Moanalua started pretty and finished rather ugly, but Na Menehune smiled as they walked out the door last night.

Na Menehune exploded to a 22-point halftime lead, then hung on for dear life in a 52-37 OIA Red boys basketball win over Mililani last night at McKinley Student Council Gym.

Dexter Williams scored 16 points and Wesley Armbrust had 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead Moanalua, which beat Mililani for the third time in as many games this season.

"They’re a good team, but if we keep running, we’ll be good," said Williams, a 6-foot-3 senior guard.

Facing double and triple teams all night, Hassan Richardson had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead Mililani. The Trojans didn’t shoot a free throw in the first half, and finished 2-for-10 from the line. They were also 1-for-12 from the 3-point line against a stingy Moanalua man-to-man defense.

Moanalua (20-13 overall) stayed alive in the OIA Red playoffs and will meet Kahuku tomorrow. Na Menehune need two wins over Kahuku in the double-elimination tournament to claim the league championship.

"We have to shoot with confidence like we did in the first half," Moanalua coach Greg Tacon said of a scintillating performance by the running Menehune. "We just want to keep playing this week."

"Moanalua’s one of the best 6-6 teams in the state," Mililani coach Ed Gonzales said, referring to Moanalua’s regular-season record. "We tried to stop Dexter and Keven (Amaral), but the ace-in-the-hole was Wesley."

Pushing the tempo hard and fast, Moanalua made Mililani — another fast-breaking team — look slow in comparison. Moanalua led 39-17 at halftime, shooting nearly 50 percent and was clearly the aggressor (10-for-12 at the foul line) with Armbrust triggering the break.

Mililani (15-16 overall), which had already sealed a state-tournament berth, cut the lead to 42-37 early in the fourth quarter with a remarkable comeback. From there, however, the Trojans went scoreless for the final 5 minutes as Moanalua went on a 10-0 run.

It was Mililani’s second comeback effort in as many games. On Saturday, the Trojans trailed Kahuku by 28 before chipping the lead down to five, but lost.

This time, they simply ran out of gas. In the final quarter, they shot 1-for-7 from the foul line and committed six turnovers. Moanalua’s defense limited the Trojans to 37 percent shooting from the field, and Na Menehune won the battle on the boards 32-25. Mililani finished with 17 turnovers.

Moanalua tired in the second half, shooting 4-for-18 from the field, but operated its halfcourt offense well enough down the stretch.

"We were pressing, trying to still get it done," Tacon said. "But now we control our own destiny. It’ll be our fourth time playing Kahuku. If it’s close like the other games, it’ll come down to execution."

The 37-point output was Mililani’s lowest in 14 games.

The Trojans scored 33 in a win over St. Joseph on Dec. 28.