Roosevelt's Kamuela Kaaihue (35) puts up a shot between Leilehua's Malcolm Nichols (22) and Oshyn Nobbman (15). Kaaihue scored 18 points in the win against the Mules. CJ Caraang | SL

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Mon, Feb 14, 2022 @ Leilehua

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Roosevelt

49

Leilehua

46

Final	1	2	3	4
Roosevelt (10-5, 10-6)	17	10	11	11	49
Leilehua (10-3, 10-5)	20	12	4	10	46

M. Nichols 14 pts  3 3pm  1/1 FTs

K. Kaaihue 18 pts  2/3 FTs

WAHIAWA — Survive and advance. 

Kamuela Kaaihue scored a game-high 18 points and Jaydan Gaopao-Montgomery had 10 to help Roosevelt to a 49-46 upset of Leilehua on Monday night. 

A crowd of about 200 fans at Paul T. Kobayashi Gymnasium saw the visiting Rough Riders improve to 10-3 and secure a spot in Tuesday's semifinals of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I boys basketball tournament. 

"That was a team win," said Roosevelt coach Steve Hathaway, whose team played without leading scorer Kayman Lewis (11.9 points per game) and fellow starting guard Kody Seguancia (8.3 ppg). 

With the pair unavailable due to injuries, Hathaway used a seven-man rotation. Kainalu Davis tallied seven points, Mateo Browning had six on two 3-pointers and Zane Whitney added five points off the bench. 

"Man, it feels good. I'm proud of our team. I think the guys that had to step up tonight that don't play as much really stepped up; Zane Whitney gave us great minutes tonight," Hathaway said. 

The Rough Riders overcame 23 turnovers with a superb second-half defensive effort — the Mules managed just 14 points after the break — and some blue-collar rebounding down the stretch. 

"We had a ton of turnovers, but I think we overcame and we played good enough defense to get it done and to miss your starting backcourt — I don't think anybody gave us a chance in that game, but I told the boys before the game that ‘I didn't come this far just to lay down, so they fed off that, I think, and they have the same attitude," Hathaway said. 

For Kaaihue, a junior post, he took that as a personal challenge. 

"Oh yeah. We just had to step up because Kody and Kayman, they're such a big role on our team, but to me, that's to the point where I gotta step up and do my part even more and even with these other guys, push these other guys to do their best."

Kaaihue had a dozen points by halftime, but Leilehua held a 32-27 lead at the intermission. 

However, Roosevelt opened the second half on an 8-0 run that coincided with a scoreless drought of more than four and a half minutes for the Mules. 

"It was big," Hathaway said of his team's start to the third quarter. 

"At halftime we kind of adjusted. I think we were chasing a little bit on the 3-2 (zone), so we kind of adjusted and sagged our top guy — because they weren't really looking to shoot from the top — so I think we did a better job of taking the 3 away from them and we rebounded our butts off," Hathaway said. "That's what I told ‘em: ‘No more second-chance points,' and I think we did a great job on that."

Leilehua tied the score at 38 on a Keawe Andres fast break layup just 30 seconds into the fourth quarter. Roosevelt surged ahead after back-to-back buckets by Whitney and a basket by Kaaihue that was assisted by Davis to take its largest lead of the game at 44-38. 

The Mules reclaimed the lead after an Ashtin Martinson 3-pointer capped an 8-1 run for the team home and gave it a narrow 46-45 advantage with 3:19 remaining. 

Roosevelt evened the score at 46 with a Kainoa Mizukami free throw with 1:29 to play and took the lead for good with 54.2 seconds left after Davis made the front end of two free throws. He missed the second, but grabbed the offensive rebound after it was tipped by Kaaihue and was fouled. Davis went to the line with 40.9 seconds left on the clock and made both free throws to extend his team's lead to 49-46. 

Leilehua had two potential game-tying 3-pointers miss off the mark in the final 30 seconds. Gaopao-Montgomery grabbed an important defensive rebound and was fouled with four seconds left. He went to the line, but missed both free throws to leave Leilehua with one last hope, but Austyn Todd's pass for sharpshooter Malcolm Nichols — who had splashed three triples earlier in the game — was stolen by Browning just before time expired. 

"We just had to step up defensively because Leilehua, they're a good offensive team, so we just had to get every little piece that we could," Kaaihue said. "We just had to go out there with a lot of energy and we did the job."

The Mules, who had a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed out of the Western Division, were held nearly 20 points below their average of 65.7 points per game. 

"These guys played outstanding," Hathaway said. "That was the best game I've seen our boys put together, I mean, Zane Whitney stepped up, everybody stepped up and Kamu had the game of his life; He was just unstoppable out there."

Nichols finished with 14 points, Pule Atualevao 12 and Todd 10 for Leilehua, which fell to 9-2 and saw its nine-game win streak snapped.

The Mules suffered their first defeat since Jan. 6, when they opened the OIA West regular season with a 69-35 loss to Mililani. They will host Kalaheo (7-6) in a fifth-place semifinal Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. 

Roosevelt, which finished third in the East, was coming off of a 51-45 win over Nanakuli in Saturday's first round of the 12-team OIA tournament. 

The semifinals, along with Wednesday's championship game, will take place at Moanalua. 

The Rough Riders will face seventh-ranked and undefeated Kailua (12-0) in one semifinal at 5 p.m, while eighth-ranked Kahuku (11-1) will meet No. 6 Mililani (11-0) in the other at approximately 7 p.m. 

All four semifinalists have locked up a spot in next week's Heide & Cook/HHSAA Division I State Championships.