Lahainaluna's Reece Pascua puts up a layup in the lane against Leilehua. CJ Caraang | SL

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Wed, Feb 15, 2017 @ Radford

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Leilehua

32

Lahainaluna

44

Final	1	2	3	4
Leilehua (10-3, 15-11)	6	14	5	7	32
Lahainaluna (14-0, 24-2)	14	10	8	12	44

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

R. Pascua 11 pts  1 3pm  0/1 FTs

T. Boatwright 13 pts  1/1 FTs

C. Locke 4 tot  2 off  2 def

T. Boatwright 6 tot  4 off  2 def

R. Pascua 2 ast

J. Agdinaoy 2 ast

ALIAMANU — The 60-year drought is over.

No. 4 and third-seeded Lahainaluna exorcised their tournament quarterfinal frustrations to beat Leilehua, 44-32 in the Snapple/HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball State Championships at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium.

"One of the coolest things was Jeremi Santos, one of the seniors was running off the court and we're really excited and we got past the quarterfinals, but when I have a senior who yells, ‘It's not over yet', that's the kind of leadership we really like on our team," said Lahainaluna coach Jason Justus.

The Lunas (14-0, 23-1 overall), the Maui Interscholastic League champions, snap a 15-game quarterfinal losing streak and make their first semifinal appearance since 1957. Lahainaluna won a title back in 1982 when it was the "A" format that stretched from 1965 to 1982. Lahainaluna will play Punahou at 7 p.m. at McKinley.

"They are a quality team and that's why they are the MIL champion. They have great maturity and great coach. They have great position flexibility where their 2,3, and 4s play a lot of positions and it was a tough switch for us," said Leilehua coach Russ Fitzgerald.

Leilehua (10-3, 14-10 overall), who upset No. 7 Kapolei in overtime to get to the quarterfinals, kept up with the Lunas for the first half, but Lahainaluna executed down the stretch in crucial situations. The Mules will play Konawaena at Radford at 7 p.m.

"They are a great group of kids and they really play hard," commented Fitzgerald.

Ironically these two teams met earlier in the same gym on Nov. 30 in the Jim Alegre Invitational, where the Lunas won, 45-38, but now we're in February in the state tournament and both teams have improved tremendously.

"Both teams progressed over the year. They (Leilehua) definitely looked better and so did we at times, but not so much other times," said Justus.

Reece Pascua led the Lunas with 11 points, Tavaki Faleta added 10 and Carver Locke chipped in nine. Jeremi Santos and Iverson Turno combined for 8-of-11 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

"It's hard to prepare for a team like us because on a given night one of our guys can go off for 17 or 18. We have a lot of offensive weapons, but our first offense is our defense. At times tonight, we didn't have that," said Justus.

The Lunas jumped out to a 14-6 lead after the first quarter and scored off of five Mules' turnovers, but Leilehua settled in and stormed back with an 8-2 run fueled by Trey Boatwright and Jaymond Agdinaoy as they converted 3-point opportunities. Boatwright hit Adginaoy on a cut toward the basket for a layup to bring the Mules within two, 16-14 forcing the Lunas to call time.

Liam Fitzgerald landed awkwardly, but walked off on his own at the 2:57 mark in the second quarter, but would return in the third quarter. Boatwright continued to carry the Mules offensively in the paint and Genesis Ofoia banked a running 3-pointer beyond half court before the buzzer to trail, 24-20 at halftime.

Boatwright finished with a team-high 13 points and six rebounds, but he had to earn every one of it. The Mules outrebounded the Lunas 23 to 18, 13 of Leilehua's rebounds came on the offensive end.

"Hat's off to Leilehua, they played well and they killed us on the boards. If Liam was in there longer, it would've been a different story, but we got away with a ‘W'", said Justus.

"Trey is a really good offensive rebounder. But most of the points he scored throughout the season is our guards getting past guards and bigs helping and us hitting the dime. Lahainaluna's guards would not let us get by so he was on an island and he had to do ball chasing on his own," said Fitzgerald, on Boatwright.

The Lunas used a 6-0 run in the third to go up eight, 30-22 and held the Mules to five quarter points. Leilehua shot 5-for-19 from the field in the second half and finished the game shooting 33.3 percent (13-for-39)

Fitzgerald threw down a two-handed dunk early in the fourth for his only points of the game, but Lahainaluna was too much as they built a 10-point cushion with 1:33 to go and sank eight of their 11 free throws in the quarter.