Kalaheo ends Punahou’s reign in OT

Kalaheo is just getting warmed up.

The Mustangs made up for a slow start with a dazzling finish to beat Punahou 55-48 in overtime on Friday night and reach the Division I title game at the HHSAA/ Hawaiian Airlines Boys Basketball State Championships at the Blaisdell Arena.

"It was a struggle," Kalaheo guard Josh Ko said. "We missed a lot of opportunities at the free-throw line, but we worked hard tonight."

Kalaheo hit only five of 12 free throws in the first half but warmed up to go 7-for-9 in overtime to beat the Buffanblu. Kalaheo guard Derick Morgan hit three of his seven free throws in the first half but was 3-for-5 in the crucial last four minutes. He led all scorers with 18 points.

"It’s kind of cold in here, so it’s hard to shoot free throws," Morgan said. "Your body is not warm, but at the end of the game when everybody got warm we started to make them."

The free throws helped Kalaheo close out Punahou after Kupaaikalani Harrison opened the extra frame with a 3-pointer from the corner, his second of the game. It was Harrison’s first game with more than one 3-pointer; he had hit only six all season.

"It just shows how proud of them I am," Kalaheo coach Alika Smith said. "I mean, the least likely guy to start us off hits a 3. It doesn’t matter who is in there, they seem to get it done."

Kalaheo grew the lead to 50-42 after Harrison’s dagger and weathered a pair of long bombs from Punahou’s Jordan Tanuvasa and Micah Ma’a to cut the margin to four points with 28.8 seconds left.

The Mustangs put five guards on the floor and effectively sealed it when Ko, who began his career at Punahou, broke the press with a pass to an open Shemuel Sukumaran at midcourt that was followed with another nifty pass to Morgan under the basket for two points.

"We wanted the ball in Josh’s hands," Smith said. "You want your best free-throw shooters on the floor, and he knows what to do with it."

Harrison’s heroics burst Punahou’s bubble after they escaped a loss at the end of regulation. The Buffanblu trailed by three points, 41-38, with a minute left in regulation and set up a pair of 3-pointers by ILH leading scorer Nick Velasquez. The senior’s attempts missed, but Ko and Harrison both missed the front ends of 1-and-1s to keep the defending champions alive.

Tanuvasa rebounded Harrison’s miss and crossed midcourt quickly before slowing up. He launched a long 3-pointer with Silila Tucker in his face that found the bottom of the net as the buzzer sounded.

"Coaches say foul, coaches say let it play through, but at the end of the day you have to give the kids credit," Smith said. "You have to give it up to him — he hit a big shot and then he did it again in overtime."

Morgan would call the shot "devastating and heartbreaking" after the game, but his Mustangs earned the right to play Maryknoll for the Division I title tonight at 7 at the Blaisdell Arena. After all they have been through this season, Kalaheo fans can be sure that the talented ILH champions are not going to be able to show them anything they haven’t seen before.

Kalaheo won its 17th straight game with the victory over Punahou. Its last loss was to the Buffanblu on Dec. 28, when Ko sat out with vertigo. Kalaheo played in five tournaments in the preseason. Despite the rigorous schedule, the Mustangs are 27-4 overall.

"We try to schedule these kids in places in situations that challenge them, and it has helped us win close games, and we have one more to go," Smith said. "They got a taste of what kind of talent Punahou has (in the loss in December), and that helped us out a lot."

Punahou failed to defend its title but counts the season a success, since it was trying to do so with only four seniors and still took second place in the toughest league in the islands. Kupono Fey led the Buffanblu with 13 points and bailed them out with a post move or rebound nearly every time they started to lose composure.

"I am so proud of these kids," Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said. "We have a lot of young guys and to get to the final four, it’s an accomplishment. Of course when you get here it’s anybody’s game and we just couldn’t hit shots."

Kalaheo did hit the shots and will get a chance to follow last year’s Division II title with the big prize. The Mustangs have won the big prize three times and been in the final nine times. No other OIA school has been in the final more than five times.

"We get a chance to do something that nobody ever did," Morgan said. "Just try to take D-I tomorrow if we can."