MAKIKI — Big Red is headed to the big game. 

Justus Daley came off the bench and scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help No. 3 Kahuku to a 42-38 win over No. 2 Saint Louis in the semifinals of the Hawaii Army National Guard/HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball State Championships at Punahou's Christopher B. Hemmeter Fieldhouse Thursday night. 

The Red Raiders (24-4), who are seeded second in the tournament, will be making their first appearance in the title game since 2018. It comes at the expense of the Crusaders (27-6), who were seeking a fifth consecutive finals appearance. 

Kahuku will play top-ranked Punahou — the defending championship and No. 1 seed — for the D1 state crown Friday at 7 p.m. at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. 

The Red Raiders used a staunch defensive effort to stymie the Crusaders, who were held to a season-low scoring output. The ILH runners-up entered the contest averaging nearly 60 points per game. 

"That's been our whole mantra the whole year is just defense," Kahuku coach Brandyn Akana said. 

As the game went on, Kahuku's defense got better. Saint Louis jumped out to a 5-0 lead and made three of their first attempts from the field. It shot 50 percent (7 of 14) on first-half field goals, but was just 5 of 21 over the final two quarters. 

"First half, they kind of scored at will, then once we buckled down (we) kind of held our ground and they had a tough time scoring. They had a bunch of fast breaks early on — that was a big issue — (but) second half they had no fast breaks; we locked them out. Those guys took bad shots and we were able to capitalize," Akana said. 

Daley, a sophomore guard, was the lone Kahuku player to score in double figures. Noah Feinga scored nine points with five rebounds, two blocks and a steal and DC Aukusitino added eight points. 

Aukusitino, like Daley, entered the game in a reserve role. The duo combined for 20 points in 43 minutes played between them. 

"Justus was just solid. We have guards that can do it, they just take the back seat with the other guys, but we told them that guys gotta step up — ‘If you're called upon, guys gotta deliver' — and that's a great example of somebody coming in and balling out," Akana said of Daley. 

Saint Louis led 12-11 after the first quarter and 20-16 at halftime. However, Kahuku jumped ahead in the third quarter, when it closed out the stanza on an 11-3 run. Aukusitino's 3-pointer about midway through the period put Kahuku ahead for good at 24-22. Daley capped the run with a deep 3-pointer from the left wing to stretch his team's lead to 31-25 entering the fourth quarter. 

Daley was instrumental in helping the Red Raiders overcome point guard Mystique Akina-Watson having to sit out nearly six minutes of the third quarter after he tweaked a right ankle injury. 

"Yeah, that's what I do," Daley stated. "I'm ready to come off the bench and I'll step up when one of our starters is injured."

The Crusaders got as close at 36-33 after a pair of free throws by Keanu Meacham with 1:49 to play, but the Red Raiders converted their final seven free-throw attempts; Daley made 5 of 5 during that stretch and Feinga's pair of free throws with 35.8 seconds left made it a 42-36 cushion. 

Meacham drove to the bucket and finished a layup to cut it to 42-38 with 11.2 seconds remaining, but Saint Louis was unable to get any closer. 

Aukusitino made two of Kahuku's five 3-pointers. 

"I think DC played well. Handled the ball, hit some shots. I tell him there's a reason why we put him in — ‘we trust you' — so go on and deliver and he did it. I mean, DC's been doing that all year," Akana said. 

Meacham finished with a game-high 18 points, but was 4-of-11 shooting from the field. He quickly tallied nine of his team's 12 points in the first quarter, but was held scoreless in the second quarter. He hit the Crusaders' lone made 3 in the third quarter, when they were outscored 15-5. Meacham was 9 for 9 on free throws. 

Zion Lefotu, who had 20 points in a first-round win over Nanakuli Tuesday and 21 in Wednesday's quarterfinal victory over Baldwin — both game-high marks — was held to 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. 

Akana said slowing down Meacham and Lefotu were points of emphasis. 

"Those are the two scorers, right? And that's the players they want to have the ball, so knowing that we kind of focused on those two guys and I think towards the end they started taking bad shots and I told our guys, ‘Hey, they're going to take bad shots and we just gotta rebound,' and we were able to do that," Akana said. 

Saint Louis' front court duo of Jordan Nunuha and Ricky Liilii were held to five and two points, respectively. 

"We did a good job on the post guys and we played together down the stretch and that was the important thing — and we were able to hit free throws," Akana said. 

Kahuku shot 11 of 14 from the free-throw line. Saint Louis was 13 of 16 from the stripe, but just 1 of 10 on 3-pointers. 

The Red Raiders had lost in their last two trips to the semifinal round, most recently to Saint Louis a year ago. 

"This means everything. We've been working for this for a while and we're just excited to get out there and play hard and give everything we got," Daley said. 

In the late semifinal at Hemmeter Fieldhouse Thursday night, Ethan Chung scored 19 points and Tanoa Scanlan recorded 12 points and nine rebounds to power No. 1 Punahou to a 56-50 win over No. 4 Kailua. 

The Buffanblu (27-8) extended their winning streak to 11 games to punch their ticket to a third straight title game. 

The OIA runner-up Surfriders (23-9) were seeking their first appearance in a state championship game since they won the Division II crown in 2009. The last time they made it to a championship game in the top tier of competition was in 1982. 

Punahou led by as many as 14 in the early parts of the second quarter, but the game was largely a back-and-forth affair that featured eight ties and 15 lead changes. 

The Buffanblu took the lead for good on a three-point play by Scanlan with 2:30 to play. On the play, Scanlan grabbed the rebound off his own miss and got the putback to go to tie it at 46. He was fouled in the process and went on to knock down the ensuing free throw to put his team ahead. 

"If you're crashing offensive rebounds, you're playing your (butt) off for each other. It's a spark and it builds momentum for the rest of the game," Scanlan said. 

Scanlan's three-point play sparked a 7-0 run to help Punahou find some separation late. 

Kailua cut it to a one-possession game after Dylan Kunz hit a 3-pointer from the right wind to make it 51-49, but Koen Makinano made a pair of free throws on Punahou's next possession to give his team some breathing room. 

The Buffanblu made 11 of 16 from the stripe in the final eight minutes. They were 17 of 27 on free throws for the game. 

Kailua shot 55 percent (11 of 20) from the field in the second and third quarters, but was held to 3-of-16 shooting in the fourth. 

"The last two games were won on the defensive end, for sure," said Punahou coach Darren Matsuda, whose squad was coming off of a tightly-contested 56-49 win over Mililani in Wednesday's quarterfinal round. 

"Our offense isn't flowing as well right now, but hats off to the defense. I mean, that's the grittiest that Kailua's played us at least and they were gritty today, they were physical. It's a win-or-go-home game so they brought it, they definitely brought it tonight," Matsuda added. 

The Surfriders found an offensive rhythm in the second quarter, when they went on a 14-0 run that included four 3-pointers, including back-to-back-to-back triples by Maddox Pung. 

"They got good players, they got playmakers. Maddox was hitting his shots and their role players were doing their roles, but we talked about it in the huddle throughout the game (to) just keep things positive," Scanlan said. 

Kailua held a slim 28-27 lead at halftime, during which Matsuda reminded his team to stay the course. 

"We know it's a marathon, not a sprint — every game's going to be like that — and basketball is a game of runs. We hit our run, they hit their run … You can't get on each other. You have to stay together. You don't want to beat yourselves, so I think that was important for us," Matsuda said. 

Scanlan picked up his fourth foul just 82 seconds into the fourth quarter. He eventually fouled out with 1:22 to play. Scanlan shot just 4 of 17 from the field and 3 of 7 on free throws, but he did manage to grab four of Punahou's eight offensive rebounds. He also tallied three assists and two blocks in 30 minutes of action. 

"I'm so thankful for the guys that stepped up next to me. Obviously, you can look at the stat sheet and I gotta step up tomorrow — I gotta play my better game — but (Kailua) came out and we punched them in the mouth early and they punched us right back and we knew that was going to happen," Scanlan said. 

Pung scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half. Joseph Bieniek led all players with 12 rebounds, to go along with four points. Sebastian Ledda scored eight points in just 10 minutes, but was hampered by foul trouble all night. He fouled out at the 5:08 mark of the fourth quarter. 

Matsuda praised the Surfriders' offensive prowess. 

"That's been them all year: they're never out of a game. I mean, I think out of the state they're probably one of the best, if not the best offensive power. They just have inside game, they have an outside game, they can shoot the heck out of the ball, so I mean, the big thing is trying to stay in the moment, even if you're up by 10, 20 or whatever, you just gotta stay in the moment. They did a better job than we did on that, we missed some assignments on that run and Maddox hit nine points on that run, that kind of definitely put them back in the game," Matsuda said. 

Chung scored 12 of his 19 after halftime. Makinano had 10 points and Dane Kellner chipped in five points, four rebounds and a steal. 

Scanlan is surely savoring the opportunity to play for a state championship after missing out on Punahou's run to its 12th state title a year ago due to a wrist injury. 

"I'm so grateful for this opportunity. This is a great group of guys around me. We play for each other and that's the beautiful thing to be at this stage," Scanlan expressed. 

It was the third meeting between the teams this season. Punahou posted a 72-70 win over the Surfriders in overtime on Dec. 13. Just six days later, the Buffanblu came away with a 72-58 victory over Kailua in an Iolani Classic consolation game. 

Kailua and Saint Louis will play for third place, Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Kamehameha's Kekuhaupio Gymnasium.