Once again, the ‘Iolani Raiders rule at the Surfrider Holiday Classic.
The Raiders saw a 20-point lead shrink to five in the final quarter before prevailing, 64-50, in the championship game of the Surfrider Holiday Classic at Kailua High School.
The second-ranked Raiders, as usual, relied on a balanced, patient offensive attack. Center Kaimana Lau Kong finished with 12 points and guard Nela Taliauli tallied 13 with a few key assists to Lau Kong down the stretch.
“I’m happy for these guys. They work really hard. I put them through the grind every day,” ‘Iolani coach Ryan Hirata said. “For them to battle and play hard tonight in a great atmosphere and against a great OIA team, I’m very, very happy for them.”
Freshman Dylan Kunz splashed three 3-pointers during the home team’s big fourth-quarter rally and finished with 15 points. Noa Donnelly scored 11 points and freshman Maddox Pung tallied 10 for Kailua (8-2). The seventh-ranked Surfriders watched ‘Iolani pinpoint Jonny Philbrick with tight defense from start to finish.
“We knew that they have a player that’s pretty and as long as we shut him down, then they weren’t going to get anything,” said Taliauli, who is also a standout football player. “His teammates didn’t want the ball as much as he did. He got into foul trouble in the third quarter, so that took out a big piece of their team. Our coach game planned right and we got the win.”
The senior guard scored 25 points in a semifinal win over Kamehameha on Friday, but was limited to nine on Saturday. He also sat in the third quarter after getting into foul trouble.
“Man, we started off well, and then ‘Iolani keyed on Jon and took us out of our flow, our offensive sets. Then we just started to watch,” Kailua coach Walter Marciel said. “But credit ‘Iolani. There defense put us in that situation. We made some adjustments in the second half.”
‘Iolani’s defensive effort was across the board.
“We used multiple guys. Nela, Luke Tobin. We were going to try Casey Lyons, too, but they have a great freshman shooter who can knock down threes, too, so we also needed to cover him. We had multiple guys that we assigned to him, but he’s a great player so he’s going to score. It’s just limiting his ability go off,” Hirata said.
The Raiders took control in the second quarter, expanding the lead to 49-29 late in the third stanza.
Kailua then stroked three 3-pointers in a row during an 11-0 run to get within 49-40 with 5:51 remaining. That brought the Kailua crowd back into the game, even after a technical foul on the Surfriders for taunting after a bucket.
Kunz’s wing 3 brought the Surfriders within 51-45 with 3:30 left.
Kailua’s Maddox Pung missed the front side of a one-and-one, and Lau Kong scored on an easy layup for a 53-45 lead.
Kunz then drew a foul on a 3-point try from the right wing. The freshman made all three free throws, cutting the lead to 53-48 with 2:32 left.
Another Lau Kong layup pushed the lead to five points before Noa Donnelly scored on a euro-step drive. Kailua called time out with 1:51 left, trailing 55-50.
Taliauli fed Lau Kong for another layup and ‘Iolani led by seven with 49 seconds to go.
After Donnelly missed two foul shots, Taliauli sank two with 40.7 seconds left for a 59-50 lead. Lau Kong’s two foul shots opened the lead to 11.
Taliauli’s layup and free throw with 11.8 seconds closed the scoring.
“At the end when it’s crucial time, that’s when the free throws got to be made. But it’s good that the situation came with Jon getting in foul trouble so these guys learn how to play without him on the court in preseason,” Marciel said. “And we had a good flow (in the fourth quarter) on offense.”
This won’t be the end of tough nonconference competition for either team. Both are in the Moanalua Invitational next week, which pits some of the best teams from the ILH and OIA against each other.
“The best thing is the experience,” Hirata said. “When you look at our roster, a lot of guys didn’t get to finish in these positions last year. I always say everything happens for a reason. Kailua made a great comeback. They never gave up, and we were in the situation where we had to close game with one minute left, up five. I was very happy with the way we hung in there. I wasn’t happy with the execution, but that’s why you play preseason basketball, to get those things out of the way.”
Campbell 48, No. 6 Kamehameha 47
Rondell Blenman-Villareal and Mizah Carreira scored 15 points each as the Sabers (6-3) upended the Warriors for third place. Chaseten Ponteras led Kamehameha (3-2) with 10 points.
Roosevelt 50, King Kekaulike 39
Kainalu Davis scored 15 points and Kayman Lewis added 13 as the Rough Riders (3-1) took fifth place in the tourney. Mateo Browning chipped in 10 points.
Collon Baldwin led Na Alii (1-4) with 20 points.
Damien 47, Waipahu 43
Dillon Sevilleja scored 13 points and Levi Dano-Agcaoili made three 3-pointers to finish with 11 points in the seventh-place game for the Monarchs (4-2).
Marc Kristian Fian and Adonys Hill each scored nine points for the Marauders (1-3).
Surfrider Holiday Classic
Thursday’s scores
Campbell 63, Damien 30
>> CAM: Miles Hornage 14, Rondell Blenman-Villareal 10, Malik Jackson 10. DMS: Dillon Sevilleja 10, AJ Tufua 10.
No. 2 ‘Iolani 53, Roosevelt 32
>> IOL: Kyle Koga 15 (5 treys). ROOS: Kayman Lewis 15 (3 treys).
No. 6 Kamehameha 63, King Kekaulike 44
>> KS: Kaina Watson 13, Zion Donnell 11. Christian Togiai 10. KK: Kyle Davies 14.
No. 7 Kailua 76, Waialua 39
Friday’s scores
Semifinals
No. 2 ‘Iolani 54, Campbell 45
>> IOL: Nela Taliauli 16. CAM: Mizah Carreira 15, Miles Hornage 11.
No. 7 Kailua 48, No. 8 Kamehameha 36
>> KAIL: Jonny Philbrick 25, Noa Donnelly 8, Maddux Pung 8. KS: Zion Donnell 9.
Consolation bracket
King Kekaulike 52, Waipahu 48
>> KK: Kyle Davies 13, Gabriel Lopes 12, Noah Buford 10. WAIP: Marc Kristian Fian 20.
Roosevelt 45, Damien 33
>> ROOS: Kayman Lewis 24, Kainalu Davis 10. DMS: Levi Dano-Agcaoili 11.
