By EDWARD JACKSON Tribune-Herald correspondent ADVERTISING HONOLULU — Lanaki Apele put Kamehameha-Hawaii on his shoulders in overtime Thursday to carry the Warriors past Academy of the Pacific 39-37 in the quarterfinals of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I
By EDWARD JACKSON
Tribune-Herald correspondent
HONOLULU — Lanaki Apele put Kamehameha-Hawaii on his shoulders in overtime Thursday to carry the Warriors past Academy of the Pacific 39-37 in the quarterfinals of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I basketball tournament at Radford High School.
The Big Island Interscholastic Federation champions (14-1) will face second-seeded Kahuku at 7 p.m. tonight at Blaisdell Center in the semifinals.
Apele led Kamehahama with nine points, and none of them were bigger than his acrobatic basket that gave the Warriors the lead for good, 37-36, with 1:34 left in OT.
“I was thinking that we are in a four-corner set and that I could attack their big men,” Apele said. “I had one guy behind me but when I reached the basket I then had one guy in front of me so I just tried to hang in the air for as long as I could. After I floated past that guy I had no choice but to flip the ball behind my back. And fortunately it went in.”
Apele helped keep the Dolphins at bay with a defensive steal and a rebound in the final minute as the Warriors made three defensive stops to keep their advantage.
Apele and Kekoa Turner both made free throws down the stretch for Kamehameha.
“This victory is huge for us because usually for teams coming from the Big Island we have a hard time getting over that first game hump,” Apele said. “Hopefully we can ride this momentum into the next game.”
Shaun Kagawa, Kaeo Alapai and Turner each scored eight points for Kamehameha. Wilson Macleod led the Dolphins (9-5), the Interscholastic of Honolulu’s No. 2 seed, with 11 points.
“This is my senior year,” Turner said. “We certainly didn’t want to lose this game. At the end we played scrappy defense because we wanted to keep the lead we worked so hard to get.”
The game featured numerous lead changes in the second half as neither team was able to break away.
The third-seeded Warriors got off to a slow start in the opening quarter as they adapted to the size difference of the taller Dolphins. Kamehameha trailed 6-2 midway in the quarter but buckets by Kagawa and Jacob Kackley (six points) narrowed the deficit to 8-6 by the end of that quarter.
The second quarter ended with AOP ahead 21-20. In that quarter Kamehameha did get an opportunity to lead briefly, 20-19, off a rebound and putback by Kackley at the 1:28 mark. But that lead disappeared 20 seconds later as the Dolphins regained the advantage off of two free throws by Shai Brown.
“All game long AOP and our team kept pressure on each other,” Kackley noted. “Nothing came easy.”
Kamehameha coach Dominic Pacheco was proud of his team’s performance, but he knows it will get another strong test today against the Red Raiders (17-1). The Oahu Interscholastic Association champions beat King Kekaulike 46-35.
“Our team knows that each game in this tournament gets tougher,” he said. “We have an excellent team of experienced players who have played together since middle school. I feel confident that win or lose that they will put their heart into giving their all.”
AOP 8 13 4 8 4 — 37
Kamehameha 6 14 9 4 6— 39
* Punahou 78, Hilo 53: Jalen Carvalho matched his production from a day earlier with 18 points and four 3-pointers, but it wasn’t enough to offset the taller-and-bigger Buffanblu, the No. 1 seed and ILH champion.
No one else scored in double-digits for the BIIF runner-up Vikings (13-4), who play Leilehua in a consolation game at 1 p.m. today.
Jodd Carter had eight points, Jacob Genegabuas seven and Kainoa Kawaha six for Hilo, which trailed 29-18 at the break and were outscored 20-12 in the third quarter.
DeForest Bucker scored 17 points and Kupono Fey 13 to lead the Buffanblu (12-1).
Punahou 17 12 20 29 —78
Hilo 12 6 12 23 —53
Division II
* HPA 69, Hanalani 55: Dakota Berman sank three 3-pointers and finished with 24 points while Kama DeSilva added 14 and Tyler Van Kirk had 10 to lift the Ka Makani over the Royals, the ILH runner-up.
The No. 2 seed and BIIF champion Ka Makani (8-5) plays McKinley (12-6) at 5 p.m. today at Farrington High’s Gym in the semifinals.
Mark Milton scored 19 points and his brother Michael Milton added 15 to lead Hanalani, which trailed 35-20 at halftime.
Hanalani 9 11 16 19 —55
HPA 23 12 17 17 —69
* Kalaheo 52, Kohala 39: The Mustangs, the No. 1 seed and Oahu Interscholastic Association champion, are tall. The BIIF runner-up Cowboys are not, with no one over 6 feet.
Size gave Kohala big problems as 6-6 Nainoa Frank scored 17 points and 6-2 Josh Ko added 14 for the Mustangs (16-2).
Christopher Roxburgh, a 6-0 senior, stepped up to the challenge and dropped 22 points for the Cowboys (8-6), who face St. Francis at p.m. today in a consolation game.
No one else came close to Roxburgh’s production. Freshman point guard Kealen Figueroa was next with five points.
Kohala trailed just 20-17 at halftime, but Kalaheo gave itself breathing room with an 18-9 third-quarter scoring outburst.
Kalaheo 15 5 18 14 —52
Kohala 8 9 9 13 —39
