In all his years as a coach at University High, Walt Quitan can’t remember a team turning around to this extreme over the course of one season.

But with a little patience and poise, the Junior Rainbows found a way back to the Division II state tournament, rallying from an early 9-0 deficit for a decisive 56-47 win over Damien on Thursday night. University secured second place in the ILH behind St. Francis and the league’s last state-tourney berth.

University, 9-3 in ILH D-II (13-10 overall) did it by giving the Monarchs their second loss in league competition, stunning a robust home crowd. The Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA

D-II State Championships, an eight-team format, will tip off on Wednesday.

Damien finished 10-2 in league play (12-9 overall).

Junior point guard Anthony Canencia, son of former UHS great Randy Canencia, led the comeback with 14 of his 17 points after halftime. He shot 1-for-7 from the field in the first half, then exploded by going 5-for-6 after intermission.

"I told Anthony, ‘It’s you, you need to step up.’ He took the challenge," Quitan said.

Damien won the regular-season matchup between the teams, 61-57.

"We really struggled early in the year. More than any team that I’ve ever coached, we’ve come the furthest. This is the most improvement we’ve ever had from beginning to end," Quitan said.

Canencia, a shifty slasher, burned Damien’s defense with nifty drives to the left, and dished out six assists without a turnover. He operated in an odd scenario. With Damien covering Ryan Kaleikini with a box-and-one, it took UHS more than a half to adjust.

"The box was always on Anthony before, so it was a complete surprise for us," Quitan said. "It was great strategy. I didn’t want to burn any timeouts in the first quarter. I wanted to wait until halftime. Our strategy was to keep it close and stay out of foul trouble. Then we started picking them up fullcourt and we spread the ball out once we got the lead down."

It was a strange sight, Kaleikini standing at the halfcourt line for long stretches while his teammates went 4-on-4 with success.

"The spacing was all off with him in there, clogging it up," Quitan said. "We needed space to operate."

Canencia showed floor leadership at the highest level.

"We just took what they gave us," he said. "We started getting in the lanes. (The box-and-one) was weird, but we got the win."

Eric Leung, another guard, was clutch with all nine of his points in the second half. R.J. Realubit (11 points) and Kaleikini (10) added to University’s balanced offense. The Jr. ‘Bows shot 55 percent from the field (21-for-38) and committed a mere three turnovers. Damien shot 47 percent (21-for-45), but had 10 giveaways.

"It was a chess match. It was either (box) 25 (Kaleikini) or 3 (Canencia), but 2 (Leung) hit the open shots," Damien coach Alvin Stephenson said. "He stepped up big for them. They’ve got a great coach over there."

Damien frustrated the Jr. ‘Bows in the first half, employing a box-and-one to siphon off Kaleikini, one of the hottest scorers of the playoffs. Kaleikini had scored 30 points against Hawaii Baptist and 21 against Hanalani as UHS advanced to the playoff final.

Early on, it was Damien dominating the paint and the boards. The Monarchs finished with a 23-15 edge on the glass, led by Jaylen Layco’s 22 points and eight caroms. Stephenson rotated defenders — Rocky Mori, Alex Fant and Dobie Ching — on Kaleikini, who was blanketed with every step.

The tactic worked. Kaleikini got his only first-half points on a steal and three-point play, attempting just two shots as UHS shot just 2-for-10 in the first quarter. The Jr. ‘Bows began to get comfortable after that. Realubit and Canencia knocked down treys to soften up the box-and-one.

Down 24-17 at the break, University went on a 12-2 run to take the lead. Sophomore post Kapiina King, who had six points, five boards and two blocks before halftime, sat most of the second half, and UHS suffocated the Monarchs’ offense — 3-for-9 from the field in the third quarter.

After Leung’s drive to the hoop gave UHS the lead, Kaleikini scored on another steal, and Leung banked in a layup on a feed from Canencia. Leung then drained a 3-pointer from the left wing, and Canencia rained in a trey from the right corner to give University a 37-30 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Damien burned three timeouts during the third stanza, but still had no way to cool the visitors. By then, the Monarchs junked the box-and-one in favor of a man-to-man defense, and Canencia drove for seven points during an 11-2 run that gave the team in green a 48-34 lead with 2:07 left.

Just like that, a 10-1 regular season went up in smoke for the Monarchs.

"We just couldn’t get the ball inside," said Layco, a junior post. "We worked so hard for this opportunity."