Seabury goes wire-to-wire to claim school's first basketball state title

Greg Yamamoto | SL

This time last year, Seabury Hall could only watch from the sidelines as Kohala raised the koa trophy in Blaisdell Center.

Friday night in the Stan, the Spartans did the celebrating themselves.

Seabury Hall led from the tip off to the final buzzer, downing Hawaii Prep 49-33 to win the school's first ever basketball state title in the Division II finale of the HHSAA State Boys Basketball Championships.

Like clockwork, 6-foot-5 swingman Bromo Dorn led the Spartans in scoring, with an effortless 20 points on 43% shooting and 2 for 4 from three.

But when you play Seabury Hall, you know Dorn—a 25.5 point per game scorer—is going to light up the statsheet. Perhaps equally as vital has been junior guard Sebastian Peterson's phenomenal postseason run that's made them impossible to beat in the state tournament.

"I've known him my whole life; he's an amazing player to play with. One of the best guards and forwards that I've ever played with. I hope he goes out and plays college and does well in college too, and I hope he gets into the bigger leagues," Peterson said when asked about his teammate.

After all, the junior guard jumped from averaging 13.8 ppg prior to the HHSAA tournament to averaging a stunning 26 ppg across the two tournament contests coming into the championship; in the biggest matchup of the season, he didn't let off the gas, going 5 for 5 from the field in the first half to match Dorn with 10 points and entrench Seabury in the driver's seat with a 25-13 lead.

"We just played our own game. It's normal for us. We played this is nothing, just a regular game for us," Peterson said on the mindset behind his hot start.

On the defensive end, Seabury clamped down on Hawaii Prep's twin towers of 6-foot-7 Vander Eberhard and 6-foot-3 Cam Root with a dense 3-2 zone out of the gate. It was a decision from head coach Scott Prather that proved masterful as the Ka Makani struggled early, scoring only three points in the first quarter.

The final 24 minutes of the game proved to be just as difficult, as Hawaii Prep went a combined 2 for 13 from three. Seabury Hall held Eberhard to just 11 points (five below his average) and zero offensive rebounds.

"Hawaii Prep has a strong lineup with bigs that work in the post; we saw that in the regular season. We went to zone and just worked in the post, because we know that [while] they're strong shooters too, they are stronger inside," Peterson added.

Without much help from beyond the arc and Peterson and Dorn adding a combined 17 points more in the second half, the early Seabury lead remained double digits for the large part of the game, and as Peterson knocked down free throw after free throw in the fourth, the Spartans marched their way to the first boys basketball state title in school history.

"This is a huge win for us, a huge win in Seabury history, the first win for us and the second in Maui history too. We've worked hard all season; it took us a long time, but we're here, we won, and that's all," Peterson said on the big moment.

HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships

Division II Alls-Tournament Team
(as selected by the media and HHSAA)
Layden Kauka, Kohala
Sebastian Peterson, Seabury Hall
Vander Eberhard, Hawaii Prep
Shealand Kazama, Aiea
Jayden Hook, Kohala
Most Outstanding Player: Bromo Dorn, Seabury Hall