‘Iolani shackled Kamehameha’s top scorer for three quarters and appeared poised to cruise to an easy win.
The Raiders did indeed prevail in their regular-season finale, but the final moments ended up being anything but comfortable.
Seventh-ranked ‘Iolani saw a 15-point fourth-quarter lead shrink to two as Kamehameha guard Dyrbe Enos spearheaded a frantic comeback. But the Raiders, led by center Gabriel Vega’s 19 points, managed to hold on for a 49-44 win Saturday at Kekuhaupio Gym.
‘Iolani’s victory knocked No. 3 Kamehameha out of contention for second place in the ILH race and gave the league’s second state tournament berth to Academy of the Pacific.
The Raiders (7-5) and Warriors (6-5) will be among the teams vying for the ILH’s third and final slot in the Division I state tournament in the league’s postseason tournament. They’re also jostling for third place in the regular-season standings, which comes with a bye and homecourt advantage in the tournament.
“Those are two great things, so we definitely wanted to come in and win and we wanted to go in hot,” ‘Iolani head coach Dean Shimamoto said.
After trailing 14-13 following the first quarter, ‘Iolani held Kamehameha without a field goal in outscoring the Warriors 12-1 in the second period.
The Raiders’ lead grew to 38-23 after three quarters as ‘Iolani’s guards denied Enos the ball in holding him scoreless through 24 minutes.
Enos hit a jumper from the free-throw line 14 seconds into the fourth quarter to get in the books, then repeatedly drew fouls on drives and went 10-for-10 from the line to chip away at the deficit.
“He’s an amazing player and sooner or later he’s going to make some shots no matter how good defense you play on him,” Vega said.
After Enos hit his lone 3-pointer of the game, he came up with a steal, and a goaltending call on his layup attempt accounted for his 17th point of the quarter.
Moments later Enos swiped the ball and fed J.T. Campbell for a score to cut the Raiders’ lead to 46-44 with 1:13 left.
But the Warriors would get no closer as ‘Iolani inched away by hitting foul shots in the final minute and contested Enos’ 3-point attempts in the final seconds to end a two-game skid.
“Coming off two tough losses (to Maryknoll and Punahou) … our team just keeps coming together and hopefully we can get a few more W’s and qualify for states,” said Vega, who finished with 11 rebounds and went 13-for-17 from the free-throw line.
‘Iolani fed Vega and Duke Pauli (11 points) to control the paint and got five timely 3-pointers from its guards.
“It was a great team effort today,” Shimamoto said. “We were pounding it to the big guys, but when they came back our guards hit some big shots.”
Kamehameha closes the regular season against Maryknoll on Tuesday before entering the third-place tournament.
“We dug ourselves a hole, we tried our best, but we just ran out of time,” Kamehameha coach Julian Nakanishi said. “The postseason starts now and we have one more game to prep us for that.
“We have to try to fix a lot of stuff and get our minds ready for it. It’s going to be win or go home at that point.”
At Kekuhaupio Gym
‘Iolani (7-5) 13 12 13 11 — 49
Kamehameha (6-5) 14 1 8 21 — 44
‘IOLANI—Andrew Okimura 0, Drew Uchiyama 0, Erik Yamada 2, Reece Foy 7, Austin O’Leary 6, Gabriel Vega 19, Zach Buscher 4, Josiah Situmeang 0, Duke Pauli 11.
KAMEHAMEHA—Noa Kinimaka 3, J.T. Campbell 8, Taylor Taliulu 5, Dyrbe Enos 17, Makoa Camanse-Stevens 5, Austin Gerard 2, Makana Harrison 0, Noah Borden 2, Thordan Latu 0, Zerin Parker 2.
3-point goals—’Iolani 5 (Foy 2, O’Leary 2, Buscher), Kamehameha 5 (Kinimaka, Campbell, Taliulu, Enos, Camanse-Stevens).
ILH DIVISION II BOYS
St. Francis 53,
Island Pacific 43
Shabir Lynton scored eight of his 14 points in the first period and Austin Ursua finished with 11 points as the Saints remained unbeaten with a victory over the Navigators.
Jason Brenner scored 22 points for Island Pacific, which fell behind 25-9 after the first period.
At Manoa Rec Center gym
ISLAND PACIFIC (6-4) 9 4 11 19 — 43
ST. FRANCIS (10-0) 25 4 8 16 — 53
ISLAND PACIFIC—Jason Brenner 22, Royce Ilar 0, Jamison Kirk 2, Ian Schumaker 0, Jackson Durrett 12, Dalton Wood 0, Malsom Okeke 6, Eric Langanecker 0, Colt Wallace 1.
SAINT FRANCIS—Austin Ursua 11, Sosiua Havea 2, Keola Kealoha 0, Matthew Nuumanaia 5, Kaohukea Sanborn 0, Shabir Lynton 14, Drew Wilson 4, Henry Maumalanga 0, Keoni Tom-Millare 5, Kai Sun 8, Kyle Lau 0, Blayne Won 4.
3-point goals—Island Pacific 4 (Brenner 4). St. Francis 4 (Lynton 2, Nuumanaia, Tom-Millare).
