed the lead about a minute later on a Sebastian Ledda bucket off an assist from Nainoa Hirasuna-Kenny. This one didn't last very long either, as Koa Laboy muscled his way into the post and banked in a shot from the right block just seconds before the end of the third quarter. 

Ambrozich converted a turnaround jumper 55 seconds into the fourth quarter to make it a 38-35 lead for his team, but Joseph Bienek once again cut it to a one-point game with his basket that was assisted by Tyler Parker. 

UH Lab found some separation with a three-point play by Ambrozich at the 5:24 mark. He stretched it to a five-point cushion a few minutes after with his putback that made the score 47-42. 

Not long after that, Ambrozich came up one of his three blocks on the night to keep it a two-possession game. He followed that up with a pair of free throws with 43.9 seconds to play to give the Jr. ‘Bows their largest lead of the second half at 49-42. 

Kailua pulled to within four following an Unten 3-pointer from the right wing with nine seconds to play, but Ambrozich sealed the deal with two more free throws with 5.9 seconds left. 

Relative to its last six games — all of them decided by a single possession — Wednesday night's victory came with some breathing room. 

"We've been in so many battles this season, our coaches said it before the game that out of all these teams we feel that we're the most battle tested," Ambrozich said. 

UH Lab was coming off of a 42-41 win over Kamehameha-Maui in Monday's opening round of the tournament, which required a buzzer-beating layup by Koa Laboy. 

In their final ILH game to decide the league's final state tournament berth, it was Alika Ahu who drained a circus shot with 0.5 seconds to play to lift the Jr. ‘Bows to a 51-49 win over Kamehameha. 

"You know what, I think the games, especially the last three (proved that) we're battle tested and it prepared us," Tong said. 

He went on, "These guys, they don't get rattled too easily. They keep their composure so even if we were down one or if it was tied or whatever, they continue to battle and I'm just so proud and happy. I'm commend them for the effort tonight on both sides of the ball."

While his team shot 45.5 percent from the field, it held Kailua to 36.7 percent shooting and its standout guard Maddox Pung scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting. 

Ambrozich and Tong credited the work of Todd McKinney, who was tasked with guarding Pung all night. 

"He had a great defensive game. (He) was a pest on the ball, a pest off the ball," Ambrozich said. 

Tong felt that the matchup favored his squad and McKinney proved that to be the case. When the teams faced off early in the preseason back on Nov. 19, Pung poured in 25 points and led the Surfriders to a 56-41 win over the Jr. ‘Bows. In an OIA semifinal win over Moanalua just nine days prior to Wednesday, Pung recorded a career-best 30-point night. 

"I was actually surprised that they didn't post up Todd McKinney, but I think our game plan worked to perfection," Tong assessed. 

Kailua led early on, 5-4, but saw UH Lab close out the first quarter on a 12-0 run that was spurred by an Ambrozich 3-pointer. 

The Jr. ‘Bows held a 27-21 lead at halftime. 

Ahu scored nine of his 11 points in the first half and Laboy tallied six points with a game-high 13 rebounds. 

Hirasuna-Kelly made three of his team's eight 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 15 points. Unten recorded 10 points with five assists, Dylan Kunz chipped in nine points off the bench and Bienek contributed seven points for the Surfriders, who were seeking their first semifinal appearance since 2019. 

"I want to say that's a great, great team. We lost to them twice last season and then also this preseason and so we knew it would be a tough one and so the game plan was just to pound it inside and I think we did a hell of a job of that," said Ambrozich, one of four Jr. ‘Bows to play all 32 minutes. 

UH Lab will be making its first appearance in the semifinal round of the top-tier state tournament since it won back-to-back state crowns in 1987 and 1988. Tong was a player for the Jr. ‘Bows the last time they won a championship 37 years ago. 

"There's a little bit of a sentimental factor, but we're not thinking of anything but just one game at a time and next up is Punahou and taking care of business," Tong said. 

Punahou earned a return trip to the semifinals with a 67-53 win over third-seeded Kamehameha-Hawaii in the early quarterfinal at Moanalua Wednesday. 

Four players scored in double figures for the Buffanblu (26-8), who never trailed the Warriors (20-4). 

Ethan Chung and Houston Hosoda combined for seven of Punahou's eight made 3-pointers and scored 18 and 12 points, respectively. Zion White tallied a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds and Tate Takamiya added 11 points in the win. 

The Buffanblu came out guns blazing. They scored on 12 of their first 14 possessions and opened the game on a 19-7 run, but saw the Warriors return fire with a 17-6 run to pull within 31-27 on Kawohi Huihui's putback with 1:43 left in the second quarter. 

However, Houston Hosoda hit a straightaway 3-pointer to help spur a 7-0 Punahou to close out the first half. 

The Buffanblu held a 38-27 lead at the break. 

"We came out playing like we want to play," Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said. 

Matsuda praised the work of both Huihui and Kiai Yasso, the Warriors' leading scorers on the year. 

"We had a little foul trouble, we had to back off a little bit and Huihui took advantage of it. He attacked us pretty hard and that's what he does. I mean, we knew he would do that and those guys are never out," said Matsuda, whose team posted a 65-52 win over Kamehameha-Hawaii in early December. 

"It was the same kind of thing that happened. They always fight, that team always fights. They play with a lot of heart, Yasso and Huihui, especially — those guys are fighters — so it's always a game of runs; no lead is safe, especially against them and so we were kind of expecting that it would be a game throughout no matter what the score (was)," Matsuda added. 

The Warriors chipped away at the Buffanblu lead in the third quarter and pulled to within 50-45 after a 10-foot jumper by Bubba Ching. However, the Buffanblu responded with a 12-5 run that was capped by a Hosoda 3-pointer from the left wing that stretched it back to a 62-50 advantage. 

"They put up a huge fight, honestly," said White, who scored seven of his points in the fourth quarter alone. "(Yasso), this is his last year, last game, so he just gave it all he got. Huihui, great player, phenomenal player, so those two, they just gave it all they got."

Yasso shot 9 of 10 from the free throw line and finished with a team-high 18 points, while Huihui scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. 

The Warriors shot 33.3 percent from the field, while Buffanblu converted their field goals at a 54.8 percent clip. 

Punahou played its fifth consecutive game without Tanoa Scanlan, who is out for the remainder of the season with a hand injury. 

"It's kind of next man up. It's a team game so different guys had to step up and try to make up that gap and we did and we didn't shoot the ball incredibly well, but that's kind of uncharacteristic for us, but hopefully the law of averages will work out for the next game," Matsuda said. 

The Buffanblu will be making their 35th appearance all-time in the state semifinal round. They reached the title game a year ago, but lost to Saint Louis by a score of 48-39. 

Kamehameha-Hawaii was trying to reach the semis for the first time since 2012 and just the fourth time overall. Its only appearance in a state final came in 2008, when it lost to Punahou, 41-38.