Kalaheo shows pep in winning D-II title

So much for fatigue.

Forty-six games into possibly the busiest season known to a Hawaii high school basketball team, Alika Smith and his Kalaheo Mustangs were amazingly fresh Saturday night in a 57-42 win over McKinley for the Division II crown of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships.

Junior guard Josh Ko led Kalaheo with 16 points and the Mustangs got superlative defense from Derick Morgan and Shem Sukumaran. Morgan and Sukumaran limited McKinley’s super scorer, Alex Ironside, to 14 points on 2-for-10 shooting.

“Those kids wanted him. I said, ‘One at a time.’ They wanted to challenge him,” coach Alika Smith said.

It was a rematch between the top two teams in the Oahu Interscholastic Association White Conference, which Kalaheo won. It was the first state title as a coach for Smith, whose father, the late Pete Smith, was a legendary coach at Kalaheo. At the final buzzer, Smith practically crushed Sukumaran, a 6-foot-3 junior, with a bear hug, and the entire coaching staff joined in the postgame huddle celebration at midcourt.

“We handled the pressure better and we got stronger as the game went along,” said Smith, who was in tears and hugging players and family. “We hit free throws, we got stops. Winning 40 games is a hard feat. We started the season thinking we could score, but have a hard time stopping people. Now we can stop people.”

Smith got stellar interior play from 6-6 Nainoa Frank, who finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.

“I’m tired, but it’s a fun feeling bringing home two banners,” Frank said, referring to the state and OIA titles. “Josh had a really good game.”

Ko, like Frank, is a junior.

“McKinley gave us a good run in the beginning, but we pulled through thanks to our team and great coaching by Coach Alika,” Ko said. “The nerves were kicking in at the beginning.”

As usual, Smith had pointed reminders for his relatively young team.

“We had butterflies. Coach Alika said, ‘Calm down, take care of the ball and knock down your free throws,’” Ko said.

That, the Mustangs did, nailing 13 of 18 tries at the line in the final quarter.

It started out different, with the Tigers — who upset Kalaheo on the Mustangs’ home court during the OIA playoffs — ahead after one quarter, 12-9. The Tigers led despite shooting 3-for-11 from the field, sinking 6-for-6 at the line. Kalaheo committed eight turnovers in the opening quarter against a man-to-man defense.

Coach Bob Morikuni’s squad patiently worked against Kalaheo’s man defense and led 18-15 on a 3-pointer by Justy Laquihon midway through the second quarter. But Sukumaran and Morgan continued to smother Ironside and the Tigers had no bite in their offense from that point.

Kalaheo closed the half with a 6-0 run to take the lead, then opened the second half with an 8-2 run. After Jordyn Reindollar’s fast-break layup, the Mustangs led 29-20 with more than 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

McKinley got no closer than six the rest of the way as Kalaheo knocked down free throw after free throw.

McKinley shot just 30 percent from the field (12-for-40) and was outrebounded 31-17 by the taller Mustangs.

Kalaheo shot 55 percent from the field (17-for-31) and hit 75 percent at the foul line (21-for-28).

KALAHEO 57, MCKINLEY 42
TIGERS (13-7, 2-1 HHSAA)

Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.

3-points goals — McKinley 4-15 (Ironside 2-6, Rollman 1-1, Ortaleza 1-2, Alzona 0-1, Laquihon 0-2, Bolosan 0-3). Kalaheo 2-6 (Ko 2-3, Morgan 0-1, Sukumaran 0-2). Steals — McKinley 8 (Bolosan 3, Williams, Ortaleza, Laquihon, Ironside, Malaga). Kalaheo 3 (Frank 2, Sukumaran). Blocked shots — McKinley none. Kalaheo 3 (Frank 3). Officials — Terry Arista, Kevin Hirayama, Alton Mamiya. Technical fouls — none.

THIRD PLACE

HAWAII PREP 85, SEABURY HALL 57

Five Ka Makani players scored in double-digits, with Dakota Berman leading with 18 points in their victory over the Spartans.

At Blaisdell

HAWAII PREP—Tyler Van Kirk 17, Kalan Camero 11, Kama DeSilva 14, Dakota Berman 18, Jovan Crnic 14, Ka‘i Bernier-Chen 4, Aaron Harper 0, Keanu Yamamoto 0, Zach Greenbaum 0, Zane Gray 3, Sefa Rocha-Tufaga 4. Totals 32 14-19 85.
SEABURY HALL—Alex Chiarella 0, Shane Jacob 21, Sage Trudeau 1, Rocky DeLyon 5, Jake Golm 8, Devin Vinoray 0, Chase Matayoshi 0, Sam Jiran 0, Kaleb Palmer 4, Max DeLyon 3, Nyck Yashiro 0, Rayson Surayama 0, Kai Shibley 2, Daniel Goodfellow 1, Michael Clarion 12, Cameron King 0. Totals 18 17-28 57.
3-point goals—Hawaii Prep 7 (Berman 5, Camero, DeSilva). Seabury Hall 4 (Golm 2, Jacob, M. DeLyon).

CONSOLATION FINAL

HANALANI 53, ST. FRANCIS 39

Christian Peterson finished with a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the Royals’ win over the Saints.

At Blaisdell

HANALANI—Michael Milton 12, Mark Milton 8, John Brady 5, Kainoa Souza-Chavez 11, Christian Peterson 15, Colby Schoniwitz 0, Jesse Tory 0, Duane Teem 2, Kody Fahrni 0. Totals 16 18-24 53.
ST. FRANCIS—Austin Ursua 7, Matthew Nuumanai 12, Shabir Lynton 5, Drew Wilson 6, Blayne Won 2, Sosiua Havea 0, Keola Kealoha 0, Kaohukea Sanborn 2, Henry Maumalanga 2, Kyle Lau 0, Keoni Tom-Millare 3, Kai Sun 0. Totals 13 11-17 39.
3-point goals—Hanalani 3 (Ma. Milton 2, Peterson). St. Francis 2 (Nuumanaia, Lynton).