Kohala 4 8 13 17— 42
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
Sebi Ohara-Saft made all the clutch shots — from the field and free-throw line — when St. Joseph desperately needed someone to step up with its season hanging from a cliff on Wednesday night.
The senior guard scored 15 points, none more important than his last two free throws with 6.9 seconds left, to lift the Cardinals over Honokaa 49-48 in a Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division II boys basketball playoff game at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
St. Joe (7-6) plays Hawaii Prep (7-3) at 3 p.m. Friday in the BIIF semifinals for a spot to the Division II state tournament.
“I’m relieved. Free throws are something we worked on all season,” Ohara-Saft said. “I stepped to the line like I know how and converted.”
Thomas Fairman also had 15 points, Cody Andrade added eight points and Christian Kaui scored six points for St. Joe, which often worked the ball inside, converting on 44 percent (16 of 36) shooting, including 3 of 8 from long distance.
Alika Alip scored 19 points, Isaiah Meyer had 11, including three 3-pointers, and Wayne Vaoga had six points, including four in the fourth quarter, to lead Honokaa, which slashed and kicked out for 42 percent (18 of 43) shooting, including 5 of 14 from 3-point range.
The season is over for the young Dragons (3-8), who have no seniors on their 12-man roster. They last went to states in 2007, when there was no statewide classification.
Honokaa appeared ready to end St. Joe’s run of state appearances, which includes four trips in the last five seasons, holding a 48-41 lead with 1:12 remaining.
“Things didn’t look good at that point,” Ohara-Saft said. “But we believe in each other and played together.”
Then Ohara-Saft knocked down a 3-pointer — the Cards’ first field goal in the fourth quarter — with 55 seconds to go. Until then, their last field goal came with 4:62 to play in the third period.
On the next possession, Fairman got a block, Isaac Pacheco raced down the court and followed with a 3-pointer to get St. Joe within 48-47 with 31 seconds left in the game, setting up Ohara-Saft’s clutch free throws after Alip was fouled.
Alip, who previously buried 4 of 4 free throws, went to the line with 20.6 remaining. But he missed the front end of a one-and-one and St. Joe rebounded.
For the game, Honokaa was 8 of 12 from the line; St. Joe nailed 14 of 23, the last two by Ohara-Saft the game’s most pressure-packed points.
With 6.9 seconds on the clock, Ohara-Saft was fouled near the top of the key on a 3-point attempt. He swished the first two and missed the third.
The Dragons rebounded and missed a desperation 3 at the buzzer, leaving coach Cheyenne Meyer disappointed and proud at the same time.
“Obviously it’s a tough one to swallow with a seven-point lead with 1:12 left. But you can’t fault the kids’ effort. The effort was there,” he said. “Not many people thought we’d give St. Joe a game. I told our guys even though we’ve got everybody back it’s no guarantee. But I like what we’ve got.
“Late in the game it didn’t look good for them. But credit them. They fought back and they’ve got senior leadership with Sebi and Thomas. They’ve been in more situations like that than us.”
While Honokaa has no seniors, St. Joe has six seniors, including all five starters: Ohara-Saft, Fairman, Pacheco, Kaui and Andrade. There are four underclassmen, but there was no junior varsity team this season — a point not lost on Ohara-Saft.
“I told the team, ‘We’ve come too far and worked too hard to lose.’ We have four returnees next year,” Ohara-Saft said. “I don’t know if we’ll have St. Joe basketball for a little while. But we appreciate all the fans and alumni that come out and support us, so we’ll win for them.”
Father and son shared the same sentiment. The St. Joe coach was impressed with the vocal support from the team’s fans. He, too, looked relieved after his senior-laden squad survived an upset bid.
“I was especially happy with our crowd,” Saft said. “Hopefully, they come back and keep believing in us.”
Honokaa 9 10 10 19 — 48
St. Joseph 10 12 13 14 — 49
Kohala 42, Ka’u 21: Christopher Roxburgh scored 12 points and Andrew Trump added 10 as the host Cowboys cruised into the Division II semifinals.
At 4:30 p.m. Friday at Hilo Civic, Kohala (7-4) will face East No. 1 seed Pahoa (9-3) for berth in the state tournament.Greg Javar scored nine points and Roy Esperon had seven for the Trojans, who finished the season 2-11.
Ka’u 4 1 2 14 — 21
Kohala 4 8 13 17— 42