No. 4 Maryknoll topples short-handed No. 2 Kamehameha

Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant knew his fourth-ranked Spartans needed a home victory over No. 2 Kamehameha on Tuesday night, and despite a few tense moments late in the game, he got what he wanted by a 50-39 count.

Grant called a timeout with his Spartans leading by just two, 41-39, with 3:46 remaining after the Warriors’ Christmas Togiai converted an offensive rebound into a bucket.

“You gotta block out,” Grant said firmly and loudly to his squad. He was looking for more toughness underneath and they gave it to him in crunch time.

With 2:13 left, Kamehameha’s Mycah Pimental tossed a beautiful pass to Laamea Frank for a layup attempt, but he missed, and that was the big turning point because the Spartans’ Marcus Tobin, who measures 6 feet 7, pulled down the rebound. Not only that, but Tobin was fouled and hit two free throws for a 43-39 edge. A Jaylen Cain inside hoop and Maryknoll’s 5-for-6 free-throw shooting down the stretch sealed it.

“We had opportunities,” said Kamehameha coach Greg Tacon, who was missing three players, including star Kamren Victorino-Kato, for undisclosed reasons. ” We had an open layup down by 2. We gotta hit those shots. My kid feels terrible about it, but that’s how you win games. You gotta make plays.”

Aside from Victorino-Kato, the Warriors were without 6-5 Lele Kawaiaea and Hoku Arias.

“Let’s be honest, we had 30 points sitting on the bench,” Tacon said. “And I’m not going to get into why they’re not suited up. I’m so proud of our bench guys for coming in and giving us their best effort.”

Grant was well aware of the pukas in the Kamehameha lineup.

“They were missing Kamren and those two other guys, so knowing they weren’t playing, I was thinking we definitely cannot give this one up. It would have been a different story with them. But a win is a win.”

Cain and Isiah Gelacio, who hit three well-timed 3-pointers in the second half to keep the Warriors at bay, had 14 points apiece as the Spartans (19-4, 4-1 ILH) took over second place from Kamehameha (16-5, 3-2). Kobe Young poured in 20 points for the Warriors.

There were three lead changes in the first half, the last Maryknoll going up 20-19 on Makoto Kamata’s 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Spartans’ lead got to 38-28 late in the third, but the Warriors chipped away. Braden DeFries took a nice pass from Young for a fast-break layup and then Young hit a 14-foot stop-and-pop, leading to Togiai’s battle under the boards for that 41-39 deficit.

“At halftime, I was really on the boys,” Grant said. “The things we talked about before the game we were doing exactly the opposite. I was getting on our seniors. I was getting on guys who play a lot of minutes, and challenged them at halftime and said you guys gotta play better.

“In the second half, we were trying to get Isiah some 3-point shots and tried to get Jaylen to the basket and we were able to do that. Jaylen was attacking and Isiah was hitting his shots. And I give a lot of credit to (point guard) Jordyn Perez. He really got us into our sets. And we did a really good job defending Kobe in the last three or four minutes.”