Like most of O'ahu's roads, Moanalua's path to defending its O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red boys' basketball title was not so smooth.

Wesley Armbrust's layup from the left side with 10.6 seconds left lifted Na Menehune over Kahuku, 46-44, Saturday night to win their second consecutive and fifth overall OIA basketball crown before a seat-squirming crowd of about 500 at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium.

"We were looking for opportunities, maybe that we could go one-on-one," Moanalua coach Greg Tacon said of the game-winning basket. "The way our rnrotation works, Wesley just happened to get it with 10 seconds left. It was a perfect angle I knew he could do. I yelled, 'Go.' He goes and he scores."

"I just saw the lane," Armbrust said. "Coach told me to 'take it.' We just wanted to run the clock out and get a good shot. They left the baseline open."

Armbrust was fouled on the play, but missed the the free throw. Moanalua got the rebound, but turned the ball over with 7.3 seconds left. The Red Raiders maneuvered their way for a shot before Kawehena Johnson found a momentary opening through the key, but Moanalua quickly doubled him and his drive to the hoop missed at the buzzer.

"It would've have shocked me if they had made a 3 because of the way the game was" Tacon said of Kahuku's last-ditch effort. "But we did a pretty good job of staying up on them, so they didn't really get a clean look."

Johnson, a sophomore point guard, was Kahuku's hot hand, leading his team with 12 points.

"He made plays for us all night," Kahuku coach Darren Johnson said of his son. "He almost made that one when we got the ball to Kawe, but we still had the last shot, so we were OK. We got the shot off."

It was an incredible end for a team that was 3-6 at one juncture of the season. It was 6-6 after the regular season and the East's fourth seed in the double-elimination OIA tournament. Then Moanalua lost to Kahuku earlier in the tournament - a third loss in a row this season to the Red Raiders. Na Menehune then fought out of the one-loss bracket and beat Kahuku on Thursday to force Saturday night's playoff.

It was a game that could've gone either way. The game was tied eight times. Kahuku led by as much as eight half way through the third quarter, but Moanalua was able to tie it at 32 with eight seconds left in the third quarter on a layup by Armbrust, who had a game-high 18 points, including two 3-pointers.

"We were never in control of this game. Ever," Tacon said. "They (the Red Raiders) were so good defensively, just being physical, we had a hard time running stuff.

"The fact that we fell behind and kept chipping away, when Wesley hit that 3 to tie it (at 42), I thought, 'We might be able to win this."

Kahuku started off strong in the fourth, taking a 42-36 lead with about 3:30 left. But Moanalua pulled to within three after making 3 of 4 free throws in about a 30-second span.

With 2:32 left, Johnson missed the front end of a one-and-one. Moanalua tied it at 42 on a 3-pointer by Armbrust from the left wing with 1:58 left.

With 1:41 left, KJ Uluave missed two free throws and Moanalua coming down with the rebound. Keven Amaral's pull-up jumper put Na Menehune ahead, 44-42 with 1:08 left, but Kahuku quickly tied at 44 on a basket by Uluave with 44.8 seconds.

After Kahuku called time following Uluave's basket, Na Menehune took the ball down court, trying find an open player. Armbrust took a pass from the left wing and drove to the hoop with his layup that put Na Menehune ahead, 46-44.

Moanalua will be a seeded team in this week's Division I state tournament.

"A month ago, we were 3-6," Tacon said. "It's not that we had problems. We were struggling. Now, we're going to be a seeded team going into the quarterfinals. I knew in my heart we could do it. But you have to convince them (pointing to his players) that they could do it. I'm proud of the kids and they get to play three more games."

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