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Kamehameha’s Ellice Kapihe Jr. had a chance to live out every basketball players’ dream Wednesday.
The clock is winding down, the game is on the line, he has the ball in his hands. But instead of doing a countdown and tossing a crumpled shirt into a laundry hamper, Kapihe Jr. did it in a season-extending
victory.
The 6-foot-5 senior took an inbounds pass from Kalai Smith from the opposite baseline and swished a 35-footer as time expired
as the No. 8 Warriors rallied past the host Buffanblu
50-48 in the ILH boys Division I single-elimination tournament.
“That was crazy. I don’t even know. I wasn’t thinking about anything but that shot,” said Kapihe Jr.
The fifth-seeded Warriors (6-7) looked down and out after losing leading scorer Kahiau Bruhn to a right knee injury midway through the first quarter and trailing by 21 with two minutes left before halftime.
Kamehameha got within 42-32 entering the fourth quarter and went on a 12-1 run to take its first lead at 44-43 with 56 seconds remaining. Kapihe Jr. hit a Kobe Bryant-like fadeaway jumper from the right wing to cap the run.
He scored 17 of his 19 points after halftime and
finished with four resounding blocks.
“I felt like I was playing for him. He’s my boy,” Kapihe Jr. said of the injured Bruhn. “I’ve known him ever since elementary (school). It was horrible what happened to him, but now we have a reason to play harder and go to that state championship.”
No. 5 Punahou retook the lead on Drake Watanabe’s layup off an assist from Peyton Macapulay with 33 seconds remaining. The Warriors’ Smith nailed a 3-pointer to put his team up 47-45 with 13 seconds left, only to have Watanabe hit a 3 of his own with seven seconds remaining to put the Buffanblu (7-6) up one.
Kapihe Jr. turned the ball over on the Warriors’ next possession and they fouled twice to put Watanabe on the line for a one-and-one with 1.9 remaining. He missed and Kamehameha took a timeout with 1.5 on the clock.
Smith threw a pass to
Kapihe Jr. near midcourt,
he took a dribble and nailed the game-winner.
“We practiced it about 10 times before in practice,” said Smith, a 6-foot senior. “Ellice just comes to the ball and I just throw it. He’s a big, long, athletic guy so he just went up and made the play.”
Punahou coach Darren Matsuda knew Kapihe Jr. was getting the ball, but Kamehameha was still able to pull it off.
“We knew he was getting the ball,” he said. “I told the guys if you can grab it, grab it. We almost got the steal and he just made the shot.”
Smith scored all 11 of his points in the second half, including three 3-pointers for Kamehameha.
“All my teammates had confidence in me,” he said. “They wanted me to shoot the ball more. When I had the chance I just shot it and luckily it went in.”
Kamehameha will play
at No. 3 seed Maryknoll at
6 p.m. today with the winner earning the ILH’s third and final berth in the
HHSAA tournament, which starts Feb. 21.
“They’re good, they’re well coached, they’re balanced,” Kamehameha coach Larry Park said of Maryknoll. “They know exactly what we run, so it’s going to be a war.”
ILH regular-season champion Saint Louis and runner-up ‘Iolani have already claimed berths.
The remainder of the single-elimination tournament will determine league seedings for the HHSAA tournament.
Today’s winner between Kamehameha and Maryknoll will play at ‘Iolani on Friday, and the winner of that contest will play at Saint Louis on Saturday for the overall ILH championship.
Punahou made five 3-pointers over the first 11 minutes with Balen Rigg hitting a pair. The Buffanblu’s largest lead of the game was 28-7 on a layup by Drake Watanabe with 2:22 left before halftime.
The Buffanblu, the No. 4 seed, were 10 of 22 from the field in the first half, including 5 of 12 from 3-point range. The Warriors were 4 of 27 from the field before halftime.
In the second half, Kamehameha made 14 of 22 from the field, while Punahou made 7-for-16.
“It was amazing. That whole second half was a totally different team from the first half,” Kapihe Jr. said. “They balled out. I couldn’t do it by myself. They helped me tremendously.”
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