The Falcons pose for a photo after winning their first-ever OIA boys basketball championship. CJ Caraang | SL

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The Falcons pose for a photo after winning their first-ever OIA boys basketball championship. CJ Caraang | SL

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KAKAAKO — Kalani overcame a bad free throw shooting night to defeat Farrington, 42-34 at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium to win the school's first-ever Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II title.

"It's amazing and super happy for them. This is a group that worked extremely hard from the time Micah Visoria hit that 3 last year. Last year when we lost, we were telling them afterwards we lost so you guys can be the first ones. It paid off. This group is special and they genuinely likes each other and know their roles," said Kalani coach Nathan Davis.

The Falcons avenged a previous loss to the Govs, 61-58 back on Jan. 6. The goal was to slow the game down instead of getting into a track meet with the Govs according to Davis.

"A lot of it was the way we played Farrington in the first loss. They shot lights out, we didn't want to get in a shoot out. That isn't our strength, our shot selection is bad in that kind of game. Farrington loves to play up and down," said Davis.

Both teams are the OIA's representatives in the Snapple/HHSAA Boys Basketball Division II State Championships starting next week.

Jaemi Harris overcame two quick fouls in the first half to lead Kalani with 12 points—all in the second half. Ryan Jacobi and Micah Kawano added eight each.

Kalani built up a double-digit cushion for the first three quarters until the Govs gained momentum in the fourth to bring it under 10. The Falcons made 10 of their 26 attempts in the fourth quarter and shot 16-for-37 (43.2 percent) from the free throw line overall.

Kalani led 5-1 and pushed it to 9-1 after fast break layups by Ryan Jacobi and Kapaa Nishimura to force a Farrington timeout. Zeke Santiago made a jumper for the Govs' first and only field goal near the 7:47 mark in the second quarter. Farrington's other four points came from the free throw line as they went 4-for-8.

Kalani went up 16-6 at halftime.

Harris scored nine points of the Falcons' 12 points in the third quarter and his pull up jumper gave Kalani a 28-10 lead. The senior also registered two blocks.

To the credit of the Kalani defense, Farrington committed 21 turnovers for the game. In order to control the tempo, the Falcons passed it around for a couple stretches in their half court sets.

"If we were going to win this one, we looked back at our previous box scores, we succeed when we hold teams to single digit quarters. One way is to limit possessions, another way is to play lock-down defense," said Davis.

The Govs outscored the Falcons, 22 to 14 in the fourth quarter and managed to cut a double-digit deficit to single digits with 4:25 left. Santiago scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth. He hit three 3-pointers.