Hawaii Baptist's BJ Hosaka poured in a game-high 31 points in a win over Hanalani. Steve Erler | Special to SL

Purchase image 1 of 1

Thu, Feb 12, 2015 @ Hanalani

---

Hawaii Baptist

61

Hanalani

55

Final	1	2	3	4
Hawaii Baptist (10-2, 18-9)	8	18	16	19	61
Hanalani (10-5, 19-7)	6	25	7	17	55

J. Schaake 29 pts  4 3pm  5/8 FTs

B. Hosaka 31 pts  2 3pm  7/8 FTs

MILILANI — It took BJ Hosaka a little over a quarter to get going Thursday night, but once he did, there was little stopping him.

Hosaka, a senior guard, scored a game-high 31 points — all in the final three quarters — to lead Hawaii Baptist to a 61-55 win over Hanalani before a near-capacity crowd at the Royals' gymnasium.

The Eagles (10-2) captured their sixth straight win — since a two-point loss to the Royals back on Jan. 21 — to lay claim to the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II regular-season title and the accompanying state-tournament berth that comes with it. It will be their first state-tourney appearance since 2009.

"It was real tough," Hosaka said. "Hanalani is a great team, they play with a lot of intensity, but I think it was our mental toughness throughout the game and our ability to fight back that helped us out."

A Hanalani win would have resulted in a three-way tie between the HBA, Hanalani and Damien atop the standings.

"This was a high-stakes game, yet at the same time every game that we've played for the last six games has been a high-stakes game, so this was really no different," Eagles' coach George Weeks said. "These guys have been battling all year. We've had like three overtime games in league this year — one of them was a double-overtime — the last five games of the season this year were all on the road, so we had to win five on the road to get to this point, so I'm just super proud of our kids."

Whatsmore, HBA will have nearly two weeks off to prepare for states, while the Royals (8-4) will have to go through the league's single-elimination tournament next week for the ILH's other state berth.

"I've got to say that ILH tournament is going to be brutal and I'm just happy that I don't have to be in it," said a relieved Weeks.

It was a game of runs early on.

HBA's 6-0 run gave them a 10-6 lead in the opening seconds of the second quarter, however, Hanalani answered with a 9-0 run of its own to pull ahead 15-12.

The Royals got 18 first-half points from Jeff Schaake and took a 31-26 lead into halftime.

Chas Kubo's layup with 5:20 left in the third quarter made the score 35-28 — tying Hanalani's largest lead of the game. It wouldn't hold, however, as Isaac Liva's banker just seconds later ignited a 18-3 HBA run that was capped by Hosaka's steal and coast-to-coast layup. That gave HBA a 46-38 lead it would not relinquish.

The Royals got within 48-42 following a Schaake layup, but Danton Tominaga got a putback, followed by a steal and assist to Hosaka on a transition bucket to reaffirm control for the Eagles.

"That was a huge play," said Hosaka, who made all five of his fourth-quarter free-throw attempts and finished 7 of 8 for the game. "It was a great pass by Danton. That really turned it around."

Hosaka entered the game averaging 23.6 points per game — tops in the league — but was held scoreless after the first quarter.

"I was just a little nervous to start out," Hosaka said. "They were playing good defense, but I was just trying to be aggressive the rest of the game."

It was his third game eclipsing the 30-point mark and the 12th time he netted 21-or-more. He fell four points shy of his season-high mark in scoring.

"BJ has led us all year," Weeks said. "We knew that they'd focus on BJ tonight. He's has been real good about just letting the game come to him. The other guys have stepped up, so when BJ had his opportunities he certainly took advantage, so it worked out well."

Liva, who transferred from Hanalani two years ago, finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks.

"We just played our game," Liva said. "We just did what we had to do and got it done."

Schaake finished with a team-high 29 points, including four 3-pointers, and Kubo added 11 points for the Royals.