Lynton’s jumper wins it for St. Francis

Shabir Lynton had a pretty forgettable first 31 minutes and 25 seconds on Friday.

The memory of those last 35 seconds will last quite awhile.

Foul trouble had forced Lynton to the bench for much of Friday’s Division II semifinal in the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Boys Basketball Championships.

With Saint Francis locked in a tight battle with Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Lynton delivered a game-tying free throw with 34.3 seconds left, then hit the game-winning jumper with 1.6 seconds remaining in a 55-53 win that sent the Saints to today’s state championship game.

Saint Francis, making its second appearance in the state tournament, will play for the title against Kailua at 5 p.m. at Blaisdell Arena.

"We’re such a young program, we’ve got young guys on our team and this is a big accomplishment for St. Francis," Saints head coach Solomon Batoon said.

Lynton picked up his fourth foul just 50 seconds into the third quarter and was on the bench for most of the half.

"Shabir had a rough game, but then he collected himself," Batoon said.

Lynton was back on the floor in the pivotal final minutes and made one of two free throws to tie the score with 34.3 seconds left. HPA came up empty on its offensive possession and, after a timeout, Lynton got the ball on the left wing, drove toward the basket and banked in a jumper.

"Honestly I wasn’t thinking anything," Lynton said. "Just catch, and when I attacked the basket put it on the glass. That’s what Coach teaches us, put it on the glass."

Saint Francis fell behind 12-0 to start the game, then chipped away to catch HPA in the third quarter and took a 42-39 lead into the fourth quarter behind the scoring of forward Matthew Nuumanaia (16 points) and guard Austin Ursua (13) and the gritty interior play of forward Blayne Won (11).

The Saints and Ka Makani were tied seven times in the second half, the last time when Lynton hit his only free throw of the game. His final shot then gave Saint Francis the lead for good.

"He’s one of our quicker slashers, so we said, ‘You’re either going to get fouled or make the shot,’ " Batoon said.

Still, the Saints couldn’t celebrate until a halfcourt shot by HPA’s Jovan Crnic hit off the backboard then the front of the rim before bouncing out at the buzzer.

"We have a crazy history with that," HPA co-head coach Fred Wawner said. "We scored on it to go to overtime earlier in the year. So we all believed if we get it to him we might have a chance."

Crnic, a 6-foot-4 senior, helped put HPA in position to reach the final with a game-high 25 points. He hit two 3-pointers and was unstoppable at times driving to the basket.

"There were times when he put us on his back," Wawner said. "He got rebounds and took it to the rim. In championship play you need guys to make plays, and he certainly did not back down."

HPA will play in the third-place game today at 11 a.m.