Second-seeded Maui routs Leilehua, 68-49

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Leilehua's Demetrius Washington tries to control the ball as Maui's Tevita Finau tries to wrest it away in the second quarter. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

The Maui High School boys basketball team put on a spectacular display of inside scoring and fluid fast breaks yesterday to race past Leilehua, 68-49, in the quarterfinals of the Hawaiian Airlines State Championship tournament.

The No. 2 seed Sabers (15-0) will play unseeded Saint Louis (13-3) at 7 tonight in the first of two semifinals at Blaisdell Arena. No. 1 Iolani (15-0) will play Kamehameha (14-4) in the other semifinal at 8:30.

Although seeded second, Maui entered the tournament as a big unknown because it had played only one O'ahu team in the preseason. But last night, brothers Ma'afu and Tevita Finau combined for 41 points and 11 rebounds and the Sabers quickly showed they are a legitimate contender to win it all.

"Definitely," Leilehua coach Keith Spencer said. "Those two brothers make a big difference; they can run the court. Once they ran and got layups on us, we couldn't stop them."

Leilehua actually trailed only 12-10 late in the first period, but Gene Rivera's three-point play started a 12-2 run that extended into the second quarter. By the end of the third period, Maui stretched the lead to 55-36, mostly on fast-break layups by Rivera (15 points) and the Finaus. Tevita Finau is 6 feet 5 and Ma'afu Finau and Rivera are both 6-4, and their inside play allowed the Sabers to shoot 68 percent (26 of 38) from the field.

But almost as impressive was the performance of 5-5 point guard Efren Oasay, who finished with 11 points and seven assists.

"He runs our team and is so unselfish," Maui coach Bill Naylor said. "Everyone knows about our three big guys, but with Efren running our offense, that really helps us."

Ma'afu Finau, who will play football at Yuba (Calif.) Community College next fall, said the anticipation of the Sabers' big O'ahu unveiling also helped raise the team's energy level.

"People hyped up our team coming in, and we took it as a challenge and picked it up in practice," Ma'afu Finau said. "We started out kinda nervous, but then we relaxed and halfway through the third quarter, it started opening up."

Spencer said Maui will have a much bigger challenge against the Crusaders tonight.

"Saint Louis has got the big guys to match up with them, and we didn't," Spencer said. "It will be more physical."

Naylor agreed, saying the Sabers "will need to hit the weight room overnight" to get stronger.

"It'll be physical, but we'll show up and play hard, the team promised me that," Naylor said. "It'll be 32 minutes of good basketball."