HHSAA Boys Basketball
Crusaders come to life in final quarter to deny Red Raiders, set for rematch with Buffanblu


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
February 21, 2025, 12:21am

  

Thu, Feb 20, 2025 @ McKinley

Kahuku

31

Saint Louis

38

Final 1 2 3 4  
Kahuku (11-2, 21-10) 11 67731
Saint Louis (13-0, 32-2) 10 3 7 1838
Pupu Sepulona 16 pts  8/10 FTs
Benson Goo 8 pts  0/1 FTs
Keanu Meacham 7 tot  7 def
Benson Goo 5 tot  1 off  4 def


KAKAAKO — These Crusaders are not pau yet. 

Pupu Sepulona scored a game-high 16 points to help No. 1 Saint Louis fend off a valiant charge from No. 9 Kahuku for a 38-31 win in the semifinals of the HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball State Championships Thursday night. 

The Crusaders (32-1) overcame an eight-point third-quarter deficit against the Red Raiders (20-10) to keep their hopes for a fourth straight state crown alive. 

Those hopes looked to be in jeopardy after three quarters as Kahuku, the fifth-place team out of the OIA, took a 24-20 lead into the final stanza, but that's when the tournament's top seed came to life. 

Sepulona muscled his way inside for an easy bucket just 13 seconds into the fourth quarter to spur Saint Louis. After a stop on the defensive end, Caelan Fernando cherry-picked another bunny to to even the score at 24. 

Kahuku briefly reclaimed the lead with Mystique Akina-Watson's 17-foot jumper on its ensuing possession, but Shannon Revuelto — playing with a heavily wrapped right hand — drained a 3-pointer from the right wing to put the Crusaders back in front. It was Revuelto's only made field goal of the night. 

Sepulona got to the free throw line and made both attempts to make it a 29-26 advantage. Saint Louis stretched it to a five-point lead when Sepulona found Jordan Nunuha on a backdoor cut. Nunuha converted the look from point blank before Sepulona went back to the line with 2:49 to play and made both free throws. That gave his team a seven-point cushion. 

"We started off slow at first and then we bounced back," said Sepulona, who made just four shots from the field but was 8-of-10 shooting from the charity stripe. 

"What you saw, that's overcoming adversity. … I feel like today teaches us that even though we're down, we still cannot give up," Sepulona added. 

Akina-Watson ended Kahuku's scoreless drought of more than five minutes with his finger roll in the lane with 1:29 remaining to pull his team within 33-28. However, Nunuha answered with a layup on the other end and Saint Louis made three of its final four free throws in the last 31 seconds to pull away down the stretch. 

"When you have a bunch of seniors that really want it and we just, you know, we upped the defense and that was the difference and then we got to feed the big guy and get the ball back to him and he started getting legs and getting loose," Crusaders coach Dan Hale said of Sepulona, the reigning two-time All-Hawaii Division I Player of the Year. 

Sepulona had seven points after the first quarter, but was shutout in the second and limited to only three points in the third quarter. He netted six of Saint Louis's 18 fourth-quarter points. 

"Good players do that, right?," Kahuku coach Brandyn Akana said. 

"They kind of struggle, struggle, but before you know it, those good players can turn it around and make stuff happen; that's why they're good and we knew that was gonna happen, but we were hoping that we could kind of keep it under control, but he did go off at the end and got some big points for them," Akana added. 

Saint Louis shot just 20 percent (5 of 25) from the field through the first three quarters, but went 5 of 7 on field goals and 7 of 8 from the free throw line over the final eight minutes. 

"We've kind of been doing this from time to time this year — a little bit stressful for us — but it's all about how much they really, really wanted to get back to this title game and that's what happened," Hale said. "They could have wilted, but they didn't."

Fernando scored eight points with three assists, Keanu Meacham tallied five points with seven rebounds and Revuelto recorded four points, six boards, three assists and three steals. 

"A good team like that, you can hold ‘em down and I knew they were gonna make a run later on and I think they got hot and we kind of turned the ball over at a bad time, we missed some wide-open shots and you know how quick the game changes," Akana said. 

Hale credited the resilience of the Red Raiders, who utilized their length to disrupt Sepulona and the Crusaders for much of the first half. 

You think you got a basket and then you got some long arm coming in and blocking it and so that's just a testament of how good that team is," Hale said. "They had a great game plan — two or three guys on Pupu — and we weren't hitting some shots we normally hit and they got their tempo. It was a great move of getting that tempo kind of slowed and making us having to work every possession and it was a very, very well-coached game by them."

Benson Goo scored eight points and Ronin Naihe and Kashus added seven apiece. Goo and Naihe grabbed five rebounds each, while the latter came up with four of his team's seven blocks. Akina-Watson chipped in six points, three assists and two steals. 

Since it lost to Mililani in the OIA quarterfinals, Kahuku reeled off four straight wins and were a couple of buckets away from its first trip to the state finals since 2018. 

"We're a very young team, so this is great experience for them and I told them, ‘We're gonna be right back here next year.' We went kind of the back way to come in, but I always knew that it was just a matter of time that we would get to this point and they played hard for the last week," Akana said. "They've been really grinding it and putting out, so I'm very, very proud of them."

Saint Louis will be making its 17th all-time appearance in a state championship game, but may be without senior guard Stone Kanoa, who left the game with 3:45 to play after he suffered an apparent left arm injury while diving for a loose ball.

"Yeah, that's tough. We'll have to reassess that one. I thought it was refereed very well — it was just a tough, hard-fought game on both ends with guys going for it, diving for balls and that's what he did; that's how he hurt his arm," Hale said. 

Athletic trainers applied an air cast to Kanoa's left arm. He walked off the court under his own power and was accompanied to a cordoned-off area for further examination. 

The Crusaders will face a familiar opponent Friday night in No. 2 Punahou, which fended off No. 3 University Lab in the early semifinal at McKinley Thursday by a score of 49-46. 

Tate Takamiya tallied a team-high 16 points and Zion White had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds, as well as three assists and two steals, to help the Buffanblu (27-8) earn a return trip to the title game at the expense of the Jr. ‘Bows (21-10). 

It was fourth meeting between the teams this season and the third win for Punahou in the season series. All four of those contests have been decided by no more than three points. 

"I mean, we were expecting that. I told them this game would be, for sure, within six points," Buffanblu coach Darren Matsuda said.

"Usually the teams that win stay together — they ride the ups and downs and they stay the course, stay in moment  — and that's what we had to do because there were a lot of ups and downs in that game and we can't go emotionally with the swings; You just gotta try to stay the course and I thought we did a good job on that," Matsuda added. 

The teams traded runs in the first half. Punahou held a slim 24-23 advantage after two quarters, but found some separation with a 9-0 run in the middle of the third stanza. Takamiya noted that the run was spurred by getting stops on defense against UH Lab's prolific trio of Alika Ahu, Koa Laboy and Trey Ambrozich. 

"Just staying in front of guys like Ahu, Laboy and Ambrozich — we talk about them and their tendencies and what to do — and just being able to help and talk through everything really helped us," said Takamiya, who scored 10 of his points after halftime. 

Matsuda credited Takamiya and the rest of the team's senior leadership for stepping up to fill the void that was left behind when leading scorer Tanoa Scanlan suffered a season-ending hand injury two weeks ago. 

"For all the seniors this is it and so I told them — we had a meeting after Tanoa got hurt and I said, ‘Hey, we're not giving up on the season, it's not fair to you guys. We're gonna ride you guys and you're gonna carry us in a lot of ways because we gotta play as a team and this is it for you guys,' and I think all of them, all of our six seniors have risen to the occasion in different ways," Matsuda said. 

Takamiya made a pair of free throws to give the Buffanblu some breathing room at 47-44 with 1:15 to play. However, Ahu came up with a steal and broke away for a layup about 30 seconds later to against cut it to a one-point game. 

The Jr. ‘Bows got a stop on defense and a key rebound by Aaron Hamada before they called timeout with 24.2 seconds to play. Laboy got the ball in the lane and put up a right-handed shot from about 10 feet, but it rimmed out and Punahou pulled down the board. 

After a couple of timeouts, Houston Hosoda drew a foul with a mere five seconds remaining to get to the line. The senior guard proceeded to make both free throws despite not having taken a shot from either the line nor the field over the first 31-plus minutes of the contest. 

"Houston is money. He's one of the best shooters in the state, if not the best shooter in the state. I have so much confidence in him no matter what, on the line, from 3, anything," Takamiya said. 

UH Lab had a chance to tie it in the final seconds. Ahu had a look from the right wing, but was forced to double-clutch his shot with a defender in his face and it did not drop. 

Jr. ‘Bows coach Ryan Tong said the separation in the final score came down to a few opportunities that his team was unable to capitalize on.

"I think just a couple of turnovers probably at inopportune times. I thought we could be a little more patient offensively and been a little more deliberate with our actions, but overall take nothing away from Punahou," Tong said. 

He went on, "They made us work and vice-versa. I'm proud of our guys for never giving up and what I told them after is, ‘We had a chance to win.' I mean, we closed it and I thought that this was gonna be another Cinderella, at-the-buzzer win and we couldn't have asked for anything better — we had a great look — just ball didn't fall."

Ahu finished with 19 points, Ambrozich registered 12 points with six rebounds, four assists and four blocks, Laboy recorded eight points and Todd McKinney chipped in four rebounds, five points and two assists in the loss. 

"I'm so proud of these guys. I'm proud of the effort throughout the season," Tong said. 

The Jr. ‘Bows, who moved up from D2 this year, were seeking their first top-tier state final since 1988. 

"I know there's a lot of people that questioned our move to Division I and whether that was warranted or not, but I think we proved to everyone in the state that we do belong and I'm excited for our opportunity next year," Tong said. 

Meanwhile, the Buffanblu will be playing in their 25th state championship in program history and seventh under Matsuda. 

Friday's title game will be a rematch of last year's final, which went the Crusaders' way by a score of 48-39. 

Punahou and Saint Louis will meet in the D1 title game at 7 p.m. at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. 

Kahuku and University will face off for third place at 1 p.m. Friday.


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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