By EDWARD JACKSON Tribune-Herald correspondent ADVERTISING HONOLULU — Hawaii Prep started fine and finished strong. It’s the second quarter that got away from the Ka Makani at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II basketball tournament. Junior guard AJ
By EDWARD JACKSON
Tribune-Herald correspondent
HONOLULU — Hawaii Prep started fine and finished strong. It’s the second quarter that got away from the Ka Makani at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II basketball tournament.
Junior guard AJ Ortaleza scored 12 points and McKinley forged ahead Friday night with a big second-quarter and held on to beat HPA 40-38 in the semifinals at Farrington High School.
“We wanted to come out with intensity and set our tone on the defensive end,” Hawaii Prep coach Dave Huntington said. “But during that second quarter we got sloppy on defense and let McKinley get past us on drives to the basket.”
The Tigers (13-6) will try for their second state championship today against Oahu Interscholastic Association rival and top seed Kalaheo (17-2) at 5 p.m. at Blaisdell Center.
Senior guard Alex Ironside added nine points for McKinley, which last won a state title in 2007. With the score tied at 15-15 in the second quarter, the Tigers went on a 10-2 run and never trailed again.
Guard Dakota Berman made three 3-pointers and led BIIF champion Hawaii Prep (8-6) with 19 points. The senior’s basket with nine seconds left trimmed the Tigers’ lead to two, but the Ka Makani ran out of time.
“Certainly I’m disappointed with the loss,” said Berman, who’s scored 43 points in two games at states. “We played strong in the first quarter then we fell ahead by eight in that second quarter and had a hard time catching up.
“We knew going into the final quarter that we needed to step up our defense. We were able to get the margin down but if we could have had 15 more seconds I think we could have tied the game.”
HPA lost despite enjoying a decided advantage at the free-throw line. Berman was 6 of 6 as the Ka Makani made 15 of 20 as a team. McKinley was just 1 of 8.
Junior Jovan Crnic scored eight points on 8 of 10 shooting from the line, and senior forward Tyler Van Kirk added seven.
Playing at their first state tournament, HPA can still finish on a winning note today at 11 a.m. at Blaisdell when they face Seabury Hall (7-1), the Maui Interscholastic League champion, in the third-place game.
“We had a great season,” Huntington said. “I knew deep down that our kids would mount a challenge at the end. They didn’t just hand McKinley the victory.”
In the other semifinal, Kalaheo beat Seabury Hall 38-36.
McKinley 9 16 11 4 — 40
Hawaii Prep 11 6 11 10— 38
