Kalani's Cory Mitchell drives to the basket against Kaiser. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kaiser's Melvin Kahunanui Jr. drives the basket against Kalani. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kalani's Brandon Roberts led the Falcons with 17 points in a win over Kaiser. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Sat, Feb 1, 2014 @ Kaiser

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Kalani

51

Kaiser

49

Final	1	2	3	4
Kalani (5-6, 12-16)	14	17	7	13	51
Kaiser (5-6, 16-12)	11	7	10	21	49

C. Kalaugher 13 pts  3/8 FTs

B. Roberts 17 pts  1 3pm  9/12 FTs

Just like last year's thrilling game between Kaiser and Kalani, it came down to free throws.

With first place on the line in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association White East, Kalani withstood a late Kaiser rally to steal a victory on Kaiser's Senior Night at Kaiser High School gymnasium on Saturday night. Kalani improves to 5-6 and claims the number one seed and first-round bye for next week's postseason tournament while Kaiser falls to 5-6 and will be the second seed for next week's tournament. 

"I think in the first half we were able to do things we like to do. In the second half, Kaiser's a good team and Branden (Kawazoe) is a good coach he made some adjustments in match ups and we weren't able to take advantage of those match ups and Kaiser was also playing on their senior night at home and they rose to the occasion and did a good job doing that," said Kalani coach Nathan Davis. 

"They're resilient, I'm not sure if that was there in the beginning of the season and the guys have bought in and they're continuing to buy in and understand that the game is a grind and just because it's not going your way at one point, doesn't mean you're out and they did a fabulous job of being resilient and kept fighting," said Kaiser coach Branden Kawazoe. 

With the game tied at 49, Kalani's Cory Mitchell grabbed the rebound and put it back after Brandon Roberts' missed 3-point attempt from the right wing to put the Falcons up, 51-49. 

"I was just crashing the boards and I got it and put it up, it was all-or-nothing and luckily it bounced in," said Mitchell, who scored 14 points. 

"Most of the guys playing out there were playing are sophomores and juniors and it's a great experience for them to be in this kind of environment and to close out a game on the road and even on a senior night against a rival is awesome for them," said Davis on his young squad. 

Kaiser's Nic Tom had an open look from the left corner for a 3-pointer, but it went over the rim and Melvin Kahunanui grabbed the rebound and was fouled with one second remaining. He missed the first free throw and then missed the second attempt. His second attempt did not hit the rim and Kalani was able to inbound it and run off the time. 

"It's fantastic for us. Over the course of the season where we've played in eight games that were decided by four points or less and we've been in in these kinds of situations and failed a bunch of times and was good to come out on the winning end," said Davis. 

"We're always in that situation at the end and we're close in the end so we learned over the season to not give up and keep fighting. Now we know we can finish games and that's a big confidence booster for us," said Roberts, who had a game-high 17 points and shot 75 percent (9-of-12) from the free throw line. 

The Cougars shot 35. 5 percent (11-of-31) from the free throw line for the game while the Falcons shot 61.8 percent (21-of-34). 

"That's how we've been playing lately we can't put 32 minutes together and against these teams, you have to play complete basketball. I'm proud of my guys and they battled all the way to the last second and we got to use this as a learning experience and get ready for the OIA playoffs," said Kawazoe. 

Kaiser was down 38-28 to start the fourth quarter and they made a rally. The Cougars had to deal with foul trouble as Chance Kalaugher and Matt Haili picked up their fourth fouls early in the quarter. 

"Our plan was to attack the bigs early on and get them in foul trouble, they were short-handed so we kept attacking," said Roberts. 

Cory Mitchell hit a 3-pointer near the top to make it 45-29. The Cougars outscored the Falcons 11-3 to make it 48-40 after Kalaugher made 1-of-2 free throws. Melvin Kahunanui hit a 3-pointer from the right wing and Kelsey Lewis' 3-pointer from the top of the arc made it 48-46. Tom hit both free throws and the Cougars trailed 49-48 and Kalaugher went 1-of-2 from the line to tie the game at 49. The Cougars went 4-of-5 from behind the 3-point line in the quarter and shot 4-of-10 for the game. 

"Our intensity on defense picked up and they got guys that could handle the ball and we were switching on the hand offs and trap but it was a great effort from our team and unfortunately we fell a little short," said Kawazoe, on the fourth quarter rally. 

"Kaiser's really big and they got the momentum and the crowd," remarked Mitchell. 

Chance Kalaugher led Kaiser with 13 points. Kaiser definitely had the size advantage with Kalaugher at 6 foot 5, Matt Haili at 6 foot 4 and Marcus Mafi at 6 foot 5. 

"We tried to do some things that neutralized their height advantage and we had some game planning for that, but a lot of it came down to our players were able to execute and they played with heart and we were able to try and keep them off the boards and battle for position," said Davis on game planning against a bigger Kaiser squad. 

Kaiser managed to outscore the Falcons 10-7 in the third quarter, but they still trailed by 10. Kalani was able to go up by as much as 17 points, 35-18 after Mitchell made a layup. Haili had a fast break layup to make it 38-28. 

In the second quarter, the Falcons outscored the Cougars, 17-7 and went on a 10-2 run to start the quarter. The Cougars got to the free throw line, but went 35.7 percent (5-of-14) and had only one made field goal. Kalani went 70 percent (7-of-10) from the line in the quarter. Kalani went 3-of-6 from the 3-point line in the first half and Alexander Tungpalan and Dallas Ascunscion made two 3-pointers in the quarter. Jaron Yamauchi hit a jumper in the paint with 3 seconds remaining in the quarter to give the Falcons a 31-18 lead at halftime. 

Kalani's Brandon Roberts scored 11 of the Falcons' 14 first quarter points. He was aggressive and went 6-of-8 from the free throw line. Kaiser led early on, 6-2 after Melvin Kahunanui's field goal in the paint, but it was all Kalani and they took a 14-11 lead.