St. Francis' Ranan Mamiya puts up a layup against University High. Tyler Kanoa | Special to SL

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University High's Anthony Canencia jumps up to catch a pass. Tyler Kanoa | Special to SL

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St. Francis' Kyle Lau puts up a jump shot against University High. Tyler Kanoa | Special to SL

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Tue, Feb 4, 2014 @ Klum Gym

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Saint Francis

63

University Lab

48

Final	1	2	3	4
Saint Francis (9-2, 18-13)	14	17	17	15	63
University Lab (8-4, 13-12)	11	16	13	8	48

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

A. Canencia 22 pts  4 3pm  8/9 FTs

M. Nuumanaia 23 pts  2 3pm  7/9 FTs

A. Canencia 4 tot  4 def

R. Mamiya 6 tot  1 off  5 def

E. Leung 6 ast

R. Mamiya 6 ast

MANOA – Saint Francis secured at least a share of the top spot in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II standings with a 63-48 win over University High in both teams' regular season finales at Klum Gymnasium.

Saints' senior guard Matthew Nuumanaia led the way with 23 points, five rebounds, and five assists.

"This is a big win for us, we just came to play today," said Nuumania after the game.
The Saints jumped early on the Junior Bows as they hit their first three shots of the game and had a 7-0 lead until senior Micah Kahumoku got University on the board at 4:31 in the first.

The fade away shot by Kahumoku began a 7-2 run by the Jr. Bows to help them get back into the contest, but St. Francis' senior guard Kyle Lau hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Saints a 14-11 lead headed to the second period.

The second quarter saw a shooting duel between St. Francis' Nuumanaia and University High's senior guard Anthony Canencia.
The 5-foot-7 Canencia played tough for the Jr. Bows and scored eight of his team high 22 points in the second half including a 3-pointer from the right wing that gave University High the lead 21-18 with 4:48 to go in the half.

The 6-foot-5 Nuumanaia scored 10 of his 23 points in the second period alone and scored the final four points in the last 5.5 seconds of the half to break the tie and give St. Francis the lead going into halftime 31-27.

In the third stanza, St. Francis was able to shoot a superb 53 percent and buckle down on defense to hold University High to just three made baskets.  However, the three made baskets were 3-pointers for the Jr. Bows, the last one of the quarter coming on a half court buzzer beater from Canencia to make it 48-40 in favor of the visiting Saints.

The half court heave turned out to be Canencia's last points of the night as the Saints shut down the prolific guard in the final quarter.

Nuumanaia wouldn't score again either, but would get help from fellow guard Keola Kealoha who went go six-of-six from the line in the last quarter and finished the game with 13 points and a perfect 8-for-8 from the line.

"We were slacking on ‘D' in that first half and we just needed to execute the offense better," remarked Saint Francis' interim coach Brian Ka'a'a.

The Saints' defense held the Jr. Bows to 21 percent shooting and just eight points in the final period to capture the victory and the top spot in the ILH Division II standings, at least for one night.

"We had a couple turnovers in the beginning of the third quarter, I think that was the difference, it was a 2-4 point game and those turnovers swung it and then they got that lead.  We're down a couple guys, our depths real bad, and when we had to extend our defense they broke it down got a couple layups and pulled away," said University High head coach Walt Quitan.

"There's always room for improvement we just have to get better every day and work hard," commented the Saints' interim coach Ka'a'a about the progress since starting the ILH season 0-2.

"We did this last year we had to go through the play-in tournament and we got hot at the right time.  We won't play anyone as big as St. Francis so we should match up better and we'll look forward to the challenge," remarked Jr. Bows coach Quitan about the possibilities of the play-in tournament.

A win by Damien over Hanalani on Wednesday will force a one-game playoff against Saint Francis on Saturday for the top spot in the ILH Division II and a seeded berth into the upcoming state tournament.