Back-to-back Division II state titles are nothing to scoff at, but neither final was the biggest game of Kameron Ng’s prep career.
That comes Wednesday for the St. Francis senior guard, who poured in 20 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter in a 57-46 win over host ‘Iolani in an ILH boys basketball tournament game on Monday.
The Saints (8-7) won their second elimination game in a week to finish third in the tournament ahead of the Raiders (8-7), who placed third in the regular season.
The two teams will meet at ‘Iolani at 6 p.m. Wednesday in a winner-take-all game for the league’s final berth in the Division I state tournament.
“This will be the biggest game of all of our high school careers,” Ng said. “We’re not going to take it lightly. Getting back to the state tournament would prove all of the doubters wrong that we are not just a Division II team.”
The Saints moved up to Division I this season, which allowed the ILH to get a third team into the state tournament for the first time since 2012.
After finishing in fourth place in the regular season at .500 (6-6), the Saints beat Mid-Pacific in an elimination game on Thursday and then lost to league champion Maryknoll on Saturday.
Elimination has taken on a different meaning for the Saints after the school announced in January it would close grades seven to 12 next academic year. Elimination doesn’t just mean the end of the season, it means the end of the program.
“Resilience. Just battling back,” St. Francis coach Ron Durant said of the past week. “They knew what was at stake. They keep fighting and stick up for each other.”
The Saints held ‘Iolani to 22 points below the average they gave up to the Raiders in regular-season losses.
Sam Wheeler hit two 3-pointers to account for ‘Iolani’s six first-quarter points and the Raiders connected on just two more from long range the rest of the game.
“That was probably our best defensive game we’ve played our whole season,” Ng said. “We made them work for every shot. Luckily they weren’t hitting from the outside. Next game we can’t count on that. We’ve got to pick up the defense even more.”
Noah Bumanglag’s jumper and Kawika Lee’s two free throws helped the Raiders close the third quarter on a 10-4 run to cut the deficit to 34-31.
Ng took over, as he has most of the season for the Saints. He hit a tough shot on the baseline and then converted an and-1 floater inside the paint to push the Saints’ lead back up to 39-31.
He closed it out at the free-throw line, shooting 10-for-13 over the final six minutes to win comfortably.
“My teammates told me to go finish it for us and that’s what I did,” Ng said.
Lee was 7-for-7 from the line for a team-high 16 points for ‘Iolani, which shot 4-for-28 from the 3-point line.
“I just felt we matched up well with ‘Iolani,” Durant said. “We played them tough at our house the last time, so I think we knew what we had. Between Kordel (Ng) and Kameron, I didn’t have to tell them much.
“This is what we were hoping for. We didn’t want to give that third spot to ‘Iolani. We wanted to get that third spot and we’ve got a battle on Wednesday.”
