HHSAA Boys Basketball
Unranked Kalaheo shocks No. 5 Mililani in the opening round


  

Mon, Feb 19, 2024 @ Mililani


Final 1 2 3 4  
Kalaheo (11-3, 21-15) 14 9121651
Mililani (12-1, 21-6) 11 9 16 1248




MILILANI — The Kalaheo boys basketball team ain't done yet.

The unranked Mustangs went on the road Monday night and stunned No. 5 Mililani, 51-48, in the opening round of the Heide & Cook Boys Basketball Championships.

Junior guard CJ Bostic scored 15 points with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals in 32 minutes of action as Kalaheo (20-13) advances to play fourth-seeded Baldwin in a 5 p.m. quarterfinal at Punahou's Hemmeter Fieldhouse Thursday. The team is seeking its first state title since 2015.

Jaron Gilmore scored 13 points with six boards and Joshua Schutter poured in 11 points and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer from the left wing in the fourth quarter to put the Mustangs up for good, 41-38.

Kalaheo was the aggressors early, getting to the free throw line 10 times in the first half while the Trojans didn't have a single attempt at the charity stripe before the break. Mililani's first free throw attempt came with 42.4 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

As a team, the Mustangs shot 15 of 19 from the line while the Trojans just shot 6 of 7 from there.

Gilmore was the leading player to get to the line as he generated seven of his 13 points from the stripe.

Free throws ultimately were the difference as it helped offset Mililani shot blocker Timothy Dorn (16 points, five blocks) and balanced out a game where the Trojans shot 50 percent from the field (20 of 40).

Turnovers were also critical. Kalaheo recorded 11 total steals and forced Mililani into 15 turnovers while the Mustangs only gave up eight turnovers on their end.

Bostic made the winning plays in the fourth quarter to secure the victory over the Trojans, who rallied from a 33-26 third-quarter deficit to take a 36-35 lead heading into the final period of play. He had the assist to Schutter for the go-ahead triple after gathering his own miss and had a bounce pass to Gilmore in transition to push Kalaheo's lead to 43-40.

The junior guard then converted on a three-point play opportunity to make it a 46-42 game at the 2:47 mark of the fourth quarter before scoring another bucket to give the Mustangs a six-point lead with 1:48 left in regulation.



Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].



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