Thu, Feb 26, 2015 @ Kalani

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Damien

58

Kaiser

61

Final	1	2	3	4
Damien (11-3, 19-9)	8	16	16	18	58
Kaiser (9-4, 24-8)	16	13	10	22	61

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

Chance Kalaugher 19 pts  1 3pm  4/9 FTs

Kapiina King 26 pts  4/5 FTs

Chance Kalaugher 12 tot  3 off  9 def

Kapiina King 10 tot  3 off  7 def

Nicolas Tom 4 ast

Rocky Mori 4 ast

Kaiser's Chance Kalaugher puts up a shot in the paint against Damien. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kaiser's Chance Kalaugher puts up a shot in the paint against Damien. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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WAIALAE - Chance Kalaugher literally rose to the occasion to lead second-seeded Kaiser over Damien, 61-58, Thursday night in a quarterfinal of the New City Nissan Division II boys' state basketball tournament at Kalani.

The 6-foot-5 junior put back his own missed shot with 25 seconds left after rebounding a missed 3-pointer for the go-ahead basket to send the No. 9 Cougars (10-5), the only Division II team in the ScorlingLive/OC 16 Power Rankings, to the semifinals against Kohala, 7 p.m. Friday at Farrington.

The Monarchs (10-5) led 58-54 with 1:29 left Kobe Ikari's dribble drive. But Kaiser's Kelsey Lewis II drained a 3-pointer with 1:08 to pull Kaiser to within one.

Damien turned over the ball on a back court violation with 41 seconds left. The Cougars inbounded the ball from mid-court. Lewis took a 3-pointer from the top of the key and missed, only to watch Kalaugher drive through the key with the rebound, missed his first try, but made his second to put the Cougars in front, 59-58.

The Monarchs missed a shot with eight seconds and fouled Kaiser's Isaiah Akiona with second seconds left. He made both double-bonus free throws to cushion Kaiser's lead at 61-58. Damien immediately called time after the second free throw. When time was back in, Reggie Liunoras' shot from what appeared to be just inside the 3-pointer arc missed to end the game.

The game was physical throughout, especially for Kalaugher, who led the Cougars with 19 points, and Damien's 6-6 Kapiina King, who led all scorers with 26 points. King pulled down 10 rebounds and drew four fouls. Kalaugher had 12 rebounds and had three fouls.

"It was probably the most physical game I've played," Kalaugher, who admitted it got heated at times during the game. "I had to keep my cool to stay in the game."

"I think the maturity is coming out," Kaiser coach Branden Kawazoe said of his Kalaugher. "There were times throughout that game where we almost lost him mentally, but he was able to hang in there and continue to get better and he got a huge rebound down the stretch and the put-back. On the defensive end, he got a key rebound. I'm really proud of how the kid played."

While King was his team's primary scorer, guard Ikari scored all of his 10 points in the second half to keep the Cougars close.

Kaiser's guards, Keoua Mahiko and Lewis, took some heat off Kalaugher, scoring 15 and 10 points, respectively. They combined for four 3-pointers (two each) and 9-of-11 free-throw shooting (Mahiko was 7 of 9).

The first quarter started with the game being tied four times, the last time at 8 with 2:56 left before the Cougars ended the period with an 8-0 run to take a 16-8 lead. The Cougars maintained the lead at the half, 29-24.

Damien opened the second half with a 5-0 run to tie the game at 29, which was short-lived after Kaiser's Lewis made a 3-pointer. The Monarchs would tie the game at 34 and took the lead with 2:50 in the period on Liunoras' 10-footer. They eventually took a 40-39 lead into the fourth period.

The fourth period was back and forth. Kaiser opened with a 5-0 run to take a 44-39 lead, only to see the Monarchs eventually tie the game at 46 with 4:39 on Ikari's 3-pointer.

Kalaugher gave Kaiser a momentary lead with 4:05 when he made 1 of 2 free throws, but Damien's Rocky Mori gave his team the lead with 3:33 when he converted a three-point play.

The lead changed five more times before King's three-point play with 1:53 put Damien ahead, 56-54. A player control foul against Kalaugher with 1:45 turned the ball over to Damien, which padded its lead on Ikari's dribble drive that made it 58-54 with 1:29 before the Cougars staged their comeback.

At the end of the grueling contest, Kawazoe was relieved his team came out on top.

"I can't say enough about our team battle," he said. "It was one of the toughest games I've seen our team go through. Damien is a hell of a team, well-coached. They compete, they battle and they're big, solid and strong. That's a breakthrough game for us because there were times in that game where we could've just gave in and basically lost it, but they hung in there, continued to grind and stayed the course."