Moanalua's Justin Hudcovic puts up a shot as Farrington's Jacob McEnroe defends. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Moanalua's Kahanu Pu'ulei Auld puts up a floater over the defense of Farrington's Mason Semisi. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Farrington's Marco Cudia puts up a shot between a pair of Moanalua defenders. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Moanalua's Antoine Hines goes up for a shot attempt as Farrington's David Luafatasago tries for the block. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Moanalua's Ola Brown puts up a shot in the paint over Farrington's Mark Duldulao. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Sat, Jan 26, 2013 @ Farrington

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Moanalua

52

Farrington

44

Final	1	2	3	4
Moanalua (12-2, 20-10)	19	12	13	8	52
Farrington (8-3, 15-14)	8	15	10	11	44

J. McEnroe 13 pts  3/5 FTs

O. Brown 13 pts  5/7 FTs

KALIHI - Ola Brown scored 13 points to lead three players in double figures and Moanalua held on for a 52-44 win over host Farrington in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Red East Conference boys basketball game Saturday night.

A crowd of about 300 at the Governors' Richard Kitamura Fieldhouse saw Na Menehune lead throughout to improve to 14-7 overall and 7-1 in league play. With the win, Moanalua moved into sole possession of second place in the Red East.

"It's great to play a team that is physical and has some really good athletes on it and to play well enough (to win)," Na Menehune coach Greg Tacon said. "To be in second place at this point means we just have to take care of business and that bye is really important because one win (in the playoffs) and we're in states, so that part of it is big."

Moanalua has games against Kalani, Kahuku and Castle to close out the regular season. The top six from both the East and West divisions qualify for the 12-team OIA Red Tournament. The top six finishers earn a berth in next month's state tournament.

Na Menehune also got 12 points from Eliet Donley and 10 from Kahanu Puulei-Auld to win their sixth straight game.

Farrington coach Allen Silva was forced to call two early timeouts after Moanalua jumped out to a 9-2 lead, which the Govs never recovered from.

"Our guys were not picking up their man defensively and they were leaving their man, so we made an adjustment in the second quarter and the rest of the game was pretty even, but our free throws ... we've got to hit our free throws," Silva lamented.

The Govs were just 7 of 20 from the free-throw line while Na Menehune made 19 of 26 from the line, including an 8-for-8 effort by Donley.

"Something that was very evident was our free throws, we missed  lot of free throws," Silva said. "We just have to get better there."

Moanalua closed out the first quarter on a 8-0 run to lead 19-8 to start the second. However, Farrington pulled to within eight points at halftime and trailed 31-23.

Tyler Liana's 3-pointer halfway through the third quarter cut Na Menehune's lead to 35-32. However, Moanalua used a 9-1 run to close out the third quarter and took a 44-33 lead into the fourth.

"That end of the third quarter was big when Aaron Stuart came in and made those two quick buckets and that brought us back to a nine-point lead and even though (the Govs) played their best quarter, we extended (the lead) a little bit and the rest of the way we ran some really good offensive sets and got some easy ones," Tacon said.

Brown had 12 points by halftime and made 5 of 7 from the free-throw line.

Jacob McEnroe scored 13 points to lead Farrington, which fell to 9-10 overall and third place in the Red East at 6-2.