The arrival of Kordel Ng in the offseason put Kamehameha in the upper echelon of the ILH.

To run the table and go 13-0 against league opponents, though? Not even the most rabid Kamehameha fans could have expected that.

The Warriors locked up the ILH championship and No. 1 seed in the boys basketball state tournament by locking down Maryknoll, holding the Spartans to one field goal in the final 8 minutes, 37 seconds to pull off a 38-29 win in front of the home crowd on Wednesday night at Kekuha‘upio Gym.

The two Kamehameha superstars, Ng and Christmas Togiai, finished a combined 4-for-20 for just 15 points. The rest of the crew came up big with Preston Ponteras hitting two big 3s, post Bailey Lee diving on the floor for steals and Paliku Kamaka splashing a huge 3 late in the third quarter after Maryknoll had cut a 10-point halftime deficit to 28-25.

>> Photo Gallery: Boys basketball: Maryknoll vs. Kamehameha-Kapalama

“We know if we (Ng and Togiai) aren’t there then the rest of the team is going to pick up the slack. That’s how we work,” Togiai said. “I think all of the underclassmen stepped up really big. They don’t play like underclassmen.”

Kamehameha (13-0) shot 30.2% (13-for-43) from the field to give Maryknoll (10-4) a chance to win a third consecutive ILH championship.

The Spartans struggled even worse from the field, shooting 27.8% (10-for-36) including 1-for-9 from 3-point range.

“They are a good team with great players and some of it is missed shots,” Kamehameha coach Larry Park. “The ILH is a grind and the fatigue is there. They had to play Monday and probably had a little bit of fatigue.”

Maryknoll post Sage Tolentino was the only player to finish in double figures with 10 points and Nikolas Robben added eight points and six boards but was 3-for-12 from the field.

He had two point-blank shots in the paint with 20 seconds left but missed them both, summing up Maryknoll’s night.

“They hit shots, we didn’t,” Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant said. “They’re just a really good shooting team and well coached.”

Kamehameha did make five of 16 from the 3-point line, which made a difference.

Togiai picked up his fourth foul with 18 seconds left in the third quarter and had to sit out for part of the fourth quarter. He returned to the game with 4:28 remaining after Kamehameha missed its first four shots in the period and got another quick breather before returning to close it out.

“Not letting it get to me and just staying on the bench, staying involved in the game, calling out plays and feeding off their energy kept me going in the game,” Togiai said.

Maryknoll will open the state tournament with a home game on Monday while Kamehameha receives a bye into the quarterfinals on Wednesday.