The second time around certainly wasn’t easier for the St. Francis Saints.
They were simply prepared for any adversity.
Kameron Ng made sure of it, pouring in 11 of his 29 points in a pivotal second quarter as St. Francis overwhelmed Damien 76-52 to repeat as Division II boys basketball state champion on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
ILH champion St. Francis finished the season 29-3 overall (including nonconference games), and won five of its eight games against Top 10 teams, all D-I level.
Ng also was named the most outstanding player in the D-II bracket of the Snapple/HHSAA State Championships. He scored 38 points against Roosevelt and 21 vs. Kauai and averaged 29.3 points per game in the tourney.
Ng’s younger brother Kordel added 15 points and seven rebounds, providing stellar defense on Friday. Bryce Nishida added 11 points on 3-for-7 shooting from the arc and Boris Vukovic, coming off a 19-point, 17-rebound performance against Kauai, added nine points and 10 boards.
St. Francis did it without one of their season-long starters, Manoa Kuali‘i-Moe, who was dismissed from the school recently.
“I love him. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t be in this game,” Kameron Ng said.
Lindon Sevilleja scored 12 points, Crumel Mooring had 11 and Kolin Galdiano added 10 for Damien (16-9 overall), the ILH runner-up.
When the teams met a month ago, St. Francis escaped with a 71-68 win. This time, tenacious defense sparked a Saints rally from which the Monarchs never recovered.
“It all starts on defense,” Saints coach Ron Durant said. “It’s always defense that turns it around for us. We tried (zone defense) against Roosevelt in the first game and they hung with us, so we made a decision as a coaching staff, we’ve got to go man. These last two games was the best defensive effort we put in all season.”
For the second year in a row, the Saints started slowly in the title game. Damien was in a groove, getting quick passes and drives to open a 9-2 lead.
After a TV timeout, St. Francis began its comeback. Nishida hit a 3 from the left corner and Kordel Ng got active offensively going to the rim. After Titus Liu came off the bench to swish a corner 3, the Saints led 16-13 late in the first quarter.
Damien battled back with a corner 3 by Galdiano and back-to-back baskets by Sevilleja, getting to within 21-20. From there, St. Francis went on a 15-2 run as the Ng brothers combined for 13 of the 15 points. Bubba Akana’s layup on a feed from Kameron Ng made it 36-22 shortly before the half.
The Monarchs got within 38-30 early in the third quarter following buckets by Sevilleja and Galdiano, but Nishida drained an NBA-range 3 from the top and the Saints’ relentless man defense created another Damien mini-drought. Nishida scored off a steal to cap an 8-0 run, and the Saints led 46-30 with five minutes left in the third quarter.
St. Francis stretched the lead to 49-32 on a Jett Tanuvasa fast break layup before Damien went on a 9-0 run. Jarvis Natividad’s 3 cut the lead to 49-41 in the opening moments of the fourth quarter.
Again, like clockwork, the Saints responded. Vukovic scored the next five points to launch a 12-5 run. Kordel Ng drove for a euro-step bucket, Nishida rained in a corner 3 and Kameron Ng drove, pump-faked three defenders into the air, and scored easily for a 61-46 lead with a little more than four minutes remaining.
Since losing to then-No. 1 Punahou on Dec. 30, the Saints have won 12 games in a row, including a 62-51 victory over Roosevelt on Wednesday and a 65-41 victory over Kauai on Thursday.
The Saints’ success in ILH and state play won’t require that they move up to D-I. In the ILH, the program is designated D-II by league criteria. The only way St. Francis will move up is if it chooses that option.
“We’ll discuss it as a staff,” Durant said. “We lose five seniors. It’s tempting (to move up), but I’d like to have at least two or three 6-3, 6-4 guys.”
