In an intense, physical contest, ‘Iolani outlasted Maryknoll 58-51 on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the ILH boys basketball tournament.

With the win at the ‘Iolani gym, the No. 4 Raiders (8-3) earned a coveted state tournament berth and they move on to face No. 3 Punahou in the ILH tourney final on Friday. A victory over the regular-season champ Buffanblu would set up a matchup between the two teams for the overall league title on Saturday.

Except for a few times early in the first and third quarters, ‘Iolani led the whole way.

No. 7 Maryknoll (6-6) got within one, 46-45, with 1:04 to go, but a crucial call went against the Spartans. Freshman forward Brian Washington was called for a foul, and, after ‘Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto spoke with an official, the call was changed to an intentional foul.

During a timeout and before the call was changed, Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant yelled three times in the direction of the three officials standing 30 feet away, "You better not change that call."

To no avail. So, instead of just two shots, the Raiders got two shots and the ball back afterward. Hugh Hogland made both attempts to make it 48-45.

"I let her (the official) know what I thought and asked her to talk it over with the others," Shimamoto said. "It wasn’t a hard push, but it was a push and, in high school basketball, that’s an intentional foul."

Grant said, "A call like the one they changed determined the outcome of the game. He wasn’t trying to hurt him or anything."

The Spartans’ Justice Sueing Jr. came back with four free throws to make it a one-point game again, 52-51, with 43 seconds left. 

But the Raiders’ Zack Gelacio went 6-for-6 from the line the rest of the way to seal it. All told, Gelacio went 16-for-18 from the stripe and teammate Erik Yamada made all eight of his free-throw attempts in the final quarter to thwart any chance the Spartans had at a victory.

"That’s something we work very hard on at practice," said Raiders defensive wizard Bryson Hamada, who stuck like glue to Sueing most of the night and kept the Spartans star from getting great looks at the basket. "Coach stresses free throws."

Gelacio, who hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter, had a game-high 21 points. Sueing finished with 19 points, but did not have a field goal in the pivotal fourth quarter.

"He’s a team player and if he (Sueing) doesn’t get good looks, he’s going to pass it," Grant said.

After the tough loss, Sueing said, "I think I could have done a lot more. I wish I took what I had. Our team played a helluva game. It’s crazy. We work so hard for games like these. You can’t blame the refs, but we all felt like we were getting hacked."

Yamada had 14 points for ‘Iolani and Robby Mann added 12.

"It was a grinder out there," Yamada said. "They took a lead on us, but we buckled down. Coach tells us that every game is going to be close and that we need to capitalize on free throws."

Washington scored 12 points for the Spartans and was immense off the boards.

Shimamoto and his boys get Punahou (10-1) next.

"This is a huge relief," he said. "To make it through the ILH (to states) is tough. Our league is ridiculous … the last-place team (Mid-Pacific) had this Maryknoll team tied in the last 1:30 (on Saturday). Tonight, we go down to the buzzer. We’ve got a chance to finish as ILH champs."

MARYKNOLL–Isaiah Gelacio 0, Michael Miske 3, Jordyn Perez 0, Jaylen Cain 2, Calvin Koo 7, Hayato Kamata 0,  Justice Sueing Jr. 19, Saige Pulu 8, Brian Washington 12.

‘IOLANI–Robby Mann 12, Zack Gelacio 21, Bryson Hamada 2, Shane Lay 0, Erik Yamada 14, Pikai Winchester 3, Kamu Borden 2, Hugh Hogland 4.

3-point goals–Maryknoll 2 (Koo, Sueing Jr.). ‘Iolani 2 (Gelacio, Winchester).