It took 60 years, but Lahainaluna is back in the final four.
The Lunas advanced to the Division I semifinals of the Snapple/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships on Wednesday night by fending off Leilehua 44-32 at the Radford gym.
It was 1957 — two years before statehood — the last time Lahainaluna got this far. And so now it’s on to tonight’s semifinal against Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion and second-seeded Punahou at the McKinley gym.
The Lunas got it done Wednesday with tenacious defense and tight teamwork.
“We had chips on our shoulder,” said Lahainaluna guard Jeremi Santos, whose workmanlike full contribution didn’t completely show up in the box score, where he was credited with five points, three rebounds, three steals, two assists and one block. “This team knocked us out last year. We’ll be ready for tomorrow, whoever we play.”
Santos was referring to the Lunas’ 57-47 loss to in the 2016 quarterfinals to Punahou, which had just taken the court for an eventual victory over Konawaena in Wednesday’s nightcap at Radford.
“We’re about defense,” Lahainaluna head coach Jason Justus said. “That’s our biggest thing. (As the team goes forward), we need to stop somebody. We need to take care of the basketball. If we don’t do those two things, it’s going to be a long night. We had 17 turnovers tonight and about half of them were unforced, and if that happens it’s not going to go our way.”
Maui Interscholastic League champion and third-seeded Lahainaluna (15-0) had healthy leads of 14-6 after the first quarter and 32-25 after three, but couldn’t put the unseeded Mules (11-4) away until Santos went 3-for-4 and Tavaki Faleta went 2-for-2 at the free-throw line in the final minute.
Leilehua was very much still in it at 24-22 on Genesis Ofoia’s inside bucket to start the third quarter. Ofoia had just ended the first half, 24-20, by making a shot from three-quarters the length of the court. Later on, Liam Fitzgerald’s dunk on a pass from TaShaun Wright gave the Mules one of their last sparks, making it 34-27 with 6:50 to go.
The Lunas’ Reece Pascua, who had a team-high 11 points, came up with a big steal and went coast-to-coast for a layup for a safer 36-27 count as the teams buckled in for crunch time.
Trey Boatwright (game-high 13 points, six rebounds) had his way in the first half against Lahainaluna’s defense, but he was not much of a factor after halftime.
Early in the second quarter, after Leilehua cut the Lunas’ early lead to 16-14, Lahainaluna again gained separation — 24-17 — on Jefferson Locke’s 15-footer, Pascua’s layup and Faleta’s drive on a pass from Pascua. That theme continued to play out — Lahainaluna earning a comfortable lead and Leilehua closing the gap — until the final minute at the free-throw line.
Leilehua coach Russ Fitzgerald, a Baldwin alumnus from Maui, thinks the Lunas have a shot to go farther.
“They don’t let you set up your offense and they make you play 30 feet from the basket,” he said. “I think they’re underrated, but I’m a little biased. They have all the experience and they have position versatility. They have a lot of guys who play guard/forward.”
Punahou 70, Konawaena 52
The Buffanblu (12-3), trying for their 11th D-I state title, pulled away from the Wildcats (14-2) from the Big Island to set up tonight’s semifinal matchup against Lahainaluna.
Duke Clemens had 10 points and 12 rebounds for Punahou. Cole Mausolf added a team-high 11 points and Chris Kobayashi notched 10 points.
Austin Aukai scored a game-high 16 points for Konawaena, and Kamakana Ching hauled in 10 boards.
