Kalaheo's Kalani Green puts up a jumper against Foothill. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Foothill's Chris Echols looks to put up a shot between a pair of Kalaheo defenders. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Thu, Dec 27, 2012 @ Manoa Gym

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Kalaheo

37

Foothill

67

Final	1	2	3	4
Kalaheo (14-0, 28-4)	11	5	10	11	37
Foothill	11	19	19	18	67

C. Echols 16 pts  4/7 FTs

K. Zuttermeister 8 pts  2 3pm  2/6 FTs

Foothill (Henderson, NV) advanced to the Merv Lopes Invitational semifinals with a 67-37 win over Kalaheo at Manoa Gym.

The Falcons out-rebounded the Mustangs by a margin of 23 to cruise to a 67-37 win. Foothill gathered 48 total team rebounds with 22 of those rebounds coming on the offensive side of the glass. Kalaheo would finish the game with 25 total rebounds.

"We work on trying to block out and get in position and get a lot of rebounds so tonight it kind of worked in our favor," said Foothill Head Coach Kevin Soares. "We teach our kids to be active; to not just stand around and watch when shots go up."

Kalaheo was without leading scorer Josh Ko, who will miss the entire Lopes tournament with vertigo. Kalei Zuttermeister and Shem Sukumaran led the scoring for the Mustangs with 8 points each in the loss.

The first quarter started with a 3-point flurry as both teams were trigger-happy from downtown. Each team hit three treys in the opening quarter. Foothill jumped out to an early 11-6 lead but Kalaheo closed the quarter strong with Kalani Green getting the steal and easy lay in to close the quarter and tie it up at 11 apiece.

Kalaheo scored the first points of the 2nd quarter with Anthony Rowan's hook shot from the low block before Foothill went on a 6-0 run. Zuttermeister would hit a trey off of the inbounds pass to cut the deficit to one but the Falcons went on a 13-0 run to close the half. Foothill dominated the 2nd quarter scoring 19 to Kalaheo's 5.

"We got motivated," said Soares on the dominating 2nd quarter. "We started playing a little bit harder and executing; we got some shots and size instead all three-point shots."

At the end of the first half Foothill led Kalaheo, 30-16, a deficit the Mustangs would not overcome.

Held quiet in the first half, starting Falcon center Chris Echols scored all of his 16 points in the 2nd half to lead all scorers.

"I gotta come out ready to go next game," said Echols. "That wasn't a first half that should be remembered."

Echols was a big reason for Foothill dominating the boards as several of his points came off offensive rebounds.

"That's on my coaches really," insisted Echols. "They stay on me so I gotta go out there and perform. If I'm not rebounding on every play they're on me and that's how it's supposed to be."

Despite Echols' big performance, Derick Morgan kept the scoreboard respectable for the Mustangs as he scored all of his 7 points in the 3rd quarter. Morgan had one of the most impressive plays of the night as he hit a jumper fading away towards the baseline.

Things got scary for the Falcons as starting guard Brannon Cresanto went down near the 5:23 mark of the 3rd quarter. Cresanto had to be carried off the court and left the game in crutches. Before the injury, Cresanto scored 10 points nailing three treys in the process.

Falcons led the Mustangs 49-26 after three quarters of play.

Ian Ellis would help preserve the Falcon's lead scoring all of his 10 points off the bench in the 4th quarter. Kalaheo would fall to Foothill by the final score of 67-37.

"After the first quarter we just didn't play the type of defense that we need to against a team like that," said Kalaheo Head Coach Alika Smith. "Our kids fought but at the end of the day the better team won and we gotta go back to the drawing board. The bottom line is (I try to teach my kids) we need to get better each and every game no matter who we're playing."

Foothill will face Thousand Oaks, a 63-47 winner over Punahou, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.