Iolani's Zach Buscher drives to the basket as Campbell's Michael Merchant defends. Melissa Ing | SL

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Iolani's Erik Yamada puts up a layup against Campbell. Melissa Ing | SL

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Campbell's Michael Merchant heads to the basket against Iolani. Melissa Ing | SL

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Campbell's Lamart Dudley battles Iolani's Hugh Hogland for a rebound. Melissa Ing | SL

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Iolani's Ikaika Phillip puts up a shot in traffic against Campbell. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Fri, Feb 21, 2014 @ Blaisdell

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Campbell

33

Iolani

56

Final	1	2	3	4
Campbell (11-2, 19-12)	4	8	8	13	33
Iolani (10-3, 23-7)	9	9	18	20	56

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

I. Phillip 23 pts  4 3pm  3/3 FTs

G. Dayanan 12 pts  1 3pm  5/6 FTs

Z. Buscher 6 tot  1 off  5 def

L. Dudley 7 tot  4 off  3 def

Z. Buscher 6 ast

J. Bantolina 6 ast

Top-seeded 'Iolani routed Campbell, 56-33 in the 58th Annual Hawaiian Airlines/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Boys Division I Basketball State Championships semifinals at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center on Friday night. 'Iolani returns to the state title game for the first time since 2011. 

"Personally this is my first time and I'm really excited. Making it back, we want to do our best and see what happens," said Ikaika Phillip. 

"We have come back strong tomorrow, tomorrow it's for all the marbles so it should be a good one," said 'Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto. 

In their two state tournament games, 'Iolani outscored their opponents, 110-65. The Raiders used a big second half and outscored the Sabers, 38-21 to put them away. Senior forward Ikaika Phillip led 'Iolani with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 4-of-6 from the 3-point line.  Zach Buscher scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds. 

"We were disappointed coming into the half. We had silly turnovers and we weren't playing our game. We had to remind ourselves we have to finish and not let them back in the game and that's what we did," said Phillip. 

'Iolani has seven players listed at 6-feet or taller on their roster and the height advantage presented problems for Campbell. 6-foot-7 center Hugh Hogland threw a block party as he recorded seven of 'Iolani's eight blocked shots for the game. 

"I think he's been that presence all-year long, it's just that he played against bigger guys. I don't know in the OIA there's a lot of size so it's probably for something like a team like Campbell to go against somebody that big. He did a great job on both ends and credit to him," said Shimamoto on Hogland. 

"We didn't want to foul, coaches told us to keep our hands up because we knew we were bigger than them," said Phillip. 

Defensively, the Raiders held the Sabers to 27.3 percent (12 of 44) from the field for the game and most of their shots attempted were contested. Offensively, 'Iolani shot 52.8 percent (19 of 36) from the field and 82.4 percent (14 of 17) from the free throw line for the game. 

"We made sure we were aware of 21 (Dayanan) and 5 (Hurd) because they could score and that's what the scouting report was. Basically we made sure everyone had each others' backs on the help side," said Phillip. 

"We've played against great scorers, we wanted to apply the same strategy and we want to make sure we take away anything easy and make sure we're around the ball and give help when their scorers get it," said Shimamoto on the defense. 

'Iolani took a 9-2 early lead in the first quarter after Zach Buscher threw a skip pass to Ikaika Phillip for a 3-pointer from the left wing. 

The Raiders extended their lead to 10 in the second quarter after Phillip hit a 3-pointer near the top of the arc to make it 14-4. Erik Yamada fed Chris Gallacher for the baseline jumper to make it 16-4 and Campbell took a timeout at the 4:33 mark. 

Campbell went on a 6-0 run and Isaac Hurd had a jumper in transition to bring the Sabers within six, 16-10. 'Iolani had some opportunities in transition, but could not convert them. Phillip sank two free throws to make it 18-10 at the 1:23 mark. Gilbert Dayanan hit a baseline jump shot to make it 18-12. His 3-pointer near the top was no good at the buzzer and the Raiders led 18-12 at halftime. 

"They can put it in the hole, those guys know how to play basketball. They're very savvy with the ball going to the basket and we knew they were going to make a run and we came out strong in the second half and that was really big for us," said Shimamoto on the second quarter. "At that point, that game could've been 15 or 16 points. We missed four straight layups, two free throws and the front end of a one-and-one free throw. It was a lack of concentration and lack of focus. We were disappointed where we were at the half and credit the guys for coming out strong in the second half."  

Phillip opened the second half with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. He scored eight points to start the third quarter after knocked down another 3-pointer to put the Raiders up 28-14 and Campbell called timeout at 5:39. Buscher had a nice entry pass to Hogland for the point-blank field goal from the left block to make it 34-16. 'Iolani led 36-20 heading into the fourth quarter. 

'Iolani pushed the lead to as much as 23 points and Shimamoto was able to empty out his bench late in the fourth quarter. 

Gilbert Dayanan led Campbell with 12 points and Lamart Dudley added 11 points and seven rebounds.