In the 1985 ‘Iolani Prep Classic semifinals, Maryknoll guard Garrett Gabriel scored 32 points in a loss to national power West Philadelphia — to this day one of the best tournament performances by a local player.
Tuesday night, Gabriel was the head coach for Mililani and it was his son, Roman, and the Trojans taking on DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.), ranked No. 20 in the nation by MaxPreps.
And just like 38 years ago, the Mainland power proved too tall and talented overall as the Stags ran and shot past Mililani, 80-48, in the feature first-round game of Day 2. Sophomore guard Ace Meeks scored a game-high 23 points — including five 3-pointers — and Villanova-bound forward Malcolm Thomas added 20 points as DeMatha improved to 8-0. LeCedric Brown scored 13 points and Gabriel added nine points to lead the Trojans, who fell to 7-3.
Mililani trailed 8-4 three minutes into the game, but Charles Thomas III sank a free throw with 4:11 remaining to ignite a 15-2 run as the Stags ended the period ahead, 23-6. DeMatha then opened the second quarter with a 12-2 run to quickly stretch the lead to 35-8, and went into halftime ahead 44-18.”This DeMatha team is really amazing, they’re known for basketball,” Garrett Gabriel said of the Stags, who count former All-Americans Adrian Dantley and Danny Ferry among their long list of alumni standouts. “It’s good for our kids to see that, it’s really once in a lifetime. They’re tall, long and quick, so it was tough for us against their pressure. But this was good for us, because we’re going to face teams that will pressure us this season.”
The Trojans opened the second half with a 14-7 run and cut it to 51-32 after Brown’s two free throws midway through the third period. Mililani got eight points off free throws during that stretch, which also gave the Trojans short breaks to catch their breath apart from trying to keep pace with the Stags’ pressure defense and transition offense. Mililani finished 15 of 23 from the line.
“When we started attacking and getting to the free throw line, that’s when we were effective,” Roman Gabriel said. “When you play a nationally ranked team, you just gotta keep playing, that’s the most important thing. You’re gonna get your shot blocked, there’s gonna be dunks, but the most important part is to keep playing to the best of your ability and keep chipping away. I thought we did that. We kept fighting.”
DeMatha closed out the third period with an 18-7 run to lead 69-39 entering the fourth.
“(The Trojans) did a good job, they are well coached,” Stags coach Mike Jones said. “They got to the free throw line a lot. But I was happy with the way we played together, our energy was good. We just had a couple things with our defensive rotation that we need to improve on.”
DeMatha will face The Master’s Academy (Oviedo, Fla.) at 3:30 p.m. in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
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