Iolani tops Northwestern
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
In a rare — maybe unprecedented — Hawai'i victory over a renowned national program, the Iolani School boys basketball team rolled past Miami power Northwestern, 67-51, last night.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Jon Grobe scored a game-high 18 points as the Raiders (7-2) overcame a sluggish start to methodically take apart the Bulls, who went 27-5 last season and finished third in the Florida 6A (top level) championships. The Raiders will play Wilson (Florence, S.C.) at 5 p.m. today for fifth place in the Iolani Prep Classic, which Northwestern won last year.
Iolani's Joe Udell didn't need to see the basket when he scored against Miami power Northwestern.
"They're pretty good, they would be one of the top teams in the Miami area," Northwestern coach Baronton Terry said of the Raiders. "We knew their guards are pretty strong, so we knew it would be a tough game."
Terry knew that after watching Iolani lose to Fairfax, one of the top teams in Los Angeles, 61-59, Thursday night. That nail-biting game took a lot out of the Raiders, and it showed early last night as Northwestern jumped to a 10-3 lead in the first three minutes.
That's when Raiders coach Mark Mugiishi sent in substitutes for all five starters.
"He said we weren't ready to play," said sophomore Derrick Low, a first-team all-state guard last year. "The Fairfax game did kind of drain us, because we spilled everything on the court and we were all sore today. We came out flat and threw some bad passes and gave up a couple backdoors, so (Mugiishi) said we might learn by sitting and watching."
The strategy worked even better than planned, as the reserves — Robert Mageo, Joe Udell, Zach Tollefson, Todd Blankenship and Chad Miller — scored six straight points to close Northwestern's lead to 10-9.
"They wanted to play and they brought us enthusiasm," Mugiishi said of his bench. "We had talked about avoiding a letdown, but the first thing we did in the game was lose weakside help on a backdoor play. (The starters) were not mentally ready to play, although that's understandable."
Northwestern extended its lead to 15-9, but layups by Bobby Nash and Low brought Iolani to 15-13 by the end of the period. Grobe hit two 3-pointers and Bobby Webster added another in the second period as the Raiders took a 34-25 lead into the locker room.
With Iolani's halfcourt trap stuffing Northwestern's offense and Low, Nash and Grobe scoring on transition baskets, the Bulls never got closer than seven points the rest of the game.
"We're playing well as a team and not forcing things," Mugiishi said. "We're finding the guys who are open, and that's why we have different guys leading us in scoring every night."
Grobe scored many of his 18 points on putbacks and backdoor layups. Low finished with 16 points and Nash 15. Devon Pearson scored 17 points and Cedrick McGowan 12 for Northwestern, which lost all five starters and five reserves from last year's team.
"This is a good win for Hawai'i because it's not often that we get to play Mainland teams, and when we do, we usually get killed," Low said. "But we're starting to turn it around. We're not satisfied with losing."
• Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.) 62, Garfield (Seattle) 57: Freshman point guard Eric Price scored six points in the final minute to lead the Mustangs, who are No. 14 in USA Today's Super 25 rankings.
Garfield led 52-47 with four minutes remaining, but Montrose Christian rallied to tie it at 54 with two minutes left. Price's penetration and layup gave the Mustangs their first lead at 56-54 with a minute remaining, and he scored on another layup with 25 seconds left to put Montrose up 58-54.
Garfield's Marcelus Kemp swished a 25-foot rainbow to make it 58-57 with 21 seconds remaining, but Price sank two free throws with 10 seconds left and the Bulldogs turned it over on the ensuing possession.
Linas Kleiza led Montrose with 20 points, Troy Hailey added 17 points and Price contributed 12 points. Kemp led Garfield with 21 points and Brandon Roy added 17.
Montrose Christian will play Fairfax for the championship tonight at 8. Garfield will play Clovis West (Fresno, Calif.) for third place at 6:30.
• Fairfax 80, Clovis West 64: Evan Burns scored 22 points and Jason Gilzene added 21 points to lead the Lions past the Golden Eagles in a semifinal game.
Nick Debban led Clovis with 26 points and Tyson parker added 25 points for the Golden Eagles.
