Students from Maryknoll School paraded down Wilder Avenue in Honolulu in support of the school’s varsity boys basketball team on Thursday.

The Spartans rode a No. 1 ranking and top seeding in the 2019 Snapple/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships to win their first title in 35 years on Feb. 23, beating Punahou, 50-34, in the final.

Capping off a week of celebrations around Oahu, the team celebrated with the entire Maryknoll student body at the Maryknoll Community Center after a television appearance the day before.

“We were on Hawaii News Now yesterday and then Mr. (Perry) Martin, our president, took us to a wonderful brunch,” Spartans coach Kelly Grant said. “They knew they were coming here (to the gym) today, but they didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. It’s kind of a surprise.”

Grant was a senior at Maryknoll in 1984 when the team won its only other boys basketball state crown.

“We had a ceremony (that year) at the grade school between the two buildings because we didn’t have a gym yet. We walked over and gave a congratulatory thank you to our fans who came to the game,” he said. “That was wonderful. This year, when Punahou did their cheers and when Maryknoll did their cheers, we knew that we had more Maryknoll fans there. Nothing against Punahou, but we felt that.”

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