Kahuku knocks Moanalua out of the OIA playoffs

Even with his team up 18 points late in the third quarter, Kahuku basketball coach Darren Johnson wouldn’t allow himself to relax.

The Red Raiders had controlled the action against Moanalua for most of Tuesday’s Oahu Interscholastic Association Red playoff game and appeared ready to ease into the championship round entering the final period.

But, as Johnson anticipated, Na Menehune made a charge at the Red Raiders to close to within four before Kahuku inched away from the free-throw line in a 73-61 win at Radford’s Jim Alegre Gymnasium.

“They’re a tough team, they’re the defending champion,” Johnson said after the Red Raiders ended Moanalua’s two-year reign atop the OIA Red.

“They started hitting some critical shots, we knew they were going to make a run. I just hoped they wouldn’t run past us.”

By surviving the run, Kahuku advanced to the championship round of the double-elimination OIA Red tournament and will face Kapolei on Thursday at Radford. Kapolei will have two chances to claim the title as a Kahuku victory Thursday would force a rematch on Saturday.

Both Kahuku and Moanalua had already secured spots in the Division I state tournament prior to Tuesday’s game and Na Menehune finished third in the OIA Red playoffs.

Coming off its first defeat of the OIA season, a 49-43 loss to Kapolei on Friday, Kahuku took a 39-31 lead into halftime against Moanalua, then opened the third quarter with a 12-2 run.

The Red Raiders held Moanalua without a field goal for the first 5:46 of the period and led 51-33 after Evan Ramirez drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the 2:42 mark.

That would be Kahuku’s last field goal until the game’s final seconds as Moanalua sent the Red Raiders to the free-throw line throughout the fourth quarter.

Kahuku made eight of its first 14 free throws in the quarter as Moanalua chipped away and Kahanu Puulei-Auld’s 3-pointer from the top with 3:02 left capped a 22-8 Na Menehune run that chopped the Red Raiders’ lead to 61-57.

“We went back to our guards and said ‘we’ve been in these situations, let’s play through the mistakes and let’s play smarter,’ ” Johnson said.

The Red Raiders allowed just one field goal the rest of the way and knocked down enough free throws — finishing 18-for-32 in the fourth quarter — to thwart Moanalua’s comeback.

“Our coaches said ‘don’t let them creep back in.’ We let them creep back in but we kept our composure, played to the end and finished it off,” said Kahuku guard Kawehena Johnson, who hit four 3-pointers and went 7-for-10 from the line in the fourth quarter to finish with a game-high 21 points.

Ramirez added 16 points for Kahuku. Puulei-Auld and Dillon Turk led Moanalua with 11 points each.

The Mustangs held off a spirited rally by the Governors to move into the championship round of the OIA White playoffs and clinch a berth in the Division II state tournament.

“It means a lot for these kids who came up short last year,” Kalaheo head coach Alika Smith said. “They did what they needed to do in the offseason, during the season. They put in the hard work to achieve this and it means a lot.”

Kalaheo’s Jordyn Reindollar scored all of his game-high 16 points in the first half and the Mustangs opened up a 17-point lead in the third.

Farrington then went on a 19-6 run to close to within four at 46-42 with 1:47 left. But Derick Morgan scored on a breakaway layup off an inbounds play and took a pass from Reindollar for another layup to give the Mustangs control again.

“We were struggling, we were doing things out of character,” Smith said. “But we dug deep and did what we needed to do and held on.”

Kalaheo faces McKinley on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Radford in the championship round of the double-elimination tournament. If Kalaheo wins Thursday, the teams meet again on Saturday.