KAHULUI, Maui — The Moloka'i High School boys basketball team has played six games on Maui in the last eight days — with a trip home thrown in.

"So why not one more?'' Farmers coach Lee DeRouin said to The Maui News after his team did indeed force another contest with a 55-52 win over Seabury Hall in the Maui Interscholastic League Division II tournament championship game Friday night at Maui High gym.

Today at noon at Maui High, the MIL D-II overall championship will be on the line in the fifth game of the season between the Spartans (10-3) and Farmers (11-3). Seabury Hall won the first three contests, including a 49-37 decision on Tuesday at Lahainaluna that gave the Spartans the MIL D-II regular-season crown.

The Spartans looked like they might end the MIL D-II season Friday when they rallied back from a 35-26 deficit with 1 minute, 53 seconds to go in the third period to take a 43-39 lead with 4 1/2 minutes to play.

Seabury scored the first 15 points in its 17-2 run on five straight 3-point baskets — two of the first three by Phelan Pagano and the final two by Garrett Wiseman. Pagano had eight points in the run, including a layup with 4:35 to go.

After Jack Webber made one free throw with 2:53 left to boost the Seabury lead to 44-41, it was Moloka'i's turn to go on a 10-0 run in the next 99 seconds.

''After we clinched our state spot (Thursday) against Lana'i we turned our focus to Seabury, we really sat down with the boys and told them to be really focused on Seabury, where our strengths and weaknesses were against them,'' DeRouin said. ''We just wanted to up-tempo the game, that is where our strengths are. We prepared and I think the early pressure we put on them was a key.''

Scottie Rapanot and Alvin Ringor each scored four points for Moloka'i in the run, while Joseph Akaka contributed a basket and a pair of crucial steals and assists.

The run ''was all due to hard work and our team playing defense,'' Rapanot said. ''We pushed it up and got back the lead.''

The Farmers led 24-19 at halftime before boosting it to the high of nine.

''We got the lead and were just trying to hold on to it the rest of the game,'' DeRouin said. ''Seabury has outstanding shooters and they showed it, but we kept our composure, which we learned by playing the Lanai games (one-point and three-point wins this week).''

Today, Moloka'i will be playing its seventh game in nine days on Maui, in three different gyms.

''All those games, especially against Lana'i, actually prepared us to play today,'' DeRouin said.

He added that the decisive 10-0 run did not surprise him.

''Our style of basketball is an up-tempo game at times, transition --- we score a lot of our points in transition,'' he said. ''When we do have those big runs, a 6-0 or 8-0 run, after that we just try to sustain it and play even after that. We try to get one more to put a team away, but we couldn't put Seabury away.''

Rapanot finished with 17 points and Ringor added 12.

''We have had a balanced attack all season,'' DeRouin said. ''If someone was to go through our roster, which guy are you going to stop? We have a very good balance, we have speed, we have size, we have a hard-work ethic.''

Moloka'i shot 23-for-54 from the field and committed 10 turnovers, including just one in the fourth quarter.

''I'm real proud of these guys --- to be on Maui this long, to put out an effort like that for all these fans in Maui County --- that was for Moloka'i,'' DeRouin said.

Rapanot added, ''I'm excited for tomorrow. Right now the adrenaline is pumping. We can do it one more time.''

Seabury Hall was led by Pagano's 16 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter. The Spartans shot 19-for-43 from the floor and had 18 turnovers, including on three straight possessions in the Farmers' 10-0 run.

Still, after an intentional foul called on Moloka'i, Pagano scored with 21 seconds to go to bring Seabury within 54-52. The Spartans committed their final turnover with 18 seconds to go after Kawaiola Kalipi made one free throw to account for the final margin — the ball did not cross halfcourt to the Seabury side again.

''We had three straight turnovers and I don't want to say that sealed the fate, but it put it in their hands,'' said Spartans coach Scott Prather.

Saturday's championship game will match the first two MIL D-II basketball champions --- Seabury in 2007, Moloka'i last year.

''Today was a great win for our island. The boys and I are really proud that we come from Moloka'i and we showed that on the floor tonight. We have been here before, it is our title, we are the defending champions --- you have to go through Molokai.''

Prather said that he is also looking forward to the fifth game of the series.

''Today was another tough one, but I think they wanted it a little bit more,'' he said. ''The executed at the end just a little bit better than we did and that is what decided the game. ... know we will be ready (Saturday).''

BALDWIN 25, LAHAINALUNA 23

In a game that was 16-12 going to the fourth quarter, every one in a packed Maui High School gym knew who was going to take the last shot.

Baldwin High School's Lincoln Seto — the Maui Interscholastic League's leading scorer — struggled like the rest of the players in this defensive battle, but his 15-foot shot from the left corner of the key banked in with five seconds left to give the Bears a 25-23 win over Lahainaluna on Friday.

The game completed a 14-0 run through MIL Division I for the Bears (20-4 overall), and clinched their 20th overall boys basketball league title in the last 38 years. The Lunas (8-6 MIL) will join the Bears at the state tournament March 4-7 on O'ahu.

Seto, who entered the MIL tournament averaging 23.3 points per game, had just two through three quarters — the Bears scored four points in each one.

Still, when Baldwin called timeout with 32 seconds to play and the game tied 23-23, there was no doubt who was getting the ball.

''Coach said to run a play, but I saw an opening and I took it from there,'' Seto said of his final shot, which came with four Lunas surrounding him. ''I took the jump shot. I called bank on that — coach always tells us to use the backboard and I did there.''

Seto said the game was a hard-fought battle that caught his team a little off-guard. The Bears got through the MIL tournament despite scoring 60 points in two games.

''We just weren't in sync in the first half, and we knew they were going to hard to play so we had to play harder,'' Seto said. ''We came out hard in the second half.''

Seto scored eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter and was called for his fourth foul with 4:11 to play. He did not come out the rest of the game and even allowing for his early struggles, he didn't hesitate on the final play.

''I trust all my teammates and I wouldn't be here without them, but, yes, I wanted that last shot,'' he said moments before getting an MIL championship medal hung around his neck.

Bears coach Wayne Gushiken saw his team get to the state's top tournament for the 30th time in the last 38 years, when current assistant Jon Garcia took over the program in 1972.

''Oh no, that wasn't their prettiest game ever played, but we will take it,'' Gushiken said. ''A win is a win and we will take it, especially the way both sides were playing tonight. It was a defensive struggle to say the least.''

Seto scored with 7:20 to go to bring the Bears within 16-14 and Pusoni Tasini took a bounce pass in the lane from Micah Shibano to tie the score at 16-16 with 6:23 to go.

Sam Kiek hit a 3-pointer to give the Lunas a 19-16 lead with 5:49 left, bringing a timeout from Baldwin. A pair of Seto drives — wrapped around a jumper by Lahainaluna's T.J. Rickard — left the Lunas in front 21-20 with 3:51 to play. Shibano made a 3-pointer and the Lunas' Reimers Pinho scored on a layup to tie it with 55 seconds to go, and Baldwin held for the final shot from there.

''Lincoln didn't play great the whole game, but they say the cream rises to the top,'' Gushiken said. ''Lucky thing he had that last shot. I think that was his only (made) outside shot. This kind of game will definitely have us ready for the state tournament and I think Lahainaluna might make some noise of there as well because they are big, they hustle, they go to the ball.''

Gushiken watched the final shot from near the baseline.

''We were going to run a set, but we decided to junk that because the ball would be in other people's hands, so we said, 'Hey, we are going to go four corners,' and at eight seconds Lincoln was supposed to what he is supposed to do and he did it,'' Gushiken said. ''I was standing down there and when he took the shot I didn't think it was going in. He was surrounded by the Lahaina kids, but when I saw the trajectory I thought we had a shot at the bank. The bank was open.''

After Seto's final shot went through, Lahainaluna coach Eric Balinbin decided against calling a timeout. Rickard's midcourt final shot did not hit the backboard.

''We had stops, they had stops, it looked like the game was played almost — instead of the baseline — between the blocks,'' Balinbin said. ''I tell you man, we knew who was going to take the last shot and we put the right guy on the last shot. We told the kids, take it down the floor, run it, see what we get and they just made the shot. Good for Lincoln.

''If you stop the clock, they set up a 'D' that goes against man or zone. Movement creates confusion, so out of that principle we run the floor, just like we do it at practice every day.''

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