Iolani gets back in game shape with 78-50 battering of Baldwin

By Kyle Sakamoto
Advertiser Staff Writer

Baldwin's Cody Nakamura pulls away a rebound from a teammate and Iolani's Todd Blankenship. The Bears took an early lead before the top-seeded Raiders turned up defensive pressure and pulled away. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

But once the Raiders got going they looked like the defending state basketball champions and a team that went undefeated this season in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.

Iolani used a ball-hawking man-to-man defense and a strong transition game to rout Baldwin, 78-50, last night in the Hawaiian Airlines State Championship tournament at the Blaisdell Arena.

Iolani (15-0) will face Kamehameha (14-4) in a semifinal tonight at 8:30.

Baldwin, the Maui Interscholastic League runner-up, took a 10-9 lead with 2:17 left in the first quarter, but the Raiders scored 13 in a row to take a 22-10 lead at the end of the quarter. Reserve Zachary Tollefson scored seven points during the rally.

"I'm glad we got this win because as you could see we started with a little bit of rust," Iolani coach Mark Mugiishi said. "It was nice to get in a game situation and get some of the rust off."

Iolani forced 28 turnovers against a Baldwin (11-5) team that ran its motion-passing game offense to perfection the previous night against Mililani. Last night, the Raiders shut down the Bears' passing lanes and allowed few open looks at the basket.

"That's been the trademark this season; we put on a lot of defensive pressure," Mugiishi said. "That's one thing that's all on effort so hopefully we aren't rusty there. We feel if we play good defense we're going to put points up and be tough."

Derrick Low had 17 points and six steals, Bobby Nash added 16 points and Tollefson scored 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting. As a team, Iolani was 25 of 52 from the field, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range.

"That's how we've been all year," Mugiishi said. "We've been pretty balanced. We don't have one dominating scorer. Credit that to a really experienced point guard (Low), who knows how to get everybody involved."

Iolani went on a 19-3 run over the final 4:35 of the second quarter to take a 43-21 halftime lead.

The Raiders' largest lead was 58-26 on a field goal by Tollefson with 3:10 left in the third quarter.

"We don't match up with them athletically, size-wise or experience," Baldwin coach Wayne Gushiken said. "It was a one-sided match."

The Raiders' running game was in full sprint most of the game as they filled the lanes off turnovers and defensive rebounds.

"They like to run, they have a good running team with good outside shooters," Gushiken said.