Iolani's Zachary Buscher drives to the basket against Punahou. Celine Troung | Special to SL

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Punahou's Danny Andrews puts up a shot as Iolani's Hugh Hogland defends. Abraham Markowitz | Special to SL

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Punahou's Justin Kam elevates for a layup against Iolani. Jessica Oda | Special to SL

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Punahou's Dayson Watanabe drives to the basket for a layup against Iolani. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Iolani's Ikaika Phillip puts up a shot against Punahou. Celine Troung | Special to SL

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Wed, Feb 12, 2014 @ Iolani

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Punahou

37

Iolani

53

Final	1	2	3	4
Punahou (7-5, 22-5)	8	13	5	11	37
Iolani (10-3, 23-7)	9	9	12	23	53

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

I. Phillip 21 pts  11/11 FTs

D. Andrews 9 pts  3/4 FTs

R. Mann 5 tot  1 off  4 def

D. Andrews 5 tot  1 off  4 def

Z. Buscher 1 ast

D. Watanabe 1 ast

For the first time since 2011, 'Iolani returns to the State Tournament. 

The No. 2 Raiders shot an astounding 94.1 percent (32 of 34) from the free throw line for the game to pull away from No. 4 Punahou in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's Single Elimination Postseason Tournament semifinals at 'Iolani's Lower Gym on Wednesday night. 

"They're a great free throw shooting team when they put you in that situation where you have to foul, they're going to close the game. They're the number one free throw shooting team in the state," said Punahou coach Darren Matsuda. 

"I don't think it's different than anyone else, but we really try to focus. We make sure we know what those free throws mean, I think we spend just as much time as everyone else, but credit the guys," said 'Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto, on his team's success at the free throw line. 

After Maryknoll defeated Kamehameha, 59-41 on the same night, 'Iolani will travel to Clarence T. C. Ching Gymnasium on Feb. 14 to play the Spartans. Both 'Iolani and Maryknoll clinched the two ILH berths to the Hawaiian Airlines Division I State Basketball Championships. Punahou ends their season at 7-5, (22-5 overall). 

"I think they did a really good job at focusing on the task at hand. What everyone else did the consequence doesn't really matter when you come out and play the game. We wanted to make sure we leave it all out there and don't hold anything back and we really focused on what we needed to do," said Shimamoto. 

Ikaika Phillip led 'Iolani with 21 points and shot 8 of 8 from the free throw line and Zach Buscher added 14 points and shot 10 of 11 from the free throw line. Daniel Andrews led Punahou with nine points and Kanawai Noa and Randon Oda added eight points each. The Raiders managed to keep sharpshooter Justin Kam in check with three points on 1-of-13 shooting. 

In a tightly contested first quarter, Punahou's Daniel Andrews scored the game's first points on a reverse layup at the 4:28 mark. Both teams traded baskets as Zach Buscher converted the 3-point play to put the Raiders up 7-6. Punahou answered back after Jared Lum passed it to Ronley Lakalaka, who cut backdoor for a layup to make it 8-7. Buscher was fouled with 1.6 seconds remaining and made both free throws to give 'Iolani a 9-8 lead. 

Punahou started the second quarter on a  8-0 run after two consecutive 3-pointers from Kanawai Noa and Dayson Watanabe and two free throws from Andrews. Ikaika Phillip had a 3-point play and his free throw made it 16-14. Phillip tied the game at 18 after a turn around from the right block. Noa hit a running 3-point attempt as time expired to give the Buffanblu a three point lead at halftime, 21-18. 

In the third quarter, Watanabe hit Noa for a reverse layup to make it 26-22. Buscher threw a skip pass to Pikai Winchester who drained a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 26-25. Phillip put the Raiders back up by two after drawing a foul from Justin Kam for a 3-point play and Punahou called timeout at 2:46. Chris Gallacher had a fast break layup and the Raiders led 30-26 heading into the fourth. 'Iolani managed to hold Punahou to five quarter points. 

"In a ball control game, it's how the ball bounces. Shots were going in and out, that 3-point play, that stuff like that kills you and one or two plays can change the game and that hurt us. I thought our defense was really good, it's a hallmark of our team. Some shots that we usually hit, didn't fall and close shots didn't fall for us. Both teams played really well defensively. I thought we got some good looks in the third but it didn't fall for us. We were patient, we played disciplined. That's the way it goes," said Matsuda. 

"Team defense. Certain guys were assigned to some of their scorers. It's team defense, you don't get to guard the same guy the whole game, sometimes you get caught in transition and have to guard someone else, they set screens and run the offense, guys have to hedge and help and our team defense was great," said Shimamoto, on his team stifling Punahou's scorers. 

In the fourth quarter, 'Iolani took a seven point lead after Erik Yamada's backdoor pass to Buscher for the layup made it 34-27. From the top of the key, Andrews found an open Randon Oda near the right block and his field goal made it 34-31 and Punahou called timeout. However, the Raiders pulled away after sinking their free throws and extended the lead to double digits. They shot 95 percent (19 of 20) from the free throw line in the quarter and shot 2 of 3 from the field. They outscored Punahou 23-11 in the quarter and 35-16 in the second half. 

"We wanted to be consistent at how we attacked the basket. We didn't want to settle for 3's even though we shot a good percentage the last time we played them. We continued to get good shots and stayed patient, we knew that the result of this game would be determined by what we did on the defensive end," said Shimamoto, whose team held Punahou to 28.2 percent (11 of 39) from the field. 

'Iolani went 3-0 and completed the season sweep of the Buffanblu and won by an average of 14 points. Punahou was ranked No. 1 for most of the season in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings and started 4-1 ILH play, but they went 3-4 down the stretch. 

"The season is a disappointment because for us that we didn't reach our ultimate goal, but this team has faced more adversity than any other team I coached in the past seven years with all the injuries we got in the beginning of the year. We started finding chemistry in the end of the year and we were in it," said Matsuda. 

Point guard Jordan Tanuvasa could not play all season due to a knee injury he sustained during football season and they lost Micah Ma'a to an ankle injury he suffered in the Maryknoll game on Feb. 1. Despite the injuries, other players on the team stepped up to contribute and Matsuda admired how his players fought to the very end.