Kobe Ikari lead Damien with 15 points over host Hawaii Baptist Thursday night. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kobe Ikari lead Damien with 15 points over host Hawaii Baptist Thursday night. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Despite squandering a 10-point halftime lead, Damien kept its composure to hold off host Hawaii Baptist Academy, 63-58, Thursday night in Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II boys' basketball.

The Monarchs (3-0) remained unbeaten in handing the Eagles (1-1) their first loss of season.

Guard Kobe Ikari led the Monarchs with 15 points, 13 in the first half on the strength of a three 3-pointers. But the bigs took over the second half, as 6-foot-6 Kapi'ina King, 6-4 Rocky Mori and 6-3 Shaun Apiki combined for 20 second-half points. Apiki finished with 14 points, followed by Mori's 12 and King's six. All of Mori's scoring came in the second half.

Hawaii Baptist struggled with Damien's press in the first half and trailed 32-22. But the Eagles opened the second half with a 16-6 run, which was ignited by 3-pointers from Hosaka and Micah Mitchell, who finished the game with 13 points. The Eagles tied the game at 38 with 3:09 in the third quarter on Hosaka's second trey in the run.

But Damien stalled the momentum shift by responding quickly with an 8-0 run to open its lead again. Only Danton Tominaga's 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third period pulled HBA to 46-41.

Damien coach Alvin Stephenson Jr. attributed his team's recovery after HBA tied the game to its experience.

"We let down a little bit in intensity from the first half," Stephenson said. "HBA's a good team. We know they're going to fight as hard for four quarters; we have to show up for four quarters with them. I thought the guys did a good job of keeping the composure and not letting the crowd and just the moment get to them. Our seniors really stepped up. That's the difference between us last year and this year. We're more mature."

The Monarchs controlled the rest of the game on the strength of their bigs, who not only contributed by scoring, but through dominating the boards. Mori (13 rebounds), Apiki (11) and King (7) accounted for 31 of the team's 35 rebounds. Hawaii Baptist's only true big is 6-3 Isaac Liva owned 11 of his team's 18 boards.

The only lead HBA has was in the first quarter on Mitchell's 3-pointer put the Eagles ahead, 11-10. Tominaga made a free throw later to make it 12-10, only to see finish the period with five points, including a 3-pointer.

The Monarchs led by as many as 13 points after a 9-0 run make it 28-15. Damien's press was too much for the Eagles during that stretch.

Damien resumes play Saturday against University High, while HBA celebrates homecoming against Saint Francis (2-1) Friday night.