With two clutch players relegated to the bench after fouling out, the Kalaheo Mustangs hit the jackpot by going to Vegas — Kurt Vegas.
The patient senior forward, filling in for defensive spark plug Derick Morgan, scored all six of his points in overtime as No. 1 Kalaheo pulled out an astounding 56-52 win over No. 6 Moanalua to capture the OIA Red Conference boys basketball championship.
"It was my time to finally step up," said Vegas, who was 4-for-5 at the foul line in the extra stanza. "No pressure. I just block everybody out."
Kalaheo (36-4) overcame a remarkable 20-point, six-steal effort from Moanalua guard Kahanu Pu‘ulei-Auld, who scored seven points in the extra period.
"Other than my blood pressure, I feel pretty good," Kalaheo coach Alika Smith said, referring to some untimely missed shots while Kalaheo had a narrow lead in the final minutes of regulation.
"They have a sense of urgency to succeed; as a result they push a little too much, but their resiliency is incredible," Smith said. "When we needed free throws, we knocked them down."
A robust crowd of about 800 watched at McKinley Student Council Gymnasium as the Mustangs went from Division II state champions to OIA D-I titlist in just one year.
"These kids have been with me for three years. I love them to death and I wouldn’t trade them for anyone else in the state," he said.
They did it with 21 points from Kalei Zuttermeister, who rained in five 3-pointers, and 13 points by Josh Ko. The senior guard’s 3-point shot from the top, with a screen from Shem Sukumaran, vaulted Kalaheo ahead 47-45 with less than two minutes to go in overtime, and they never let the lead slip away.
"Basically, in crunch time, Coach expects me to make big shots and I was lucky. That was a beautiful screen by Shem," Ko said.
Vegas came up big moments later, racing upcourt to haul in a long baseball pass from Kupaa Harrison for a layup and a foul. Vegas’ three-point play made it 50-45 with 1:16 left. But Pu‘ulei-Auld hit a tough turnaround 3-pointer from the top with 1:08 to go.
After Silila Tucker hit one of two foul shots, Pu‘ulei-Auld slashed through traffic for a layup, and it was 51-50.
Vegas hit two free throws for a three-point Kalaheo margin with 44 ticks remaining, and Zuttermeister hit two more foul shots to give the Mustangs a 55-50 advantage with 24 seconds left.
After Pu‘ulei-Auld missed on a 3-point try, Vegas hit one more foul shot with 14.1 seconds to play. A putback before the buzzer by Moanalua provided the final score.
Now Kalaheo will have an opening-round bye at this week’s state tourney.
"We practice hard day in and day out, every one of us," Ko said. "Kurt’s free throws were huge. We practice those so much. I knew we would get that ‘W.’ "
Moanalua seized control in the second quarter, taking a 13-6 lead as Ko saw limited action. Smith said he wanted to play his best defensive team to begin the game, and Ko was scoreless in the first half on 0-for-2 shooting. Moanalua led at intermission 14-10.
Zuttermeister caught fire in the third quarter, splashing in three treys. He scored 11 in the quarter as Kalaheo zoomed ahead 31-23.
Kalaheo had a 38-29 lead midway through the fourth before Moanalua made its run. Pu‘ulei-Auld’s baseline jumper on a feed from Eliet Donley tied it at 41 with 18 seconds to go in regulation.
At McKinley
| MOANALUA |
6 |
8 |
9 |
18 |
11 |
— |
52 |
| KALAHEO |
6 |
4 |
21 |
10 |
15 |
— |
56 |
MOANALUA—Jon-Michael Sharsh 0, Ola Brown 5, Kahanu Pu‘ulei-Auld 20, Jamaal Willis 7, Antoine Hines 8, Justin Hudcovic 5, Eliet Donley 4, Alaziar Torres 1, Aaron Stuart 2, Austin Failauga 0.
KALAHEO—Josh Ko 13, Shem Sukumaran 1, Alec Macleod 0, Kalei Zuttermeister 21, Kurt Vegas 6, Kalani Green 0, Derick Morgan 6, Silila Tucker 4, Kupaa Harrison 5.
3-point goals—Moanalua 2 (Pu‘ulei-Auld, Willis), Kalaheo 7 (Zuttermeister 5, Ko 2).
