 'Iolani, Honoka'a also gain semifinals
By Kyle Sakamoto
Advertiser Staff Writer
Kalaheo won its second consecutive game with one of its star players injured and taken to a hospital before game’s end.
D.C. Daniels scored 23 points, and Ikaika Alama Francis added 13 points and 10 rebounds as top-seeded Kalaheo defeated Punahou, 71-56, in a quarterfinal game of the Hawaiian Airlines Boys State Basketball Championships last night at McKinley High School.
Kalaheo will play St. Louis in a semifinal game at 7 p.m. today at the Stan Sheriff Center. St. Louis defeated fourth-seeded Maui, 39-32, in the earlier game.
Mustangs’ point guard Skyler Wilson suffered a head injury after making a layup which gave Kalaheo a 41-22 lead about a minute into the second half.
Wilson was down for about 10 minutes, but walked to the bench on his own power. He left for a hospital a few minutes later.
Kalaheo coach Pete Smith said Wilson was hit with an elbow after releasing the shot and had a cut over his right eye.
"Skyler got hurt and that kind of hurt us," Smith said. "We had built a nice lead and then had to hold on."
On Feb. 15, Alama Francis suffered a huge gash on the back of his head after falling to the floor while battling a Mililani player for a rebound. He was taken to a hospital and received stitches for the injury. The Mustangs won the game, which was for the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association championship, 57-47.
"I was really worried," said Alama Francis, on Wilson’s injury. "I want everyone to be healthy and not get hurt."
Kalaheo’s largest lead was 21 points in the third quarter. Punahou cut the lead to 62-51 with 4:35 remaining in the game, but couldn’t get any closer.
"I knew we had to step up as a team, not as one person," Daniels said. "Skyler is a big part of this team so I knew when he went down we needed to step up."
Punahou went to a full- and half-court trap midway through the third quarter, but it had nothing to do with Wilson getting injured.
"We were going to do that regardless," Punahou coach Alan Lum said. "It wasn’t a key that he got injured and we wanted to turn up the pressure."
The Mustangs went on a 19-5 run over the first 6:45 of the second quarter to take a 35-20 lead. Alama Francis hit two of his three 3-pointers during the rally.
PUNAHOU 15 7 17 17 — 56
KALAHEO 16 21 17 17 — 71
KALAHEO-C.J. Kaimiola 3, Skyler Wilson 8, Mike Lefevre 0, James Robertson 0, Nate Ijima 2, Shaydon Marumoto 8, Ikaika Alama Francis 13, Shane Harada 2, Charles Elliot 0, Aubrey Bradley 0, Justin Pedrina 3, D.C. Daniels 23, Keoki Duarte 7, Mike Garcia 0, Remington Chun 2.
PUNAHOU-Kynan Pang 4, Richard Kim 10, Daniel Lam 7, Andrew Amigleo 0, Todd LaFountaine , Jason Ching 11, John Freese 0, Alex Fergus 14, David Dowsett , David Kowen 0, Dane Uperesa 2, Ryan Zabriskie 2, Lucas Love 6.
3-point goals-Kalaheo 5 (Alama Francis 3, Marumoto 2). Punahou 0
 St. Louis 39, Maui 32: The Crusaders won a slow-paced game against the third-seeded Sabers last night at McKinley High School to advance to the semifinals of the Hawaiian Airlines Boys State Basketball Championships.
 |
| Maui's Dio Dante went up for a layup between St. Louis players J. P. Kanoa, left, and Justin Harris, who batted the ball away during last night's quarterfinal game.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Jason Rivers scored nine of his 11 points in the second half, and Justin Harris added eight points as St. Louis advanced to the final four for the seventh consecutive year.
"Every game, it’s been a different guy for us," St. Louis coach Delbert Tengan said. "We don’t have any one guy to key on because we never know who’s going to be the guy to step up every night."
Maui took a 28-27 lead with six minutes remaining in the game on a field goal by Dionisio Dante.
St. Louis went on a 12-2 run to take its largest lead at 39-30 with 16 seconds remaining. The run included six free throws in the final 1:18. The Crusaders made four of five shots in the fourth quarter.
"Both sides were struggling offensively," Tengan said. "We weren’t making many shots, but we hit the key shots when we needed to."
The Sabers played a two-three zone for most of the game, before going to a man-to-man defense in the fourth quarter.
ST. LOUIS 10 8 6 15 — 39
MAUI 9 8 5 10 — 32
MAUI-Shaun-Ryan Batson 0, Brandon Chu 2, Gdansk Corpin 0, Cheyne De La Garza 9, Dionisio Dante 12, Les Johnson 4, David Tufaga 5, Kevin Wunder 0.
ST. LOUIS-Bobby Tappy 6, Jose Vidad 7, Justin Harris 8, Jonah Lakatani 0, Brenden Clement 0, J.P. Kanoa 5, Jason Rivers 11, Frank Rivers 2, T.J. Moe 0.
3-point goals- Maui 4(De La Garza 3, Tufaga 1) St. Louis 2 (Vidad, Rivers).
[back to top] |
