Moanalua jumped out to a 13-0 start, led by 22 points at halftime and then held off Mililani, 52-37, Tuesday night to advance to tomorrow's O'ahu Interscholastic Association boys basketball finals.

Na Menehune improved to 11-7 in league play and will face Kahuku (12-3) at about 7 p.m. Thursday in a showdown at McKinley's Student Council Gym that will be televised live statewide on OC16. The Red Raiders can clinch the championship with a victory; if they lose, a one-game, winner-take-all playoff will be played on Saturday.

"We're a much better team than we were in December," Moanalua coach Greg Tacon said.

Na Menehune began the regular season at 0-3 and finished fifth in the OIA's Red Conference Eastern Division at 6-6, but are 5-1 since with a 55-52 loss at Kahuku being the only blemish.

"They're the best 6-6 team in the state," Mililani coach Ed Gonzales said.

Moanalua certainly looked that way in the first half, jumping out to a 13-0 lead in the first three minutes mostly via a spectacular display of transition layups. Na Menehune ended the first period with a 6-0 run capped by Carl Ko's layup to make it 23-7, then built the lead to 39-15 with 1:40 remaining in the half after a layup by Wesley Armbrust.

But the Trojans -- who cut a 27-point third quarter deficit down to five in Saturday's 73-63 loss to Kahuku -- outscored Moanalua 15-2 in the third period to close it to 41-32 entering the fourth. Hassan Richardson's bank shot with 5:07 left cut it to 42-37, but Keven Amaral scored three consecutive baskets to push the lead back to 48-37 and Mililani was shut out the rest of the way.

"That big first-half lead was a big factor," Gonzales said. "We're used to coming back, but it takes a lot of energy and we don't have to fall behind by that much."

Armbrust scored a game-high 15 points to lead Na Menehune, Dexter Williams added 14 points and Amaral finished with 11 points.

Richardson led the Trojans (11-5) with 12 points.

---