Saint Francis' Kameron Ng puts up a shot in traffic against University Lab. Ng notched seven points and four assists in an overtime win over the Jr. Bows. Tyler Kanoa | SL

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Sat, Jan 9, 2016 @ Klum Gym

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Saint Francis

47

University Lab

44

F/OT	1	2	3	4	OT
Saint Francis (11-1, 24-6)	9	11	10	12	5	47
University Lab (11-3, 24-6)	10	6	16	10	2	44

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

A. Canencia 12 pts

S. Mailei 15 pts

A. Canencia 9 tot

S. Mailei 6 tot

A. Canencia 2 ast

N. Kurosawa 2 ast

Saint Francis improved to 2-0 in the ILH Division II standings with a 47-44 overtime win over University Lab in front of a crowd of about 300 at Klum Gymnasium.

In the overtime period, Kameron Ng's driving layup with just under a minute left vaulted the Saints back into lead the for good, 45-44, and Micah Kalei hit two clutch free throws to push the lead to three.

"In practice we run that (play) a lot, me attacking the basket and its what I do best," said Ng, who scored seven points and added four assists in the game. "I just had to finish, that's it."

The Jr. Bows held for the final shot in regulation and had two attempts at the goal, but neither fell, sending the game in an extra period.

A 16-10 scoring advantage in the third period vaulted the home team to a 33-30 lead over the Saints heading into the final quarter of play. The advantage see-sawed back and forth in the fourth, capped by Supilani Meilei's game-tying point-blank make in the final minute of regulation that tied the score at 42-all.

"The last three games, he's become nasty," said Saint Francis head coach Ron Durant of Mellei, who notched a game-high 15 points and a team-high six rebounds in the win. "I asked him when are you going to start playing, and he's responded. He's a football player trying to be a basketball player, but he came up huge."

University Lab got the ball back with a chance for a desperation heave with under two seconds to play to win it, but the three-quarter court heave was no good.

The Saints led 20-16 at halftime, despite Ng, their leading scorer on the season, being held to just 2 points on 1-of-8 shooting. Backcourt mate Noah Kurosawa and Meilei, a 5-foot-10 post, picked up the scoring slack, combining to score 14 of the teams' 20 points in the half.

"They are both juniors, and they both stepped up big today," said Ng. "Noah is a three-point shooter and he played well today. Both he and Supilani played well."

"When we got the lead, he (Kurosawa) turned down some threes, which I was proud of. Last year, he would have thrown those three pointers up," remarked Durant.

Kurosawa hit three three-pointers in the game and scored 13 points. He also added five rebounds and two assists.

Jr. Bows' post Ryan Hobus was held to just a single basket in the first two quarters, but add eight points in the second half to finish with 10 points and 5 boards.

I think we handled him (Hobus) pretty well. He's the best, if not one of the best, big man in our league," said Durant. "They made a nice adjustment in the third quarter and got the ball to him a couple of times, but we tried to eliminate as much as we could, from him hurting us."

Anson Canencia led University High with 12 points and nine rebounds, and also added two assists.

In what is shaping up to be a very competitive ILH Division II schedule, a 2-0 start for the Saints is at the very least, momentum in the right direction.

"We knew this was going to be a dog fight, we just have to play one game at a time. But it was a nice confidence boost," said Durant.

"It was great to the win on their home court, on homecoming," said Kurosawa. "We came in here, did what we had to do, executed, and it just shows that we can compete with anybody."