‘Iolani teams steal the show

Consider this the real ‘Iolani Classic.

With little hope of winning its own tournament in two weeks, the Raiders took over the Surfriders Holiday Classic in Kailua on Friday night.

‘Iolani II beat Kailua 38-32 in the first semifinal and its big brothers beat Mililani

49-43 in the second semifinal. ‘Iolani will play ‘Iolani II for the championship tonight at 7:30.

"Wow, that should be a fun one," ‘Iolani guard Zach Buscher said about tonight’s championship. "Those guys are good. We know them and they know us."

‘Iolani’s big team had Mililani beaten from the outset, scoring the first 12 points and holding the Trojans scoreless until 1:20 had lapsed in the second quarter. Mililani, which had four players out for various reasons, turned the ball over 14 times in the first half and failed to score on each of its first 16 possessions. Once the Trojans got a feel for ‘Iolani’s pressure defense, they came back and scared the Raiders.

"We try to tell the boys about the pressure, but you have to see it," Mililani coach Edward Gonzalez said. "Once we got over those turnovers and missed shots in the beginning we started to believe we could play with them."

Mililani fought back to tie it at 39 on a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Riley Borges, but the Raiders responded with a slew of free throws. ‘Iolani didn’t make a field goal in the last six minutes of the game but did make 14 of its 20 free throws. Buscher made nine of them, and Erik Yamada hit both of his attempts, while Drew Ichiyama and Ikaika Phillip made half of theirs. Buscher led the way with 22 points, followed by nine by Ikaika Phillip. Kekoa Fields and Mene Perese each had 10 points for the Trojans.

"A team comes back like that, props to them," Buscher said. "We work on free throws every day, and we know that free throws win games. We just have to knock them down."

‘Iolani II took out Waianae and Kailua to reach the title tilt. The Raiders got scoring from nine different players, jumped out to an 8-0 lead and let it grow to 13-2 before the Surfriders decided to protect their house. Kailua took the lead and led 29-22 by the start of the fourth quarter, but ‘Iolani II dominated the final eight minutes.

David Ling hit a 3-pointer for the Raiders with 3:40 left and ‘Iolani II would never trail again.

Kevin Togami led ‘Iolani II with eight points and Christian Kamu Scheer led Kailua with eight.

Kailua and Mililani play in the tournament’s third-place game today at 6, preceded by Waianae and Hawaii Baptist at 4:30 and Aiea vs. Waipahu at 3.

OIA WEST GIRLS

Aiea 58, Kapolei 39

Mich’lae Higa scored 17 points, making seven of her eight free-throw attempts, and Pumehana Beltran added 11 to lead Na Alii past the Hurricanes.