Iolani wins second state title in a row
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
The shot of the night came from spectator Jack Gayle, who swished an underhanded heave from halfcourt to win $10,000 in a halftime promotion.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
But the really big baskets came from a more familiar source — Iolani School's prolific duo of Derrick Low and Bobby Nash — who combined for 28 points to lead the Raiders to a 61-37 victory over Saint Louis and their second straight Hawaiian Airlines State Championship.
"Saint Louis definitely brings out the best in us," said Iolani forward Bobby Nash, who scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds in the Raiders' 61-37 victory over the Crusaders.
It was Iolani's third title in six seasons and fifth overall. It also was the most decisive championship win in 24 years, as a Blaisdell Arena crowd of 4,741 watched the Raiders take a 49-28 lead into the final period and cruise to victory behind its methodical but highly efficient delay game.
Saint Louis (14-4) had taken Iolani (17-0) into overtime in the teams' first meeting and led by seven in the third quarter of the second regular-season matchup, only to lose both times. Last night, the Raiders took care of business early and never looked back.
"Saint Louis definitely brings out the best in us," said Nash, a 6-foot-6 forward who closed out a brilliant four-year career with 15 points and six rebounds. "They're physical, and they like to play a fast tempo with tough man-to-man pressure all game. Tonight we just picked it up and made key shots when we had to."
Low (13 points) had seven points in the opening period, helping Iolani jump out to a 14-3 lead in the first six minutes. His coast-to-coast layup early in the second quarter pushed the score to 20-7, and a 3-pointer by freshman Vinny Nip and Sean Carney's layup made it 25-7 midway through the period.
As opposed to last year's title game, when Low scored all of the Raiders' 14 first-quarter points and had 22 by halftime, seven different players scored for Iolani in the game's first 12 minutes.
"Anything could have happened, but the way it turned out everybody was scoring equally tonight," said Low, a 6-1 junior point guard. "That made it so much easier on me."
The Crusaders, meanwhile, struggled miserably from the field, making only one of their first 11 shots and 7 of 31 in the first half. That included five airballs and several missed layups.
"It's actually a simple game — you gotta put the ball in the hole," Saint Louis coach Delbert Tengan said. "Any time you shoot like that, unless you're playing super defense, it's tough to win. I think what happened, too, is we hung our heads when the shots weren't dropping and gave up some easy baskets on the other end. The poor shooting affected us defensively. We couldn't get our shots to fall, and it just snowballed from there."
The Crusaders did manage to end the second quarter with an 8-0 run after 3-pointers by Timo Paepule and Jason Rivers, followed by Desmond Hanohano's breakaway dunk to make it 27-17 at intermission.
Saint Louis got as close as 33-25 after Jonah Lakatani's 3-pointer early in the third period, but Nash scored 10 of his 15 points in the quarter and the Raiders went on a 14-0 run to lead 47-25 with 1:20 remaining.
"Throughout the game we had different mismatches, and (in the third quarter) Nash had a lot of opportunities to score," Low said. "Everyone lets the game dictate how we play, and everybody eventually gets a chance to score."
The 24-point margin of victory was the biggest in a state title game since Punahou defeated Moanalua 60-28 in 1979. It also came on the 20th anniversary of Iolani's first state championship. That team, led by point guard Scott Laboy, shooting guard Keith Spencer, small forward Mike Fetters, power forward Roland Ruff and center Frank Lutu, won four tournament games by at least 14 points each and took the championship with a 62-46 dismantling of Leilehua.
All five of those starters were named to the All-Tournament team. This year's version won its three tournament games by an average of 19 points.
"This is a different team," said Raiders assistant Glenn Young, who was head coach of the 1983 squad. "That ('83) team was more physical. This team has a lot more finesse."
This year's version also has two players headed for NCAA Division I basketball — Nash has signed with Hawai'i and Low will be a top recruit next season. But they want to be remembered as more than the "Derrick and Bobby Show."
"All year, it's taken everybody," Nash said. "That's a misconception people have, is that we're not a team. But we always pass the ball and look for each other, and that's why we won."
• • •
All-tournament team
Jason Rivers (Saint Louis); Maafu Finau (Maui); Sam Wilhoite (Kalaheo); Levi Bartholomew (Waiakea); Bobby Nash (Iolani). MVP: Derrick Low (Iolani).
Yesterday's results
Championship
Iolani 61, Saint Louis 37
Third place
Maui 48, Kamehameha 45
Fifth place
Kalaheo 54, Leilehua 48
Consolation
Waimea 65, Waiakea 57
SAINT LOUIS (37)
MP FG FT R A S PF TP
Hanohano 23 3-7 3-4 6 1 1 1 9
Paepule 15 3-8 0-0 7 0 2 3 7
Monteilh 15 0-1 0-0 1 1 0 3 0
Lakatani 25 4-9 0-0 3 3 1 4 9
Rivers 28 2-16 1-5 6 1 0 2 7
Batts 20 1-5 0-0 2 0 2 4 2
Adachi 13 0-3 0-0 1 0 0 0 0
Brilhante 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Thompson 4 1-1 1-1 1 0 0 0 3
Va'a 1 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0 0
Afoa 15 0-3 0-0 1 0 0 1 0
Team 6
Totals 14-55 5-10 35 6 6 18 37
Percentage .255 .500
IOLANI (61)
MP FG FT R A S PF TP
Carney 12 1-1 0-0 2 2 0 1 2
Nash 28 7-14 1-2 6 2 1 4 15
Blankenship 12 1-1 1-1 3 0 1 0 3
Low 28 3-7 5-7 0 3 1 1 13
Hirata 25 2-5 2-2 5 4 0 2 7
Nip 2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3
Yasuda 7 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Tollefson 18 1-1 7-9 3 0 1 2 9
Pape 18 3-3 0-0 4 1 1 1 6
Mageo 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Choy 2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2
Miller 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Eberlin 4 0-1 1-2 1 1 0 1 1
Team 2
Totals 20-36 17-23 26 13 5 13 61
Percentage .556 .739
SAINT LOUIS (14-4) 7 10 11 9—37
IOLANI (17-0) 16 11 22 12—61
3-point goals — Saint Louis 4-19 (Rivers 2-6, Paepule 1-1, Lakatani 1-4, Monteilh 0-1, Brilhante 0-1, Va'a 0-1, Adachi 0-2, Batts 0-3), Iolani 4-10 (Low 2-2, Nip 1-1, Hirata 1-4, Yasuda 0-1, Nash 0-2).
Blocked shots — Saint Louis 1 (Rivers), Iolani 3 (Carney, Nash, Eberlin). Turnovers — Saint Louis 12, Iolani 10. Technical fouls — none.
MAUI (16-1) 13 4 17 14—48
KAMEHAMEHA (15-6) 12 14 11 8—45
Maui—Maafu Finau 1-4 0-0 2, Gene Rivera 8-10 0-0 20, Tevita Finau 3-8 3-6 9, Robinson Agdinoay 0-1 2-2 2, Efren Oasay 4-8 2-3 10, Van Komatsu 2-3 0-0 4, Dane Patao 0-0 0-0 0, Kynan Metoyer 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 18-35 8-13 48.
Kamehameha—Willy Melemai 5-9 0-0 10, Eric Shaver 4-13 0-0 9, Galen Santana 1-3 0-0 2, Caleb Spencer 4-13 0-1 8, Aaron Kahaloa 2-8 0-0 6, Radford Hepa 2-6 0-0 4, Waika Spencer 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 21-56 0-1 45.
3-point goals—Maui 4-8 (Rivera 4). Kamehameha 3-16 (Kahaloa 2, Shaver 1).
Leilehua (13-4) 13 10 11 14—48
Kalaheo (13-4) 10 10 17 17—54
Leilehua—Andrew Talaeai 1-2 0-0 2, Zacarias Rivera 10-14 2-6 22, Anthony Hall 0-1 0-0 0, Demitrius Washington 2-6 0-0 4, Angel Fontanez 0-2-2 2, Tyrell Couch 1-2 0-0 2, Angelo Massey 5-14 1-3 12, Antonio Carter 2-3 0-0 4, BJ Fruean 0-0 0-0 0, Jonathan Scruggs 0-2 0-0 0, Jostin Repollo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-46 5-11 48.
Kalaheo—Zane Cabral 1-7 4-7 7, Aaron Luis 0-0 0-0 0, Christopher Tumaneng 0-0 0-0 0, Matthew Nakashima 2-3 0-0 5, Theo Fujita 1-9 4-4 7, William Elliot 0-2 2-2 2, Neil Bowers 0-1 0-0 0, David Moore 1-1 2-2 4, Jeremy Neufeldt 3-5 0-0 6, Ryan Belles 0-0 0-0 0, Sam Wilhoite 6-9 11-14 23. Totals 14-37 23-29 54.
3-point goals—Leilehua 1-6 (Massey). Kalaheo 3-15 (Nakashima, Cabral, Fujita).
Waimea (10-1) 19 12 14 20—65
Waiakea (10-6) 8 14 14 21—57
Waimea—Jordan Dizon 9-14 4-8 22, Lanikai Kanahele 1-1 0-1 2, Mark Andres 1-1 0-0 2, Joshua Vinzant 1-5 0-0 3, Desmond Rodrigues 4-8 5-6 13, Jeremy Manuel 2-3 4-5 8, Jay Parinas 0-1 0-0 0, Blaine Camden 0-1 0-0 0, Alan Manuel 0-1 0-0 0, Casey Kaohelaulii 5-10 5-6 15, Jeremy McDown 0-0 0-0 0, Akeem Allen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-46 18-26 65.
Waiakea—Levi Bartholomew 4-9 3-5 11, Abraham McGrew 1-3 1-2 3, Tyler Nishimura 5-16 3-4 17, Sean Soriano 1-5 4-4 7, Ronnie Loeffler 4-6 1-1 10, Kyle Correira 1-1 0-0 2, Michael Belmes 1-2 0-0 2, Cody Aragaki 0-2 0-0 0, Cheynne Hirota 0-0 0-0 0, David Doll 1-3 1-2 3, Justin Pascual 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 19-48 13-18 57.
3-point goals—Waimea 1-7 (Vinzant). Waiakea 6-25 (Nishimura 4, Soriano 1, Loeffler 1).
State titles
Year—School (coach)
2003—Iolani (Mark Mugiishi)
2002—Iolani (Mark Mugiishi)
2001—Kalaheo (Pete Smith)
2000—Hilo (Larry Manliguis)
1999—Punahou (Alan Lum)
1998—Iolani (Mark Mugiishi)
1997—Moanalua (Eddie Maruyama)
1996—Moanalua (Eddie Maruyama)
1995—Kalaheo (Pete Smith)
1994—Iolani (Mark Mugiishi)
1993—Kaimuki (Raymond Fujino)
1992—Kamehameha (James Winchester)
1991—Hilo (Larry Manliguis)
1990—Punahou (Chris McLachlin)
1989—Radford (Jim Alegre)
1988—University (Darryl Gabriel)
1987—University (Robert Au)
1986—Saint Louis (Kaipo Spencer)
1985—Kalaheo (Pete Smith)
1984—Maryknoll (Tony Sellitto)
1983—Iolani (Glenn Young)
1982—Kailua (Louis Santos)
1981—Punahou (Robin Durand)
1980—Punahou (Ray Buck)
1979—Punahou (Chris McLachlin)
1978—University (Claude Hottendorf)
1977—Radford (Jim Alegre)
1976—Kamehameha (Jeff Mast)
1975—Punahou (Chris McLachlin)
1974—Punahou (Bud Scott)
1973—Leilehua (Richard Townsend)
1972—Kailua (Merv Lopes)
1971—Radford (Jim Alegre)
1970—Punahou (Bud Scott)
1969—Radford (Jim Alegre)
1968—Saint Louis (Walter Wong)
1967—Saint Louis (Walter Wong)
1966—Saint Louis (Walter Wong)
1965—Kamehameha (Jack Herbertson)
1964—Hilo (Albert Manliguis)
1963—Kamehameha (Jack Herbertson)
1962—Kamehameha (Jack Herbertson)
1961—Saint Louis (Walter Wong)
1960—Farrington (Bob Ikehara)
1959—Farrington (Bob Ikehara)
1958—St. Joseph (Walter Victor)
1957—Saint Louis (Walter Wong)
