Jaymason Nunuha scored 16 points as No. 2-ranked Saint Louis fought off a furious rally by No. 5 Mid-Pacific Owls for a 53-50 win on Wednesday night at McCabe Gymnasium.
The win lifted Saint Louis to 3-0 in the unpredictable ILH (17-2 overall). All three of the Crusaders’ league wins have been decided by 3 points or less.
Tristan Nichols finished with 14 points despite foul trouble, and Chris Sykes, another tall post, added eight points.
The upstart Owls dropped to 2-1 (9-7) after wins over Punahou and Maryknoll. Justin Daise scored 16 points, and Zion Shepherd had 10 points and 10 rebounds, plus two steals. Daniel Florenco added 12 points.
“Saint Louis did what they had to do and they executed,” MPI coach Ryan Hirata said. “But credit to our guys for battling back.”
In the bottoms-up ILH boys basketball race, the game played out as a one-sided contest until a frenetic final 8 minutes. Shepherd scored on a steal of a Saint Louis inbounds pass, hustled for a follow shot and went coast-to-coast for a layup. The visitors rallied from a 40-26 deficit and got within 52-50 on a low-post bucket by Daise with 1 minute to play, bringing a large Owls crowd to full volume.
After the Crusaders turned the ball over, Mid-Pacific had a chance to tie or take the lead.
By then, Nunuha had fouled out, but MPI’s Jacen Kimura missed a quick 3-point try from the right corner. After Isaac Slade-Matautia of Saint Louis missed a 1-and-1 with 33.4 seconds left, that’s when senior Tristan Nichols showed that he’s a fast learner.
After being tagged with two offensive fouls in the first half and sitting much of the game with foul trouble, the 6-foot-6 post stood and took a charge from Daise near the basket. That gave Saint Louis the ball with 23.5 seconds left.
“The whole fourth quarter, they kept giving the ball to him because I had four fouls,” Nichols said. “I set myself up for his spin and I got a shoulder to the gut.”
As with the earlier calls that went against him, Nichols turned the tables and sold the contact rather well. Still, it wasn’t quite over. Saint Louis sophomore guard Zachary Choo missed two foul shots with 12.3 seconds left, and the Owls raced upcourt to get an open 16-footer from the elbow by Florenco.
The senior had sparked the comeback with two NBA-distance bombs, but missed long on his potential game-tying shot. Nichols hit one of two free throws with 1 second left, then partially blocked a full-court shot attempt by Daise as time expired.
“I like the patience our guards had,” Saint Louis coach Allan Silva said. “We’ve still got to get better. That’s why we’re practicing tomorrow.”
Despite Nichols’ foul problems, the home team went on a 20-4 run in the first half. Saint Louis led 26-14 at intermission, then withstood a few waves of resistance by the Owls, to Hirata’s relief.
“They came out and punched us in the mouth. We weren’t ready for it and we were a little rattled,” said Hirata, who played college basketball at Chaminade. “We talked about it a practice all week. This environment, the echo and a rowdy crowd.”
Silva was happy with his squad, the season leaders and youngsters like Choo alike. There was no question, though, that Saint Louis enjoys one of the heartiest and loudest home crowds in the ILH.
“We had a pretty good one in here tonight. There’s a lot of family and friends, a lot of love for these guys, and we played pretty good defense,” Silva said. “We had to keep moving the ball and get the ball in to Tristan, find the open man.”
It was a struggle at the foul line for both teams. MPI was 7-for-15 and Saint Louis was 6-for-16. That made any possible edge valuable.
“Our crowd definitely was loud,” Nichols said. “They’re worth two points.”
| At McCabe Gym |
| Mid-Pacific (2-1) |
10 |
4 |
12 |
24 |
— |
50 |
| Saint Louis (3-0) |
13 |
13 |
12 |
15 |
— |
53 |
MID-PACIFIC—Codey Mita 3, Hooper Leblanc 0, Daniel Florenco 12, Travis Murayama 0, Jacen Kimura 7, Travis Hayashi 0, Zion Shepherd 10, Major Davis 0, Justin Daise 16, Logan Hutchinson 2.
SAINT LOUIS—Jett Tanuvasa 0, Jaymason Nunuha 16, Zachary Choo 3, Chris Sykes 8, Noa Purcell 2, Lance Sataraka 4, Tristan Nichols 14, Isaac Slade Matautia 6.
3-point goals—Mid-Pacific 5 (Florenco 2, Kimura 2, Mita). Saint Louis 3 (Nunuha 3).
