Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
State berth at stake for Monarchs, Jr. Bows


Brandon Ching | ScoringLive
February 9, 2018, 12:34am

 



When Damien (8-3 ILH) and University Lab (7-4 ILH) meet for the third and final time this season, the league's last state tournament berth is up for grabs.

University Lab is seeking its first state tournament appearance since 2016, where it won it all, while Damien is trying to end a three-year drought.

Both the Jr. Bows and Monarchs had to rally from first half deficits to advance to Saturday's Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II final at Damien with tipoff scheduled for 4 p.m.

Damien took control in the second quarter and never looked back, while University Lab crashed the boards to give themselves second-chance opportunities to pull away from HBA.

"It's going to be a hard-fought matchup," said Damien coach Alvin Stephenson. "I expect the score to be within three to four points as the last times."

The Monarchs lost back on Jan. 16, 42-40, but returned the favor by winning in the regular season finale, 56-53, on Feb. 1.

"We beat them once, they beat us. It's going to be a tough matchup. We hope we can play as well as we did tonight and be disciplined. If we are not disciplined, we won't have a shot. We hope we can take care of the ball and execute," said University Lab coach Ryan Tong, on heading into Saturday's game.

Saint Francis (10-0) was exempted from the tournament having already won the league title and a seeded state berth.

Damien's Dorien Penebacker blocks a shot attempt by Le Jardin's Nicholas Cheung. Damien's Dorien Penebacker blocks a shot attempt by Le Jardin's Nicholas Cheung. Greg Yamamoto | SL


Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].




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