OIA Boys Basketball
West side story between Sabers, Trojans to decide OIA champ in Division I


  



Mon, Jan 30, 2023 @ Radford


Final 1 2 3 4  
Campbell (12-1, 25-6) 15 11101551
Kailua (12-1, 23-7) 15 11 13 1049
J. Philbrick 14 pts  1 3pm  1/2 FTs
M. Jackson 14 pts  2 3pm  0/0 FTs
M. Pung 9 tot  4 off  5 def
M. Muaau 6 tot  3 off  3 def

ALIAMANU — It will be a west side story for the Oahu Interscholastic Association boys basketball championship Wednesday. 

Seventh-ranked Campbell and sixth-ranked Mililani will square off for the second time this season when they meet for the league's Division I crown at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium. 

The Sabers (11-1), the No. 2 seed out of the Western Division, rallied past East top seed and fifth-ranked Kailua, 51-49, in the first game of Monday's semifinal doubleheader at Radford. In the nightcap, the West top-seeded Trojans (12-0) staved off No. 10 Leilehua, the third seed out of the West, by a score of 40-37. 

Campbell knocked the Surfriders (11-1) from the unbeaten ranks despite playing without its leading scorer in Rondell Blenman-Villarreal (13.6 points per game). The senior swingman was injured in a quarterfinal win over Moanalua Friday night. 

"We know this season means a lot to him, so we wanted to win this game for him and get him back soon so we can win this championship with him and get a banner for the first time in school history," said junior guard Josh Ellis. 

It was Ellis's pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds to play that broke a 49-all tie and put the Sabers ahead for good. Kailua was able to get off a shot before the final buzzer, but Jonny Philbrick's desperation heave from 28 feet was short. 

Philbrick had tied it at 49 just seconds earlier after he drained a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining. However, on the Sabers' ensuing possession, Ellis was able to draw contact from a Kailua defender, who was whistled for a foul. That sent Ellis to the free-throw line for his second one-and-one opportunity in the game's final minute; He missed the front end of the first one with 38.1 seconds left. 

"In my opinion, I don't think I got fouled but I think I sold it hard enough — I threw my head back — but yeah, I don't think I got fouled, but we'll take it," Ellis admitted. 

Regardless of the foul, Campbell coach Wyatt Tau called Ellis's decision the right one. 

"He's one of our better free-throw shooters and I trust Josh's game. He likes to attack the basket, so either way he was going to get fouled. Either he makes the basket and they let him go, or he as gonna get fouled — and his instinct was that he was gonna go to the basket; He had ‘em beat," said Tau, who opted not to use his final timeout after Philbrick's game-tying triple. 

"I took a chance on him making the right decision and he did and it just so happened to pay off on the free-throw line and he's one of our best free-throw shooters," Tau added. 

Prior to stepping to the charity stripe, Ellis took a few extra seconds to himself. 

"I was just telling myself, ‘I'm him. I can hit this. There's no pressure. None of this noise is going to interrupt me in my routine and I'm gonna hit this,' " Ellis said. 

He did just that. 

Ellis scored seven of his nine points in the final quarter. 

Malik Jackson and Mizah Carreira scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, to pace the Sabers. Jackson hit two 3-pointers in the first half, while Carreira was responsible for eight of his team's 10 points in the third quarter. Miles Hornage added eight points and four assists in the win. 

Philbrick led Kailua in scoring but was held to a season-low 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field. He did record six of his team's 10 assists, but also turned it over four times. 

The Surfriders shot 61.1 percent (11 of 18) on field goals in the first quarter, but cooled off considerably after halftime, when they shot just 10 of 26 (38.7 percent).

"We were adjusting too late in the first half, but our adjustment in the second half is what paid off," Tau said. 

Dylan Kunz made three 3-pointers off the bench and finished with 11 points for Kailua. Noa Donnelly and Maddox Pung each tallied nine points and nine rebounds. Donnelly also had three blocks, one assist and a steal and Pung chipped in a couple of assists. 

Campbell shot 39.3 percent (11 of 28) from the field in the first half and 47.6 percent (10 of 21) in the second. 

The score was tied at 26 at halftime. 

Kailua was seeking a second title game appearance in as many years. 

Tau expects Blenman-Villarreal to be available for Wednesday's championship game. 

"We were gonna suit him up just to warm-up today, but we said, nah, rest another day, so he'll go through treatment with our trainers (Tuesday) and then we go from there," Tau said. 

Campbell has yet to win an OIA title in boys basketball. 

"I'm just so proud and so happy for these guys to make it this far. They're good kids, they work hard and they deserve everything they get," Tau said. 

Should the Sabers capture their very first league crown, they will have to wrestle it away from Mililani, which is seeking a second straight championship. 

The Trojans got by the upset-minded Mules (10-3) in a defensive struggle. Both teams struggled shooting the ball — Mililani was 16 of 40 from the field (40 percent) and Leilehua 15 of 42 (35.7 percent) and were each held to season-low scoring outputs. 

"It's cross-town rivals and we respect them (because) we know what they can do," Mililani coach Garrett Gabriel said of the Mules. "They got a talented bunch and I knew the West was tough this year, so I had a feeling that Leilehua, Campbell would be there at the end, because they're both very talented."

The Trojans maintained a slim lead for most of the game. They led by as many as seven points midway through the contest, but the Mules cut it to a one-possession game a couple of times down the stretch. 

Shiloh Caminos-Cooper's free throw with 1:02 to play pulled Leilehua to within 38-35. However, out of a timeout, J Marxen got to the bucket and finished on a designed inbounds play to make the score 40-35 with 42 seconds left. 

Mililani's lead was trimmed to 40-37 with a Zelston Militante layup — that set-up by an Caminos-Cooper offensive rebound — with 26 ticks to go. Militante fouled out moments later, as the Mules were forced to foul, but Marxen's ensuing free throw — the front end of a one-and-one — was off the mark. The rebound came off to the Mules — who were out of timeouts — with under 10 seconds to play. On the final play, Pule Atualevao handed the ball off to Twain Wilson, who eventually got it back to Atualevao, but his 3-pointer from the right corner was no good just as the final buzzer sounded. 

Gabriel and the Trojans could finally breathe a sigh of relief. 

"(Atualevao) did have a good look; I was squeezing," he said. "I was hoping it didn't go in, thank God, but you know, sometimes you need a little luck to be on your side, so we'll take it."

Creighton Ofsonka had 11 points, seven rebounds, two steals and an assist and Marxen posted 10 points, five boards, four assists and three steals to lead Mililani. LeCedric Brown contributed seven points with six rebounds and Lauvao Pine chipped in six points. 

Jayden Kipapa, the Trojans' leading scorer (11.3 points per game) was held to four points on 2-of-12 shooting. He was 0 of 6 from 3-point range and Mililani was 2 of 13 as a team from beyond the arc. 

Leilehua got 12 points from Militante and 11 from Wilson, but as a team, was just 5 of 15 on free throws. The duo accounted for their team's two 3-pointers in the first half — when they were 2 of 4 from distance — but the Mules shot 0 of 6 from 3 after the break. 

"I think the first half was excellent. We did some really good things," said Gabriel, whose team held a 23-16 advantage at the half. "Second half, it was just hard to shut them down for a long period of time because they pressure you so much that there are gonna be turnovers and they're gonna get quick baskets. We just tried to limit the number of runs they had because they're a damn good team; They're scary good."

It was second meeting between the teams this season. Mililani beat Leilehua, 55-46, in the regular-season opener back on Dec. 17. 

A dozen games since then, the Trojans now find themselves on the doorstep of return trip to the OIA championship game. 

"It's something we talked about," Gabriel said. "We're relatively young and not as deep as last year, but like I told them — all fifteen guys — because they work at practice, they run the scout team offense and they do a lot of good stuff to help the top seven, eight players that we have, so it's.a team effort. A lot of people will say, 'They're not playing,' but in this case I think everyone should be proud to get back with a chance for us to repeat."

Mililani beat Campbell in the regular season, 58-52 at home, on Jan. 13. 

"We know we're in for another tough one," Gabriel said. "We just gotta go back to the drawing board and hopefully we can squeak out one more game."

Tip-off between the Trojans and Sabers is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. It will be preceded the Division II title game between Farrington (4-8) and Kalani (4-7) at 5:30 p.m. 

Kailua will host Leilehua for third place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. 



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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