HHSAA Boys Basketball
Buffanblu dethrone Crusaders for first state title since 2018, 12th overall


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
February 22, 2025, 8:03am

  

Fri, Feb 21, 2025 @ Stan Sheriff

Punahou

43

Saint Louis

40

Final 1 2 3 4  
Punahou (9-5, 28-8) 4 12161143
Saint Louis (13-0, 32-2) 11 11 6 1240
Caelan Fernando 11 pts  1 3pm  2/4 FTs
Dane Kellner 13 pts  1 3pm  0/1 FTs
Pupu Sepulona 7 tot  3 off  4 def
Zion White 14 tot  2 off  12 def


MANOA — A changing of the guard took place Friday night. 

Dane Kellner scored 11 of his 13 points after halftime to help No. 2 Punahou dethrone three-time defending champion Saint Louis, 43-40, in the title game of the HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball State Championships. 

A crowd of about 2,000 fans at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center saw the Buffanblu (28-8) deny the top-ranked Crusaders' (32-2) run at a four-peat and in the process laid claim to their first state crown since 2018. 

Zion White and Dash Watanabe scored nine points apiece and White also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for Punahou, which captured its 12th state championship in program history.

Buffanblu coach Darren Matsuda praised his team's ability to overcome adversity. Just two weeks prior, a championship run seemed like a far-fetched scenario after a hand injury ended the season of the sophomore wing Tanoa Scanlan, who was averaging a team-best 18 points per game at the time. 

"Well, I mean, just to win is an incredible feeling and especially for this team, because two weeks ago, like I said, probably none of us believed we would even be here and the very lesson is the life lessons we had on this journey. I mean, they know that adversity makes you, it doesn't break you and I think them finishing this season how we did is something that they're always gonna remember, something they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives," Matsuda said. 

Matsuda's squad finished runner-up to Saint Louis in an ultra-competitive ILH season, but won six of its final seven games en route to their state crown. He noted that in addition to altering the starting lineup, the team was forced to adjust the way they played as well without Scanlan available. 

"I'm just really proud of them, proud of our team and proud of our staff and just sticking with it, just fighting, just kept fighting and going it through," Matsuda said. 

HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships

Division I All-Tournament Team
(as selected by the media and HHSAA)
Caelan Fernando, Saint Louis
Tate Takamiya, Punahou
Trey Ambrozich, University Lab
Pupu Sepulona, Saint Louis
Ronin Naihe, Kahuku
Most Outstanding Player: Zion White, Punahou

In the same breath, he also tipped his cap to the Crusaders, who went undefeated in league play and compiled a 32-2 overall record this winter. 

"For Saint Louis, hats off to them. You know, to win three in a row is unbelievable at any level. They're great champions and we were fortunate to get this one, but I mean, hats off to those guys for the run they had," Matsuda said. 

Kellner, a junior guard, shot 6 of 7 from the field and made his only attempt from beyond the arc. He also grabbed five rebounds and two steals. Kellner played 31 minutes and had two assists against just two rebounds. Matsuda noted that Kellner played a key role defensively as he was matched up against Crusaders' guard Caelan Fernando. 

"It was funny because his defensive assignment was Caelan and I said, ‘You're going to have a great game today,' but I thought it was gonna be on the defensive end and he did play well defensively, but he gave me a great game offensively, too — just attacking, living up to the moment, rising to the moment, hit some key shots — and I'm really happy for him. I'm really proud of him and happy for him. I mean, in a big game he really played awesome for us and that really contributed greatly to our win," Matsuda said. 

Kellner gave Punahou its first lead of the night with his tip-in putback with 1:44 left in the third quarter. That inched the Buffanblu ahead, 29-28, and was part of a tide-turning 14-2 run they used to close out the third quarter. 

Kellner said the key to the turnaround came on the defensive end. He noted that much of the talk at halftime centered around hunkering down defensively. 

"Halftime we were focusing on defense a lot — that helped us get back. I mean, it wasn't a high-scoring game, so I think the defense is kind of what won us the game. On offense we were slowing down, we took good shots and we didn't rush anything," Kellner said. 

Matsuda credited assistant Steve Hathaway for the change on defense. 

"We made some adjustments at halftime and they were the right adjustments. Our coaching staff did a really good job of getting together, trying to figure stuff out and trying to make the adjustments. I mean, Steve said, ‘Let's go zone,' and I go, ‘OK, we haven't done zone all year, but let's do it,' and we actually practiced it just in case we got into this situation and we never practice zone, but we practiced it for this game and it worked, so you know, that's what a collaborative coaching staff does, they work together," Matsuda said. 

Saint Louis managed just six points on 3-of-11 shooting in the third quarter. What was a 22-16 halftime lead for the Crusaders turned into a 32-28 deficit to start the fourth quarter. 

"I think on the defensive end we were locking up, our 2-3 (zone) worked pretty well and then on the offensive side we were just moving the ball well," said Kellner, who passed the praise to his teammates for finding him on the offensive end. 

"A lot of that was just because they were layups and I shoutout my guys because they were looking for me on cuts and stuff so it made it easy. We were sharing the ball a lot, so I think that's what helped us come back," Kellner said. 

Punahou led by as many as eight at the 3:56 mark of the fourth quarter after Kellner's layup that was set up by Dash Watanabe. However, Saint Louis chipped away over the next three-plus minutes and eventually cut it to a one-point game after Pupu Sepulona's free throw pulled his team to within 41-40 with 11.8 seconds to play. 

Much like he did the night prior in Punahou's semifinal win over University Lab, Houston Hosoda got to the free throw line in the closing seconds and swished both of his attempts. Hosoda's free throws made it a 43-40 advantage for the Buffanblu with 7.9 seconds remaining. 

"Houston, probably the best free throw shooter on our team, so once I saw them foul him and he walked up to the line, I felt super confident — I know he did, too — so yeah, I was kind of getting deja vu from the last game, but yeah, I was super confident in him," Kellner said. 

Saint Louis had a chance to tie it on the game's final possession. It got the ball to Shancin Revuelto on the left wing, but his 3-pointer was no good as time expired. 

"We were up by 3, main thing in the timeout before we were just saying, ‘Main thing is don't foul. We don't wanna give up any stupid foul and give them three free throws.' We said if they get inside the 3-point line, just let ‘em go and anything else just hard contest and that's what we do well," Kellner said. 

Saint Louis opened the game on a 7-0 run that included six points by Fernando. His floater from the right elbow gave his team a 4-0 lead and his 3-pointer from the right wing about 30 seconds later made it a 7-0 cushion. 

The Crusaders led by as many as 10 in the first half on Jordan Nunuha's pull-up jumper from 16 feet that made the score 21-11 with 2:27 left until the break. However, Punahou got a bucket in transition by Tate Takamiya on a feed from White and pulled to within 21-16 on a 3-pointer by Ethan Chung from the right wing about a minute later. 

After it shot 18.2 percent (2 of 11) from the field in the first quarter, Punahou went 15 of 29 (51.7 percent) the rest of the way. 

"It was a good game," Saint Louis coach Dan Hale said. "I mean, they made one more play than we did and really all of our games played against them, I mean, they were tough. They deserved it, they made the plays when they had to. They hit some shots and in the end they got the rhythm and we fought valiantly, but in the end it just wasn't enough."

Fernando led the Crusaders with 11 points. Sepulona was held to nine points and seven rebounds and Keanu Meacham contributed eight points in the loss. 

Saint Louis starting guard Stone Kanoa, who suffered a left arm injury in Thursday's semifinal win over Kahuku, played just five minutes of the opening quarter, but was unable to continue. In addition to being without Kanoa for much of the contest, Revuelto played through a right-hand injury that severely limited him on the offensive end. He still managed to scored six points and played all 32 minutes. 

Kanoa, Revuelto, Sepulona and Fernando make up much of the Crusaders' senior class that Hale reflected upon after the loss. 

"I think that's the hardest part with this is that these guys all fought for their whole career and my seniors wanted to go out on top and to not have that happen, that's a tough reality, but that's life — it's a life lesson and there were a lot of other seniors that over the years we went with the same feeling after — so when the dust settles and stuff, I'm sure they can look back and be proud of what they did for the school and our community," Hale said. 

The Buffanblu had lost all three previous meetings against the Crusaders this season, most recently a 63-56 defeat at Clarence T.C. Ching Gymnasium on Feb. 12. 

Punahou avenged a 48-39 loss to Saint Louis in last year's state final. 

Matsuda applauded his team's resiliency and commitment to one another since the heartache of losing to the Crusaders a year ago. 

"They put team first, the really enjoy each other — and that's a key component of any championship team, that they really love each other — and that they're willing to put team first and these kids did a great job with that," Matsuda said. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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