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Brandon Ching | ScoringLiveDecember 31, 2022, 7:50am
Fri, Dec 30, 2022 @ Punahou
For the second night in a row, Oakwood (North Hollywood, California) pulled off another thriller and took down Saint Louis, 51-50, to win the Punahou Invitational at Hemmeter Fieldhouse Friday.
It was a nice homecoming for Oakwood coach Steve Smith, whose father Fred "Lucky" Smith, played for the University of Hawaii and he served the ball boy. This was his first trip back to the islands in 20 years.
Ben Eisendrath led a trio of Owls in double-digit scoring with 14 points, five boards, and five steals. Oliver Ford added 11 points and Peyton Slaughter with 10.
"I thought the competition was really good. There are some good Hawaii teams here such as Punahou and Saint Louis," Eisendrath said. "This was super fun for team bonding and four wins under our belt was huge."
Pupu Sepulona was fouled by TJ Boyd with 6.8 seconds but missed both free throws as Eisendrath was fouled after grabbing the rebound. He missed his free throw and after some confusion, Saint Louis inbounded the ball on their own baseline.
Boyd (nine points) who hit the game-winning 3-pointer for the Owls to beat host Punahou, 58-57, had a game-saving deflection to end the game.
"That's the game. It's not a perfect game. I had my best player at the free throw line and he misses. But we made the defensive stop. I knew they were going to go to number 35 (Sepulona) and I had to put Ben on him and double him and they tried to force it to him and we got the steal," Smith said.
"It was down to the wire. We got some experience under our belts. Hopefully I make free throws next time. They're really good and Pupu is really good so we game planned for him in the huddle. We double teamed him and they tried to go for it and TJ (Boyd) stepped up big and got a steal," Eisendrath added.
Sepulona averaged 22.0 points per game in the tournament and poured in a game-high 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the loss.
"Oh my goodness. His athleticism, his agility and quickness along with his strength. He's a high school version in terms of athleticism like LeBron James. He's huge, you can't do anything with him, then you go out on him, he goes right by you. He has a spin dribble," Smith said of Sepulona.
The Crusaders built a 10 point lead in the first quarter after gashing Oakwood by scoring off backdoor cuts. Owen Sacchi drained a 3-pointer from the left corner to trail, 18-11 going into the second stanza.
"Our on-ball pressure wasn't good enough. Our on-ball pressure was opening up the pass to the flash to allow it to go backdoor and we adjusted our feet so they couldn't hit that guy. Whoever was on the person flashing had to do a better job of jumping to the ball and not trailing him but beating him to the spot," Smith explained.
Saint Louis maintained a seven point lead but Oakwood made a run and cut it to two after Slaughter split a pair of free throws. Sepulona was able to convert a lob from Keanu Meacham, but Ford hit a 3-pointer to trail, 28-27 going into halftime.
Boyd's basket to open the third quarter gave the Owls their first lead since early in the first quarter and Eisendrath extended it to three after a steal in transition.
Jordan Posiulai scored the Crusaders' first points with a free throw at the 5:02 mark, but Ford sank a pair of foul shots and Eisendrath's putback gave Oakwood their biggest lead, 35-29 to force a timeout from Saint Louis.
Sepulona scored the next six points and tied the game at 35 after making a baseline reverse layup as he was fouled. He drove left and was fouled again and converted the 3-point play.
Eisendrath answered with a bucket and Boyd drove baseline for a 39-38 lead, but Shancin Revuelto threw a skip-pass to Sepulona in the corner and he knocked down the triple for a 41-39 lead going into the fourth.
Eisendrath scored four points to open the fourth, but Jordan Nunuha hit a 3-pointer to set off a 7-0 run. The Owls chipped away and Eisendrath drew Sepulona's fourth foul with 3:27 to go and sank both free throws to make it, 50-49.
"We made some big plays down the stretch, Oliver hit a big-time midrange and TJ got a big-time and-one and Hayden had a big-time steal so it was an all-around win," Eisendrath said.
Ford made the final and go-ahead basket off a tip in and Oakwood drained the clock before Eisendrath was fouled with 18.2 seconds left.
"They are very well-coached, they know how to play the game the right way and to beat them, you have to execute. They're not going to beat themselves. They're used to playing without a shot clock and We had to put some things so playing defense for a minute or minute and a half is something we're not used to. They are great teams and would do well on the Mainland," Smith said, complimenting the competition.
The Crusaders shot 9 of 16 from the free throw line while the Owls shot 6 of 11. Saint Louis dominated the boards, out rebounding Oakwood, 28 to 13.
Saint Louis opens up Interscholastic League of Honolulu play at Mid-Pacific on Jan. 3 and hosts No. 3 Punahou on Jan. 5 and No. 9 Kamehameha on Jan. 7.
Punahou 57, Cathedral Catholic 45
The Buffanblu clinch third place after defeating the Dons from San Diego, California. Punahou got hot from the perimeter hitting eight 3-pointers. Dillon Kellner had a team-high 13 points and a pair of triples, Ayndra Uperesa-Thomas hit three 3-pointers to finish with 12, and Tucker Lam had a pair of 3s to end with 10.
The first quarter was tied up at 17 but Punahou outscored Cathedral Catholic 19 to 8 in the second stanza to take a 36-25 lead at halftime.
Shea Fitzgerald had 16 points and Tre Lucia added 12 to lead the Dons in scoring.
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