After grinding through 32 minutes of high-intensity playoff basketball Friday night, ‘Iolani and Maryknoll get to do it all again on Saturday.

‘Iolani captured the ILH postseason tournament with a 37-35 win over the Spartans on Friday at Maryknoll Community Center Gym, setting up a rematch for the league’s overall championship.

Maryknoll, the ILH regular-season champion, will again host the finale set for 6:30 p.m.

"All we can do is take care of what we need to take care of and it gives us an opportunity to play for an ILH championship," ‘Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto said.

The Raiders and Spartans had already secured the ILH’s two berths in the upcoming Division I state tournament when they arrived at the gym on Friday. Maryknoll had a chance to wrap up its second straight ILH crown and the league’s seeded berth in the state tournament bracket with a win on Friday, and will try to convert on its second chance on Saturday.

"That’s what we tried to convey for our team," Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant said. "They’re really down right now, they felt they lost a golden opportunity, but that’s the way sport is. We have an opportunity tomorrow.

"We have to make sure we’re focused from when we step on the floor at 3:30 in our pregame walk-through."

‘Iolani senior Ikaika Phillip helped give the Raiders a shot at the title with a game-high 18 points on Friday. Guard Zach Buscher finished with 11 points, and Shimamoto credited the Raiders’ bench for its role in sparking the win.

Sophomore forward Robert Mann factored into two pivotal plays in the fourth quarter, breaking a tie with a putback, then scoring in the post off an assist from Erik Yamada to give the Raiders a 33-29 lead with 1:46 left.

"(Phillip’s) a scorer and we’ve had different guys step up for us at different times and today it was Ikaika," Shimamoto said, "and we got great production out of our subs today.

"Pikai Winchester and Chris Gallacher playing great defense on Kaleb Gilmore. Robby Mann had the biggest putback of the game, unbelieveable."

Gilmore led Maryknoll with 16 points but had just five in the second half. Josh Burnett added 15.

Buscher went 4-for-6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to help the Raiders hang on after seeing a potential victory slip away in a 39-37 loss on the same floor on Jan. 29.

On that night, ‘Iolani had possession in the final 10 seconds, only to have Burnett convert a steal into a game-winning layup at the buzzer. 

"We worked on finishing in practice — it was a big emphasis for us going into the ILH tournament," Buscher said. "A couple games we lost to Kamehameha and Maryknoll we didn’t finish very well. But we’re learning and getting better and we finished well today."

Maryknoll led for most of an often-ragged first half on Friday and took a 20-16 lead into halftime, with Burnett and Gilmore accounting for all but two of the Spartans’ points.

Phillip turned the momentum by scoring on three consecutive possessions to open the third quarter to give ‘Iolani the lead. After Gilmore and Burnett combined to push Maryknoll ahead again, Buscher drained a 3-pointer late in the period to send the teams into the fourth tied 25-25.

Mann’s only two buckets of the game gave ‘Iolani the lead for good and the Raiders opened a 37-32 edge from the foul line. The Raiders held the Spartans to one field goal in a six-minute stretch, and Maryknoll couldn’t make up ground from the foul line, finishing 10-for-21 for the game.

"That was a low-scoring defensive battle," Buscher said. "We were trying to make them work when we’re on the defensive end. Guys stepped up and played some great team defense."

‘IOLANI–Pikai Winchester 0, Ikaika Phillip 18, Zach Gelacio 2, Chris Gallacher 1, Bryson Hamada 0, Erik Yamada 1, Zach Buscher 11, Kamu Borden 0, Robbie Mann 4, Hugh Hogland 0.

MARYKNOLL–Brandon Floyd 2, Kaleb Gilmore 16, Josh Burnett 15, Calvin Koo 0, Kamakana Winquist 0, Kalei Victorino 0, Tyson Kaloa 0, Micah McGivern 0, Micheal Miske 0, Sean Ogata 2.

3-point goals–‘Iolani 1 (Buscher). Maryknoll 3 (Gilmore 2, Burnett).