Mililani rallies past Waiakea to gain semis

By Leila Wai
Special to The Advertiser

Waiakea's Charles Huihui, left, and Mililani's Kaipo Patoc battle for a rebound in the second quarter of their state quarterfinal game at Kamehameha Schools' Kekuhaupi'o Gym. Mililani won, 75-58. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I'm glad we came alive in the second half," Mililani coach Mike Coito said.

The Trojans trailed 26-24 at halftime but went on a 14-2 run, and never looked back, outscoring Waiakea 22-8 in the third period and building 20-point gaps in the fourth.

Rashaun Broadus and Simeon Tavares led the charge for Mililani (14-1), scoring 19 and 14 points, respectively. Kaipo Patoc chipped in with 12 points.

"We stepped up on defense and talked about the offense we were going to run at halftime," Coito said. "I knew that sooner or later our shooters were going to get hot, and that the mid-range and long-range shots were going to fall."

In the first quarter, with the score tied at 12, Mililani went on a 7-0 run, giving them a 19-12 lead entering the second quarter.

Waiakea (11-4) then went on a 7-0 run of its own in the second to tie the game at 19 with 3 1/2 minutes remaining. The teams went back to trading baskets, and a three-point play by Charles Huihui put Waiakea up by two, 26-24, with 52 seconds remaining in the half, which would hold up as the halftime score.

"We were hurt in the first half by Charles Huihui," said Coito. Huihui finished the game tied with Branden Kawazoe for a team-high 13 points.

"Mililani is such an athletic team that they were pretty hard to stop defensively," Waiakea coach Jay Bartholomew said. "They are going to get their shots off, but once they start making them, we are in trouble. And they didn't miss much in the second half. They are a good team."

Kawazoe, a senior guard, said that in the second half, they couldn't find an answer for the Trojans.

"We played a good first half, but Mililani played a better second half than we did; they made more shots and we didn't play good when we had to," he said. "In the second half we were turning the ball over and we were out of sync. We just didn't come out to play in the second half, and they did."

Iolani 70, Castle 57: Iolani went on an 18-0 run to start the first quarter, and it took Castle four minutes and 47 seconds for Justin Bruhn to score the Knights' first and only field goal of the quarter.

Iolani, ranked No. 1 in The Advertiser Top 10 poll, improved to 13-0, Castle fell to 11-5.

"Castle is a scrappy team and I was worried about them," Iolani coach Mark Mugiishi said. "I'm glad we got that early run because otherwise it would have been quite a close game."

All five of the Iolani starters scored in double figures. Bobby Nash led with 16, Jon Grobe and Derrick Low had 13, Bobby Webster 12 and Tyler McCready 10.

Castle's Joel Botelho scored a game-high 21 points.

"We haven't played for a long time and we had a lot of pent-up energy, and we used it for good use on defense," Mugiishi said. "We did a nice job forcing a lot of turnovers and getting out to a good start."

Iolani's last game was on Feb. 7, when they beat St. Louis 61-49, in its last game in Interscholastic League of Honolulu play.