Geremy Robinson scored 19 points and DiAeris McRaven had 15 points, nine rebounds and four blocks as No. 8 Moanalua held on for a 56-48 win over No. 4 Kahuku to repeat as the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I boys basketball champion on Wednesday night at McKinley.
Moanalua lost in the quarterfinals of the state tourney last year, but Robinson and his teammates are playing a different level of defense now.
“Big props to Coach (Michael) Johnson. Defense, defense, defense. He’s a really good defensive coach,” Robinson said of the first-year head coach.
Robinson sank his last four free throws to help Moanalua (18-9) hold off a big rally by Kahuku, which trailed by 13 in the third quarter and cut the score to 50-46 with 3 minutes left. McRaven, a 6-foot-5 leaper, stood his ground Kahuku’s 6-9 center, Oscar Cheng, who finished with a hard-earned 24 points and 17 rebounds.
>> Photo Gallery: Boys basketball: Kahuku vs. Moanalua
“I just wanted to do my job,” McRaven said. “Against Oscar, he’s bigger than me, so I had to play differently. I had to play with a low center of gravity and try to contest a lot of shots instead of trying to block all of them.”
Na Menehune finished third in the OIA East standings behind Kalaheo and Kahuku. Their first loss in league play was at Kahuku in Johnson’s first game on Jan. 2. McRaven was away on a volleyball trip that weekend.
“I’m an extremely defensive-minded coach. I truly believe in the phrase that defense wins championships,” said Johnson, 26. “I can’t speak on what’s happened in the past in any program, but my principles are that defense wins championships. For us to compete the way we did, I was extremely impressed and extremely proud of the guys. They were resilient. They battled all night. Sometimes the 50-50 balls went (Kahuku’s) way.”
Since losing to Kahuku, Moanalua’s only loss was to Kalaheo on Jan. 11. Then Na Menehune ousted Kalaheo on Monday in the semifinals, 59-51.
Sophomore Amari Westmoreland-Vendiola added eight points for Kahuku (16-6), which will host an opening-round game on Monday in the Snapple/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships against Kaiser.
“We’ve got to come out ready. We were tentative,” Red Raiders coach Brandyn Akana said. “We did a pretty good job defending, but Moanalua got all the loose balls and we had to fight back all night long.”
Robinson had a modest five points in the first half as Moanalua took a 23-15 lead into the locker room. His reverse layup and NBA-range 3 triggered a run that opened Moanalua’s lead to 37-24 with 2:13 left in the third period.
Cheng began to dominate by the fourth quarter, pounding the offensive glass to score 10 points in the final stanza. His free throw cut it to 52-48 with 52.5 seconds left, but Robinson swished two foul shots with 26.3 seconds left, and he added two more to ice the win with 13.4 ticks left.
