Damien's Jake Holtz gathers a rebound in a preseason contest against Leilehua. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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When Damien boys basketball coach Alvin Stephenson entered his team into the Platinum Division of a prestigious preseason tournament in southern California, he figured wins would be hard to come by, but he knew the experience would prove to be even more valuable.

That gamble is already paying off for Stephenson and the Monarchs.

The reigning Division II state champions marked a triumphant return to the D1 ranks Friday night with their 50-47 overtime win over Mid-Pacific to open Interscholastic League of Honolulu play.

It certainly did not come easy.

"I knew it wasn't going to be," said Stephenson, whose team erased a six-point third-quarter deficit behind a heroic late-game effort by Jake Holtz.

Holtz, a 6-foot-5 senior, had five points after the opening quarter, but went scoreless in the second and third stanzas before pouring in a string of 14 straight points for the Monarchs in the fourth quarter or overtime.

After Mid-Pac outscored them, 17-10, in the third quarter, the Monarchs clamped down on defense and allowed just 11 points by the hosts in the final 12 minutes. Holtz was a key factor on the defensive end with several forced turnovers, a few that led to easy transition buckets for Damien.

"The coaches just made in-game adjustments defensively and then we just executed the game plan from there and then the offense just came along," said Holtz, last year's All-Hawaii D2 Player of the Year.

Holtz held his own defensively against Mid-Pacific's 6-foot-6 Kala Nakaya, who was limited to seven points. The two went head-to-head on both ends of the floor for much of the night.

"I played against him a lot of times, I'm kind of used to what he does," Holtz said. "I kind of had an off-shooting night tonight, but I had to adjust and attack inside instead of shooting more."

Holtz finished with a game-high 19 points and Hayden Bayudan added 17 in the win.

Holtz's all-around production proved to be even more crucial as the Monarchs played without fellow All-Hawaii first teamer Bryce Forces, who was on the team bench Friday, but was not suited up and did not play for reasons that were not disclosed by Stephenson.

"I can't comment on that, but he'll be back Tuesday," said Stephenson, referring to Damien's next game against No. 4 Punahou.

The Monarchs had just returned from California on New Year's Eve. They went 0-4 in the Classic at Damien — a premier tournament that features 80 teams in five divisions — and were coming off of a four-point, double-overtime loss to Long Beach Poly on Monday's final day of the Platinum (top-tier) bracket.

Holtz said the team was without Forbes' services for that game also.

"I mean, the last game in (California) he wasn't playing with us either, so I mean, it's a big loss to our team, but everybody stepped up. We played as a team, you know, we don't rely on one person, we just play as a team and we can get wins," said Holtz, who also served as starting quarterback of the Damien football team the past two years.

Two days before Friday night's ILH opener, Mid-Pacific first-year coach Robert Shklov called Holtz the focal point of a very talented Damien team.

"I think Holtz is their heartbeat, in my opinion. I feel like he's their spiritual leader. He can play inside and out and he's tough and he's a quarterback, so you know he's got the mental capabilities," said Shklov, whose team was coming off of its own mainland trip.

The Owls, who went 3-1 in the Central Arizona Holiday Classic last week, hit some big shots from the perimeter to complement their post presence in Nakaya and 6-foot-3 Elijah Kahue-Parker, who finished with a team-high 18 points.

Mid-Pacific hit three of their five 3-pointers in the third quarter, two of them by point guard Kamana Lapina; the other triple in the stanza was Lucca Kitashima's corner 3 that gave his team its largest lead of the night at 32-26 with 3:46 left in the third quarter.

Stephenson said it was at that point that his team was able to draw from its experiences in both the Classic at Damien and last month's Iolani Classic.

"I mean, we knew we were in their gym and they're tough, so we know they're going to make shots," he said. "We just couldn't panic and I think us being in these situations with these teams on the mainland, we've learned how to finish, we've learned how to keep our composure and we've learned how to fight. We've taken a lot of blows in the last two weeks from some big-time teams, so I'm just proud of the boys because we grew in those moments and it showed tonight."

While the Monarchs (9-7 overall, 1-0 league) return to D1 after seven seasons in D2 was a successful one, Holtz acknowledged that it's still just the first step in what most expect to be a grind of an ILH season.

"I mean, it's big for us, but we just have to keep executing. The goal is to win another state championship," Holtz said.

By the same token, the Owls (12-6, 0-1) understand that the 12-game regular season is a marathon, not a sprint.

"I told the boys that another hidden positive is this shows you're in that top tier, too," Shklov said. "They're are absolutely in the top tier of the ILH if they play with energy and play with heart like they did tonight."

The teams will play once more on Jan. 20 at Damien.