The team that enabled ‘Iolani to earn the league’s third berth in the Division I boys basketball state tournament made it difficult for the Raiders at the end.

Forty-eight hours after losing to St. Francis by double digits in the ILH tournament, ‘Iolani escaped against the visiting Saints with a 52-47 victory on Wednesday night to clinch the league’s final berth into states.

The ILH was awarded a third team in the state tournament for the first time since 2012 when the two-time defending Division II state champion Saints made the jump to Division I. (ILH champion Maryknoll and runner-up Punahou already clinched berths.)

St. Francis had three looks to tie or take the lead in the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 14 in the second half.

‘Iolani senior Kawika Lee made five consecutive free throws down the stretch and finished with a game-high 24 points to end the Saints’ season and their program. The school announced in January that it would close grades seven through 12 starting the next academic year.

“We had to be tough to finish,” ‘Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto said. “We hit some killer free throws, we got some monster stops on incredible offensive players and just a credit to our guys for how hard they played and how tough they were today.”

St. Francis senior Kameron Ng, who scored 20 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter of Monday’s win to force Wednesday’s third-place tiebreaker, swished back-to-back 3-pointers 39 seconds apart to cut ‘Iolani’s lead to 47-45 with 4:16 remaining.

Ng stole an inbounds pass but lost the ball going up for a shot on the other end to turn it over. He had a jumper from the elbow that came up short and a 3-pointer that bounced off the iron that would have given St. Francis the lead.

Lee converted both ends of a 1-and-1 around an Ng layup and St. Francis missed four looks at a 3-pointer down four in the final minute.

‘Iolani finally secured the rebound with 1.8 seconds remaining and Lee made his fifth free throw in a row before intentionally missing the last one.

“They schemed better this game and had two guys on me every time I had the ball,” Ng said. “I was expecting that but I just didn’t hit the shots tonight.”

‘Iolani shot 4-for-28 from 3-point range in Monday’s loss and rebounded by hitting eight of its first 10 looks from distance.

Lee and Sam Wheeler combined for seven 3-pointers and 29 points in the first half and Noah Bumanglag’s layup as time expired gave ‘Iolani a 36-22 lead at the break.

Ng, who scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half, converted a three-point play with the Saints down 14 and Titus Liu nailed his third 3-pointer of the game to cut the deficit to 10 after three quarters.

Kordel Ng, who finished with 15 points, three assists, three steals and two blocks, scored on a steal and layup to cut the ‘Iolani lead to 45-39 and then drew a key charge on Lee that set up Kameron Ng’s back-to-back 3’s, forcing ‘Iolani to call timeout.

The Raiders then got stops on five of the final six St. Francis possessions to close it out.

“We’re playing our best basketball at the right time but that first half just put us in a hole,” St. Francis coach Ron Durant said. “We were down 14 and came out not with our heads down. (‘Iolani) was hitting shots with our hands in their face. I didn’t think it was a lack of defense.”

Wheeler finished with 16 points and combined with Lee for 40 of ‘Iolani’s 52 points.

“We were playing our tempo and our type of game and saw the 3’s start to fall,” Shimamoto said. “When we get into that mode we can be really tough.”