Maryknoll had to wait every last second before clinching a sixth consecutive berth into the state tournament.
The Spartans scored six unanswered points in the final 2:02 of Monday’s ILH tournament finale and then had to watch an open Punahou 3 hit just off the side of the rim before Hunter Marumoto secured the rebound as the horn sounded to end a 37-34 victory over the visiting Buffanblu.
Maryknoll (10-4) earned the league’s second state berth by winning the league tournament with wins over ‘Iolani and Punahou. The Spartans and regular-season champion Saint Louis will play Wednesday for the ILH title after Maryknoll clamped down late defensively to hold off the Buffanblu (7-6).
“We just had to be poised and play solid defense,” Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant said. “They were putting pressure on us the whole entire game and I just felt like if we put pressure on them they may turn the ball over or take a bad shot.”
A back-and-forth game of mini-runs ended with Maryknoll rattling off the final six points after Punahou’s Dillon Kellner scored off a steal and assist by Noah Macapulay to put the Buffanblu up 34-31 with 2:21 remaining.
Marumoto made one of two free throws for Maryknoll to cut the deficit to 34-32 and Rome Lilio made the first of a 1-and-1 after getting fouled on an offensive rebound to make it a one-point game. His second free throw was good to tie but was waved off when Maryknoll was called for a lane violation.
Punahou had the ball up one but turned it over when Maryknoll’s Zion Milare got a five-second call whistled on Punahou with his tough man-to-man defense.
Justin Yap drove baseline and found Fabian Camacho open for the go-ahead layup with 52 seconds remaining.
Punahou had two more turnovers in the final minute before Yap made two free throws to put Maryknoll up three with 11 seconds remaining.
The Buffanblu, who made the final as the No. 4 seed after finishing 5-5 in the regular season, got the look they wanted to tie but couldn’t cash it in.
“In a lot of these games, it’s who makes the plays at the end, and we’ve got a lot of young guys,” Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said. “This is a big pressure situation for a lot of them and I think we’re going to learn from this. We missed some key shots and made some key mistakes at the end that cost us.”
Kellner scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the second half for Punahou, which fell behind 10-0 to start the game.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well except for Lilio, who made all four shot attempts he took and finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Marumoto had a team-high 12 points for the Spartans, and Yap, who made the two big plays down the stretch, finished with seven points and five boards.
“I think all of the other guys really pulled through while I was in foul trouble,” Yap said. “Coach was telling me not to get my head down with all of my fouls, so luckily all of the younger guys stepped up.
Maryknoll, which won back-to-back state titles in 2019 and ’20, had won eight games in a row in the state tournament until losing to Mililani in last year’s quarterfinals.
No other ILH team has made it more than three times during Maryknoll’s run of six straight.
“It’s not from the top down, it’s from the bottom up.” Grant said Maryknoll’s success. “I think that we’re such a well-oiled program. I have guys who have been with me coaching with me for over 30 years. I just feel that everybody feels confident going into the games. They have confidence in me and I have confidence in them.”
