Making textbook basketball seem as easy as a pop-up book, Iolani cruised to a 60-36 victory over Kahuku in the semifinals of the 50th annual Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships in the Stan Sheriff Center last night.

In winning the rematch between last year's finalists, the Raiders advanced to the championship game for the sixth consecutive year. They have won the past four state titles.

"We played good team basketball, and good things happen when we do that," said forward Kawika Shoji, who scored Iolani's first nine points and finished with a game-high 19 points.

In turn, the Raiders were able to contain Kahuku's human scoring machine, guard Junior Ale. The 6-foot-1 senior averaged 23.7 points during the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's regular season and 25.3 in the postseason.

But Ale struggled to find open shots against defensive schemes designed with him in mind.

The Raiders defended out of man-to-man, box-and-one coverage, and 2-3 and 1-3-1 zones. Vinny Nip, Kekai Kealoha, Kela Marciel and, even, the 6-4 Shoji took turns shadowing Ale.

"Defensively, our objective was to try and contain him as much as possible," Nip said. "I think the team did a good job of helping out and knowing where he was on the court at all times."

When Ale would use cross-over dribbles to juke past a defender, he was met by another. And then another.

"We went into the game knowing it would be our team game that was going to stop him and not one individual," Shoji said. "It was a great team defense that was the key."

Nip said: "That's what we take pride in. All season, we took pride in playing tough defense and making sure the help was there when we needed it. We did a good job of slowing him down."

Ale finished with six points on 2-for-13 shooting. He did not connect on any of his shots launched behind the 3-point stripe. He also committed four turnovers.

Nearly 30 minutes after the game, Ale remained in the locker room, distraught with emotion.

"He's taking it hard," Kahuku coach Nathan James said, noting the loss was a collective effort. "That's a credit to what (the Raiders) do. It's a combination of many things that factor into the victory and the defeat. It wasn't any one thing or one person."

Entering the game, Iolani's strategy was this: Merge into the fast-break lane.

"We knew they were aggressive on the offensive boards," Shoji said. "We knew we had to run on them early."

And the Raiders did, sprinting to a 10-5 lead. Two of the baskets were Shoji layups at the end of fast breaks.

With the comfortable lead, the Raiders turned to their trademark spread offense, moving the ball from side to side until a player broke free for a wide-open shot. The Raiders hit six 3s; Kahuku missed 12 of its 13 3-point attempts.

Kahuku also learned the difficult lesson that a defender cannot move faster than a pass. On one play, Wally Marciel fired a pass across the baseline to Shoji for an easy bucket. On another, Kealoha drove the lane, faked a passed and scored on a lay-in. Shoji repeatedly broke loose on cuts for easy shots. And so it went.

Kahuku post player Kevin Unga said it was Iolani's tireless offense — not the demands of playing three overtimes games in the previous five days — that induced fatigue.

"They did a good job passing the ball," Unga said. "When they're passing the ball, our defense is moving, and that gets us tired. (The fatigue) had nothing to do with the overtimes. We have our weaknesses, and they caught it. They did a good job of getting at us."

To add to Kahuku's struggles, Iolani substituted five players at a time, often in four-minute intervals. In turn, five Kahuku players logged at least 23 minutes.

"That's not an excuse," James said. "We didn't execute the things we worked on. We didn't address the double teams or the traps, doing what we know how to do. It was a matter of being consistent and disciplined against a team that is very disciplined and always executes."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.