Kalaheo tops Leilehua for 3rd OIA title in row

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

There are some things in Hawai'i that you never bet against.

Kalaheo's Zane Cabral went up for a layup past the defense of Leilehua's Andrew Talaeai in last night's OIA championship game. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Never bet that Pipeline will be flat all winter long.

And never bet against Kalaheo coach Pete Smith in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association championship basketball game.

Six-foot-7 junior Samuel Wilhoite got 20 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks and Smith's man-to-man defense took Leilehua completely out of its game, as Kalaheo won its third straight OIA championship, 61-43, before 772 paying fans last night at Blaisdell Arena.

It was Kalaheo's 14th championship in Smith's 18 years as the Mustangs' head coach — including 11 of the last 13.

Leilehua's 6-4 Zacarias Rivera went down in the first 90 seconds with a severe ankle injury. "He's one of our leaders and that mixed up our chemistry," Leilehua coach Keith Spencer said, "but they flat out beat us."

Two offensive runs by Kalaheo broke open the game, both of them featuring 3-point goals by Theo Fujita.

An 8-0 run put the Mustangs ahead 21-15 in the second quarter and a 12-2 run pushed their lead to 37-21 four minutes into the second half.

Wilhoite was smothered by Leilehua's 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 frontline and held to six free throws in the first half.

"Their zone was crashing in on me in the first half," Wilhoite said. "I was frustrated.

"When our shooters (Fujita) started to hit their 3s, it pushed them into a man-to-man (defense) and I got a lot more looks."

He owned the paint in the second half, and finished with six field goals and eight free throws out of 12 tries.

Fujita scored 14, nine on 3-pointers.

"When we went to a half-court defense in the second quarter, it changed the momentum," Smith said. "That forced them to take a lot of perimeter shots and Sam was dominant in the paint."

The score had been tied at 11, 13 and 15 before Kalaheo broke away.

"We moved the ball better in the second half," Smith said. "Fujita's big 3s got them out of the zone and Zane (Cabral's) ballhandling handled their press.

With Kalaheo leading by 10 with four minutes left in the game, Leilehua went to an all 3-point shooting game and did not make a single one.

Tyrell Couch and Demetrius Washington led Leilehua with 11 and 10 points.

Kalaheo will take an 11-3 record and six-game winning streak into next week's state tournament at Blaisdell Arena.

The Mustangs have been to states in every one of Smith's 18 years as head coach. They have reached the final four 13 times —almost double any other school — and won three championships, in 1985, 1995 and 2001.

Twelve of Kalaheo's 14 players are underclassmen and only Wilhoite had significant playing time last season. Two sophomores —deadeye Fujita and defensive hawk David Moore — are in the starting lineup.

Leilehua also moves on to states, its record now 11-2, and with the availability of Rivera, hero of its 37-36 victory over Castle last week, uncertain.

The Mules' only previous loss was to OIA Western Division champion Radford, which Kalaheo defensed out of the tournament last week.

Leilehua has four seniors and eight juniors.

KALAHEO 5 20 15 21—61
LEILEHUA 11 7 12 13—43

KALAHEO—Aaron Luis 0, Chris Tumaneng 0, Nick Heldreth 0, Matt Nakashima 2, Steven Welch 0, Theo Fujita 14, Will Elliot 0, Zane Cabral 11, Neal Bowers 3, Josh Perry 0, Nate Shieks 0, David Moore 10, Jeremy Neufeldt 0, Edward Lee 1, Ryan Belles 0, Sam Wilhoite 20. Totals 15 26-39 61.

LEILEHUA—Andrew Talaeai 6, Demetrius Washington 10, Larry McCrum 1, Tyrell Couch 11, Angelo Massey 7, Antonio Carter 5, John Gory 0, Joshua Fetters 0, Zacarius Rivera 0, Anthony Hall 0, Angel Fontanez 3, Jonathan Scruggs 0, Jostin Repollo 0. Totals 14 11-23 43.

3-point goals—Kalaheo 5 (Fujita 3, Bowers 1, Cabral 1). Leilehua 4 (Washington 2, Couch 1, Massey 1).

OIA THIRD PLACE

• Kaimuki 68, Mililani 51: Daniel Tautofi scored a game-high 29 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while teammate Jimmy Miyasaka added 26 points and 15 boards as they carried the Bulldogs over the Trojans in last night's O'ahu Interscholastic Association third-place game.

KAIMUKI 21 10 18 19—68
MILILANI 8 18 15 10—51

KAIMUKI—Davey Nyugen 0, Richy Miyasaka 0, Dylan Kuratsu 0, Daniel Tautofi 29, Isaiah Ano 0, Jimmy Miyasaka 26, Jon Torres 0, Herb Lee 0, James Davis 0, Dexter Tautofi 0, Nick Milan 10, Junior Maieva 3 . Totals 21 18-29 68.

MILILANI—Lorenzo Abernathy 0, Aaron Kanno 3, Puna Neumann 0, Brandyn Fidel 13, Jordan Woolsey 3, Clarence Gray 0, Andrew Tokumi 3, Alex Patykula 19, Tony Gabriel 4, Mikhail Mabry 2, Zac Anduha 4, Nate Adams . Totals 19 6-8 51.

3-point goals—Kaimuki 8 (J. Miyasaka 4, Da. Tautofi 3, Milan 1). Mililani 7 (Fidel 3, Patykula 2, Woolsey 1, Tokumi 1).

OIA JV Championship

Kahuku 46, Leilehua 41

ILH POSTSEASON

• Kamehameha 41, Punahou 22: Kamehameha turned to its defense in the first half, then opened up on offense in the second half to defeat Punahou, 41-22, last night at Kekuhaupi'o Gym to win the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Postseason Tournament.

The Warriors earned the ILH's third state tournament berth and will join champion Iolani and second place Saint Louis in next week's state tourney on O'ahu.

Caleb Spencer scored 12 points to lead the Warriors, who led 8-2 after one quarter and 12-4 at halftime.

Kamehameha then outscored Punahou 29-18 in the second half to win easily.

Andrew Amigleo scored nine points to lead Punahou.

Kamehameha 8 4 17 12—41
Punahou 2 2 4 14—22

KAMEHAMEHA—Aaron Aiu 0, Jacob Bode 1, Parker Bode 2, Jarrett Day 0, Radford Hepa 4, Aaron Kahaloa 9, Willy Melemai 0, Galen Santana 0, Eric Shaver 7, Caleb Spencer 12, Waika Spencer 6.

PUNAHOU—Reid Fowler 4, Michael Lam 0, Jason Sakata 2, Stanley Fisher 2, Drew Monahan 0, Andrew Amigleo 9, Scott Otake 0, Daniel Bertao 0, Zander Schneider 0, Chris Friedemann 3, Brian Zane 1, Brenton Lee 1, Kasey Ko 0.

3-point goals—Punahou 1 (Amigleo).

• Kea'au wins Big Island title: Kea'au defeated Waiakea, 63-61, last night at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium to capture the Big Island Interscholastic Federation title with a 13-0 record.