Damien routed Farrington to win the school's first state basketball title. Pete Caldwell | SL

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Damien routed Farrington to win the school's first state basketball title. Pete Caldwell | SL

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MANOA — Four players scored in double figures and No. 4 Damien ambushed No. 9 Farrington, 73-50, Saturday night to capture the Snapple/HHSAA Division II boys state basketball title.

The state crown is the Monarchs' first in school history and they did it in resounding fashion against their Kalihi neighbor at the Stan Sheriff Center. Damien (28-2) scored 34 points off turnovers, 20 coming in the first half. The Monarchs opened the first period with a 17-0 run to snap an 8-all game. Eight points came off of turnovers. Farrington (17-10) turned over the ball 24 times in all.

"We've worked for this all year," said 6-foot-4 junior center Jake Holtz, one of three teammates with 13 points. "The headlines for this state championship was to defend Houghtailing (Street) or the Battle for Kalihi. It's just good for the program."

Junior forward Bryce Forbes also had 13 points, along with freshman Hayden Bayudan. Sophomore Jydon Hall led with 19 points despite getting ejected after two technical fouls.

The Monarchs will be moving up to Division I next season, co-athletics director Donna Marcello said. They have the ammunition to compete, as four underclassmen starters return; Damien has three seniors.

"We're coming," Forbes said. "We're coming for the D1 title too."

Damien's 26 first-quarter points obliterated the previous D2 tournament championship game record of 17 held by Farrington in 2011 and Kailua in 2009. The Monarchs took a 36-21 lead at the half; the 36 halftime points broke last year's mark of 32 set by McKinley. Their 55-32 third-quarter margin matched McKinley's 39-16 lead against Kohala in 2007.

The wait was long for the Monarchs. After clinching the Interscholastic League of Honolulu D2 title on Feb. 2, Damien had not played in nearly three weeks. Yet, the Monarchs blitzed all of their opponents in the eight-team tournament by at least 21 points.

It was that kind of night for the Monarchs.

"It's been building up for three weeks," Damien coach Alvin Stephenson said. "We've been waiting, waiting, waiting to play. It was a matter of time everything was going to click. We were firing on all cylinders tonight, so thank God for that because sometimes you never know with the young kids, so I'm happy and I'm blessed to be a part of this history with them."

Meanwhile, Farrington had three leads, the last coming at 5:02 on Christian Havea's jumper that made it 8-6. But turnovers the rest of the quarter led to the Monarchs' 17-0 run and they never looked back.

"That killed us, the turnovers," Farrington coach Steven Leopoldo said. "It hurt us big time. Turnover the ball 20-something times, you cannot win like that."

Nerves might have caught up with the Oahu Interscholastic Association D2 champions, who also will be moving up to D1 next season.

"We're not used to playing in a bigger place," Leopoldo said. "But no excuses. (The Monarchs) are a talented team, but we just didn't come ready to play."

Raefe McEnroe led Farrington with 16 points with Aeman Kurt Castro adding 14. McEnroe led all players with 11 rebounds.

Damien had been hopeful for this result, especially after a 14-2 preseason that featured wins against Maryknoll, Kamehameha and Saint Francis, all from the ILH's D1. Damien also had wins against Kalaheo, Kapolei and Kailua, which all played in the state tournament. Damien's only losses were to Punahou and Saint Francis.

"When we played at the Kalaheo tournament, I felt the team we had, there's a chance," Stephenson said. "I liked our chances. We came home, played in our tournament and we won and I was, ‘Oh, I think this is the year,'"

Indeed it was.

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Snapple/HHSAA Division II All-Tournament Team
as selected by media and the HHSAA

Raefe McEnroe, Farrington
Valentinas Ulinas, Hawaii Prep
Hayden Bayudan, Damien
Jake Holtz, Damien
Kama Konohia, Seabury Hall

Most Outstanding Player: Bryce Forbes, Damien