Anson Canencia scored 16 points and had five steals in the Jr. Bows win over the Dragons. Steve Erler | SL

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Anson Canencia scored 16 points and had five steals in the Jr. Bows win over the Dragons. Steve Erler | SL

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University Lab scored early and often in the first quarter to defeat Honokaa, 54-39 in the first game of the 60th Annual OC16/Hawaii High School Association Division 2 Boys Basketball State Championships semifinals at Kaimuki High School.

"We've lost in this game before and it was heartbreaking and to get to this point was a goal at the beginning of the season. We have one more game to give it all we got," said University coach Walter Quitan.

The Jr. Bows advance to the Division 2 title game against Seabury Hall at 5 pm at the Stan Sheriff Center. They will seek their first basketball championship since 1988 when it was known as Division AA. The Jr. Bows won back-to-back "AA" Division championships in 1987 and 1988 and won a "A" championship in 1965.

Ryan Hobus, who stands 6-foot-4, led the team with 19 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. Anson Canencia added 16 points and five steals.

University's defense led to offense as they got out in transition and dictated the tempo early to race out to a 23-9 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.

"That's what we've been telling the kids all year. Our defense has to lead to offense and it was good to get off to an early start," said Quitan.

Both offenses stagnated in the second quarter, but the Jr. Bows went up by 16 at intermission.

The Jr. Bows went to Hobus, whose length created problems for the smaller Dragons. He and Anson Canencia each had 10 points at the half.

Hobus scored nine of his 19 points in the second half and shot 9-for-16 from the free throw line. Defensively, the Jr. Bows had 12 steals and forced 27 Dragon turnovers.

Although they won by a big margin, University committed 31 turnovers for the game, which concerned coach Quitan.

"Too many turnovers here and there, our spacing got off and tried to do a little too much," said Quitan.

Honokaa struggled offensively shooting 14 of 56 (25 percent) from the field for the game and shot 10-for-22 from the free throw line.

"We watched them play last night and we wanted to take the penetration away and limit second shots. If we give up anything it was the perimeter shot," said Quitan.

Kevin Falk and Kea Callihan each had eight points to lead the Dragon scorers.