Iolani's Hugh Hogland puts up a shot against Kamehameha. Hogland led the Raiders with 12 points and eight boards to go along with five blocks. CJ Caraang | SL

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Iolani's Hugh Hogland puts up a shot against Kamehameha. Hogland led the Raiders with 12 points and eight boards to go along with five blocks. CJ Caraang | SL

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KAPALAMA HEIGHTS — A healthy Hugh Hogland was the difference in Iolani's 47-36 win over Kamehameha at Kekuhaupio Gymnasium Wednesday night.

The 6-foot-9 junior center scored 12 points with eight rebounds to help the third-ranked Raiders pick up a win on the road in their Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I opener. 

Hogland, who was nursing an ankle injury in the final week of the preseason, also defended the post well and had five blocks. His presence inside was evident early as Kamehameha's first 10 points were all scored outside of the paint.

"He blocks a bunch of shots and it's always better to have him out there protecting the rim," said senior Robby Mann, who posted a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. "It's a lot easier for us to close out on shooters a lot harder because he's just in the paint to have his hand up and block stuff."

While the sixth-ranked Warriors were scoring on jump shots to start the game, Iolani worked the ball inside and scored 18 points in the paint in the first half. 

The score was tied at 12 after the opening period, but the Raiders' desire to get to the rim allowed them to take a 29-19 halftime lead. Iolani was 11-for-19 from the field in the first half.

"I thought we were very aggressive," said Mann, who scored eight points in the second quarter. "We wanted to come out hot because in the preseason we realized we were coming out slow to start games."

The same aggression to begin the game was not felt at the start of the second half as the Raiders settled for jump shots and went 1-for-11 from the field in the third stanza. Iolani also committed seven turnovers in the period and opened the door for the home team. Kamehameha won the quarter, 9 to 3, to trail by four heading into the fourth.

Reserve Kaeler Kahana drew a shooting foul nine seconds into the final period of play and knocked down both free throws to bring Kamehameha within two. Mann did the same 15 seconds later before Peter Hanohano-Hashimoto drilled a baseline jumper to make it a one-possession game, 34-32, once more.

Iolani got some breathing room and went up 37-32 on a Hogland bucket and a Mann free throw before Kamehameha called timeout after Jayden Zarriello split a pair at the line to make it a four-point game with 3:32 left in regulation.

Enter Helam Baldomero.

The 5-foot-10 junior guard scored on a reverse layup out of the timeout and proceeded to knock down free throws in 1-and-1 situations to help Iolani pull away with the win. Baldomero scored all of his seven points in the fourth quarter to give the Raiders a commanding 44-36 lead with 1:21 left in regulation.

"He started the game, didn't really play much in the middle and then he came up clutch for us in the end," said Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto. "He made that layup, he handled the ball for us, knocked down a good amount of free throws and he played great defense. Huge contribution by him."

It was the second game in a week between the two teams as they closed out the preseason against each other in the third place game of the Punahou Invitational. Hogland was held out of the contest and both teams started their reserves.

"It was a different kind of game though, but we knew what we were getting ourselves into," said Kamehameha coach Greg Tacon. "Hugh makes such a huge difference because you have to concentrate so much on him even if he's not scoring. We let him kind of dictate what we were doing for a while — but we battled back and had it 34-32 with the ball and we just couldn't get over that hump."

Kahana had 11 points to pace Kamehameha, who shot 14-for-48 from the field. The Warriors also had trouble playing interior defense without contact and had 24 total fouls when the game was over. Iolani had 10.

INJURY UPDATE: Kamehameha is hoping to get the services of senior guard Fatu Sua-Godinet when they take on Punahou on the road Saturday. Sua-Godinet suffered an ankle injury in the Warriors' second game of the Iolani Classic against Kahuku on Dec. 19. Tacon said he will come off the bench when he returns to the lineup.