La Lumiere's Tyger Campbell puts up a shot against Fairfax. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Mon, Dec 21, 2015 @ Iolani

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Fairfax

20

La Lumiere

29

Final	1	2	3	4
Fairfax	8	2	8	2	20
La Lumiere	10	9	6	4	29

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

I. Coleman 9 pts  3 3pm

J. Hartwell 11 pts  3 3pm

J. Tilmon 5 tot  1 off  4 def

R. McRae 4 tot  3 off  1 def

J. Banks 1 ast

D. Gipson 1 ast

It wasn't the game they expected, but the La Lumiere Lakers will take a win in any fashion.

Isaiah Coleman scored nine points — on three first-half 3-pointers — to help La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.) to a 29-20 win over Fairfax (Los Angeles) in an Iolani Prep Classic semifinal Monday night.

The Lakers, who are No. 3 in the USA Today Super 25 national rankings, improved to 8-0 with the win and will try for their first Iolani Classic title Tuesday when they meet 13th-ranked Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) in the 8 p.m. tournament final.

The game — at times — was played at a snail's pace, with Fairfax opting to hold the ball and stall for much of the game with no shot clock in use.

"We did something similar when we beat Montrose (Christian) when they were No. 1 and the thought was that there's no shot clock so you've got to take advantage of what's available," Fairfax 35th-year coach Harvey Kitani said.

The Lions (7-1), who went 32-3 last season, are ranked 49th nationally and eighth in California by MaxPreps. They entered the game averaging 69 points per game.

"I wish it was a little bit more competitive. I wish the flow was a little bit better. I wish we could play a little bit," La Lumiere second-year coach Shane Heirman said.

Heirman said he was surprised that Fairfax went to a stall — and stayed with it for as long as it did.

"Yes, very. I mean, it kind of is what it is a little bit," Heirman said. "It was their strategy to hold the basketball and limit the possessions in the game and that's their deal. We just had to respond to it and play through it, so I'm proud of the guys for finding a way."

The two teams combined to make just 18 field goals. La Lumiere shot 59 percent (10 of 17) while Fairfax shot just 31 percent (8 of 26) from the field.

"It was a little slower than we expected," Coleman said. "We expect to score a few more points than we had today but we still got the win and that's what we wanted."

Brian Bowen scored seven points and Jeremiah Tilmon added six points and five rebounds for Lakers, who are now 6-1 all-time in Iolani Classic tournament games.

Both teams made their first five shots from the field, but Fairfax missed its next four attempts.

The Lakers used an 9-0 run — that was capped by Isaiah Coleman's 3-pointer from the left wing — to turn an early four-point deficit into a 13-8 lead early in the second quarter.

Coleman did not miss a shot in the game and accounted for all but one of his team's four treys.

"That was big because anytime they're limiting possessions and you can convert for 3, it's always good," Heirman said.

The Lions' problems were compounded by poor ball handling and decision making for much of the night.

"It was the perfect scenario to start a game that you want, (but) we had nine turnovers in that first half and six of them were just unforced bad passes and that was it right there," said Kitani.

La Lumiere closed out the second quarter on a 5-0 run and held a 19-10 lead at at halftime, 19-10, but saw its lead cut to 25-20 early in the fourth quarter after eight straight points from Fairfax's Jamal Hartwell, who finished with a game-high 11 points.

Heirman credited his team for not panicking.

"I think they were pretty poised," Heirman said. "They were settled in and I think they knew we were going to win this game."

The Lakers hit Fairfax with a taste of its own medicine by holding the ball for more than three minutes on their first possession of the fourth quarter.

"We weren't really worried," Coleman said. "We just believe in the system and how we play and we knew eventually we were going to come out with the win as long as we were keeping up with the energy and flying around on defense."

The Lions got no closer, but continued to stall even into the game's final minute — and trailing by seven.

"They're pretty stacked with a lot of good players and we had to limit the possessions and I thought that by doing that it would give us the best chance to win," Kitani said. "To be down five (points) with five minutes to go in the game and then you've got the No. 3 team in the country holding the ball. You know, what do you want?"

Fairfax was seeking to return to its fourth Iolani Classic title game, but first since 2005 and is now 40-20 all-time in 15 tournament appearances.

La Lumiere has reached the championship final both times it participated in the Iolani Classic. It finished second to Findlay Prep (Nev.) in the 2012 tournament.