OIA Boys Basketball
No. 4 Kailua rallies by Roosevelt to cap undefeated OIA regular season


  



Wed, Jan 18, 2023 @ Roosevelt


Final 1 2 3 4  
Kailua (12-1, 23-7) 8 12151045
Roosevelt (8-5, 12-6) 21 7 7 944
K. Lewis 17 pts  1 3pm  10/14 FTs
J. Philbrick 25 pts  3 3pm  6/8 FTs
B. Brumaghim 6 tot  2 off  4 def
N. Iwaki 7 tot  2 off  5 def

Jonny Philbrick took over to score 25 points and made a key deflection at the end to rally No. 4 Kailua to a thrilling, 45-44 win over Roosevelt in their regular season finale at the Rough Riders' gymnasium Wednesday.

The Surfriders end the Oahu Interscholastic Association East regular season with a 10-0 record to lock up the division's top seed heading into the playoffs.

"Two years in a row to win the East and that's a huge accomplishment for our program," Kailua coach Wally Marciel said.

Elijah Stietzel, Noa Donnelly, and Nai Iwaki each scored six and Iwaki added hustle off the bench for seven boards.

Kayman Lewis led the Rough Riders with 17 and hit 10 of his 14 free throw attempts. Mateo Browning added 10, Blaise Brumaghim chipped in eight and Kainalu Davis with seven but fell to 7-2 in the OIA East.

The Rough Riders travel to Kahuku (8-1) on Saturday to wrap up the regular season. If Roosevelt wins and Moanalua (7-2) beats Farrington (2-7), there could be a three-way tie for second.

Stietzel was fouled on a putback attempt 11.7 seconds in the fourth. He made the first of the one-and-one free throw to give Kailua a 45-44 lead and missed the second attempt and the Rough Riders secured the rebound.

With 6.5 seconds left, Blaise Brumaghim inbounded the ball to Amadeus Browning, who tried to get it to Kayman Lewis, but Philbrick knocked it out of bounds near the Kailua bench. With 0.4 seconds left, Lewis could not handle Mateo Browning's inbound pass as time ticked off and the Surfriders preserved the win.

"We knew it was going to go to their best player Kayman (Lewis). He's a great player and I knew he was going to get it. So when he got that up screen, I just jumped for the ball and got that tip," Philbrick said of the defensive play.

"Jonny is a four-year varsity player and we look to him being the leader. Him taking the shot a few seconds left, that's him he can do it. A lot leadership and it showed tonight," Marciel said.

Roosevelt raced out to a 8-0 run capped by Brumaghim's putback. After Stietzel got the Surfriders on the scoreboard, Davis extended the lead to 15-2 after a 3-pointer. Philbrick hit two of his three 3-pointers but the Rough Riders scored the next five points off of Lewis' free throws and Brumaghim hit a floater before the buzzer to take a 21-8 lead going into the second.

"We sped up the game more. In the first two quarters, you have to credit Roosevelt. They did an outstanding job, they plugged the middle up and forced us to take shots we don't usually take. All the credit goes to them," Marciel said.

Roosevelt's defensive pressure led to turnovers and frustration fouls in the period.

"Steve Hathaway is an awesome coach. He gets his team playing at the highest level and he's outstanding. It wasn't like we were taking bad shots. Credit them, we didn't get second rebounds like we usually do and that was our talk at half to get more rebounds and it showed in the second half," Marciel said.

Mateo Browning canned a 3-pointer in the left corner and Amadeus Browning, who had five steals, scored a layup in transition to give Roosevelt a 26-8 lead. Donnelly got the Surfriders on track with a bucket in the paint and Philbrick added a pair of free throws.

Mateo Browning's field goal put Roosevelt up, 28-12 but Kailua answered with an 8-0 run. Maddox Pung and Stietzel each had putbacks and Philbrick's steal cut the deficit down to 10. Philbrick threw a two-handed pass over his head to Iwaki, who converted it as Kailua trailed, 28-20 going into halftime.

"That was momentum for us. That helped out," Marciel said.

"Our coaches kept telling us to keep playing hard, keep playing our game and stay focused. Once we started doing that playing our game and pressing up, we got steals and deflections, it totally energized our team," Philbrick said.

Philbrick took over to open the third quarter scoring six of the Surfriders' eight points to tie the game at 28.

"Second half we made some adjustments, we wanted to speed up the game even more. We came up with a full court and half court press. We adjusted the offense toward the pack in," Marciel said.

Donnelly's putback at the 3:35 mark gave Kailua the lead momentarily but Brumaghim tied it at 30. Mateo Browning scored off a layup and Lewis hit a triple to force a full timeout with 1:34 to go. Donnelly found Iwaki down low and Philbrick canned a triple to tie the game at 35 heading into the fourth.

"It was a huge weight off our shoulders and we could relax and just play. Everything just felt so tense in the beginning so it was pressure off our backs," Philbrick said of clawing back.

Philbrick tipped in his own miss for a 37-35 lead, but Lewis scored the next four points on five free throw attempts. Philbrick tied it at 39 and found Iwaki near the block but Lewis answered with a drive to tie it at 41. Philbrick drained a jumper and Kailua called a full timeout. Stietzel made the front end of the one-and-one for a 44-41 lead with 2:10 left.

"In the first half, I felt like I was rushing it. I was getting offensive fouls. My coaches were telling me when I get into the paint, slow down and look for my shot and look for my teammates," Philbrick said, who scored 15 of his 25 points in the second half.

Lewis missed the second double bonus free throw but his jumper fell with over 52 seconds left on the clock to tie the game at 44. Amadeus Browning was fouled with 30.1 seconds left but missed both free throws to give Kailua a chance.



Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].




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