Maryknoll follows its seniors to clinch berth in boys basketball state tournament

Maryknoll boys basketball coach Kelly Grant has the luxury of having two coach’s sons on his roster in Parker Grant and Logan Dias.

Both seniors came through in crunch time as host Maryknoll beat Kamehameha 41-36 in the ILH Division I single-elimination tournament Thursday.

Parker Grant, the son of the coach, scored 17 points and Logan Dias had nine of his 11 in the fourth quarter as the No. 3 Spartans claimed the ILH’s third and final berth in the HHSAA tournament, which starts Feb. 21.

“It’s a goal of ours from the beginning of the season,” said Dias, whose mother is former Rainbow Wahine coach Dana Takahara-Dias. “All of our players came through tonight.”

Maryknoll (10-4) went on a 9-0 run over a five-minute stretch bridging the third and fourth quarters to take a 31-27 advantage.

The Warriors had the ball trailing 37-36 with 40 seconds to go.

Kamehameha’s Ellice Kapihe Jr. committed a turnover and Parker Grant was fouled immediately with 21 seconds remaining and hit both free throws to make it 39-36. Kapihe Jr. missed a 3-pointer from the right wing and Grant was fouled and hit two more free throws with 1.1 seconds left to ice the game.

Parker Grant finished 10-for-10 from the line.

“Parker did a really good job today,” Kelly Grant said. “He was shooting like 51, 52 percent from the free-throw line.”

Dias scored the Spartans’ first nine points of the fourth quarter and Grant had the final four.

“I felt good. I felt calm,” Diaz said. “My teammates throughout the whole season, they were telling me to shoot. I love these guys.”

Said Kelly Grant: “That’s senior leadership at the end. We wanted our seniors to finish off the game. I thought Logan and Parker did a really good job.”

Maryknoll, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, made eight of 20 field-goal attempts, including four 3-pointers, in the second half.

“This whole year we’ve started off slowly and not hitting shots and eventually it drops at the end,” Parker Grant said.

Kamehameha and Maryknoll struggled offensively in the first half. The No. 8 Warriors, who were five of 18 from the field, took a 15-13 lead at halftime. The Spartans also were five of 18, but with 11 turnovers.

“The first half we were just passing the ball all over the place and it was just so unorganized,” Kelly Grant said.

Kapihe Jr. finished with 17 points and four blocks for Kamehameha (6-8).

The previous day, he hit a 35-footer at the buzzer to help the Warriors rally past Punahou 50-48.

Kamehameha, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, was without leading scorer Kahiau Bruhn, who injured his right knee against the Buffanblu.

“They just play for each other so much. I’m just so proud of them,” Kamehameha coach Larry Park said of his team.

ILH regular-season champion Saint Louis and runner-up ‘Iolani had already clinched berths in the HHSAA tournament.

The remaining league tournament games are for seeding in the HHSAA tournament.

Maryknoll will play at ‘Iolani today, and the winner of that contest will play at Saint Louis on Saturday for the overall ILH championship.

“Of course, the kids still want to keep on winning, but at least you know you’re in the state tournament,” Kelly Grant said. “It’s a little more relaxing, not as much pressure going into that (‘Iolani) game.”