Aaron Claytor (24) high fives Nela Taliauli (12) in the waning seconds as Iolani punched their ticket to the state tournament. Brandon Ching | SL

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Sat, Feb 12, 2022 @ Punahou

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Iolani

50

Punahou

45

Final	1	2	3	4
Iolani (10-4, 16-7)	16	15	4	15	50
Punahou (7-6, 11-7)	11	10	6	18	45

D. Watanabe 19 pts  5/9 FTs

J. Mandaquit 14 pts  1 3pm  7/7 FTs

MANOA—The stakes were high and the Raiders delivered.

No. 4 Iolani held off a late charge from No. 2 Punahou to win, 50-45 at Hemmeter Fieldhouse to end the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I regular season on a high note and clinched a coveted state tournament berth.

A young trio of Raiders (9-3) led by JJ Mandaquit (freshman) with 14 points, Aaron Claytor (sophomore) added 11 points and Nela Taliauli (sophomore) chipped in 11 off the bench to help the visitors finish second in the rugged ILH.

"After you get past a couple games, you're no longer what your year or grade states. When you get on the court, age doesn't matter at this point already. You just have to go out there as you're supposed to and I'm just proud," Iolani coach Ryan Hirata said.

"We trusted each other the whole game, our team had our backs," Claytor said.

The Buffanblu dropped their second-straight game to fall to 7-5 and will face fifth seed Kamehameha-Kapalama in the postseason tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. at Hemmeter Fieldhouse. Earlier in the afternoon, Maryknoll (8-4) defeated Kamehameha (5-7) in overtime, 49-43, to secure the third seed and will face the winner of Mid-Pacific/Damien at the Clarence T. C. Ching Gymnasium on the same night. The final state tournament berth will be up for grabs.

Iolani makes their first appearance in the Heide & Cook/HHSAA Basketball Championships since 2019 and joins No. 1 Saint Louis, who punched their ticket on Thursday. The Raiders' next game is on Friday, Feb. 18 at 5 p.m. and will face the winner of Thursday's matchup. The Crusaders will play Friday's winner on Saturday, Feb. 19. 

"It's a gauntlet and the tournament is going to be crazy. Now we have to play our best basketball right now. I think we're starting to do that, hopefully we get some good results," Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said.

It has been a remarkable turnaround for Iolani after they went winless in the 2019-2020 ILH season and it was a steady climb to get back.

"The journey is part of the process. The kids worked extremely hard during the offseason. We grew a ton from start to finish and I'm so proud of our guys. It goes back to our program's heritage of One Team. Sacrifice, finishing games and I couldn't be more proud of this team and teams before to be an Iolani alum and represent this program," Hirata said.

"It helped put a chip on our shoulder and we were the underdogs coming in and we had to prove it to someone every game," Claytor said.

Drake Watanabe led all scorers with 19 points and brought the Buffanblu within four early in the fourth quarter.

"Drake was aggressive tonight, which we needed. He made some smart plays down the stretch and I think this is one of his better games for us and he needs to play like that the next couple games for us to make states," Matsuda said of Watanabe.

After Taliauli split a pair of free throws, Peyton Macapulay had a layup in transition and Watanabe drew a fourth foul on Claytor to go to the line. He sank both free throws to get Punahou within one, 36-35.

"They're a great team too," Hirata said. "It was their senior night and they weren't going to let us come here and just win it. Unfortunately it came at a big wave and you have to find ways to win. In this league and this time of the year, you have to find ways to win. Hats off to Punahou, our league is really tough. Anytime you get a road win, doesn't matter against who, it's a big win."

The next possessions for the Raiders resulted in Mandaquit and Bailey Bumanglag each splitting free throws for a three-point lead. Watanabe and Macapulay each missed an opportunity to tie the game up, but Watanabe converted a cut from the baseline to trail, 38-37.

Mandaquit and Macapulay traded free throws until Taliauli made the layup as he was fouled and completed the three-point play to make it, 43-39.

"Nela is a nutcracker. He does everything for us and he's a football player and he's not scared of anything on the court and it helps our team," Claytor said of his classmate.

Drake Watanabe hit the first free throw but missed the second but brother Dash was there to clean it up to trail by one again.

Bumanglag went 3 for 4 from the free throw line to extend the lead to 46-42 with 52.5 seconds left in the fourth. Tucker Lam hit Punahou's only 3-pointer of the game from the right wing.

"Bailey is the hammer. Defense, made a big layup to start the third and knocked down free throws, he's an awesome guy," Hirata said.

After Claytor was fouled and he made both free throws, Punahou went the length of the court and set up Lam, who was wide-open for a 3-pointer on the left wing, but the shot rimmed out.

"That was a play we set up. That's the best you can ask for, a great shot and it looked good. We didn't practice that, we drew it up, but I'm proud of the guys," Matsuda said.

The Buffanblu pressured the Raiders on the inbounds, deflecting it twice before Iolani got it in to Mandaquit, who put the game away with two free throws with 8.8 seconds left.

"I'm proud of our guys for staying the course and the staying in the moment and bringing us back in it. Unfortunately, we just couldn't get over the hump, we were right there and we were at the door a few times. We couldn't get over the hump today," Matsuda said.

Iolani took a 16-11 lead into the second quarter after Taliauli drained a triple from the left corner. He got to the rim twice early in the second and Mandaquit added a drive to give the Raiders an 11 point advantage. Punahou managed to get within eight, but Claytor's free throw put Iolani up, 31-21 at halftime.

"Whenever it was open, I took it and I didn't force anything, I let it come to me. It was my teammates, they opened it up. JJ, Jack (Jones) driving, Nela attacking and rebounding, it opened everything up," Claytor said.

"They knew their ticket was on the line and they hit us with a buzz saw and we got caught up in the emotion of senior night. They were hitting everything and tough shots. We weren't defending as we needed to. We settled down a little bit in the tail end of the third and fourth quarter and we made it a game," Matsuda said.

Bumanglag gave Iolani their largest lead of the game off a layup but both teams struggled from the field until Kekai Burnett made Punahou's first basket around the 2:38 mark.

"When you're down by 10, especially with a young team, it has a psychological effect. We were down by 12 at one point. We had to settle down and execute. Once we settled down and understood what we needed to do, things started dropping for us and we got back on course," Matsuda said.

Balen Rigg hit a pair of free throws to get the Buffanblu within six, but Claytor was fouled as he made the reverse layup, but missed the free throw for a 35-27 lead going into the final stanza.

"Aaron is so young, but he's going to be so good. Nela came off a state championship from football and he helps us with the energy and I can't say enough about our guys," Hirata said.

Bumanglag and Jack Jones each finished with six points and Macapulay was Punahou's second leading scorer with six points.

Iolani shot 16 for 24 (66.6 percent) while Punahou finished 14 for 20 (70 percent).