By Wes Nakama

In a typically tight ILH boys basketball race, ‘Iolani protected home court Thursday night with a narrow 51-46 victory over visiting Maryknoll to move into first place in the league standings.

A sparse crowd at the Raiders’ Lower Gym watched Declan Beckette score a game-high 18 points to help ‘Iolani improve to 11-5 overall and 3-1 in the ILH, a half-game ahead of second-place four-time defending champion Saint Louis (2-1). Mission Uperesa-Thomas scored 13 points to lead the Spartans, who fell to 11-9, 2-2.

Thursday’s game was a tight one from the outset and even after the Raiders built a 23-16 lead with Ayden Goo’s two free throws three minutes into the second period, Maryknoll responded with an 11-4 run to tie it up at 27-27 by halftime. The Spartans took a 39-38 lead when Chris Du opened the fourth period with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, but Beckette answered with a short banker from the right flank to ignite a 10-2 surge capped by Carter Holden’s layup with 2:43 remaining to put ‘Iolani ahead, 48-41. 

Du drained another 3-pointer from the left corner with 31 seconds left to close it to 50-46, but Raymon Teocson sank a free throw six seconds later to push the lead to five points and the Spartans could not convert on their ensuing possession.

“I’m extremely proud of our TEAM, that’s something that we obviously stress at ‘Iolani,” Raiders coach Ryan Hirata said. “Everybody contributed tonight, from the bench — Jackson Hung coming in and scoring a couple layups for us, Carter guarding the paint and finishing in the paint, Ambrose (Smith) finishing some of his layups going downhill and helping us rebound, Declan and Ayden doing what they do … and even Noah Singer coming in and giving us some energy on defense. I think that’s what makes this team so special is we do play as a team.”

Maryknoll, which edged ‘Iolani, 48-46, in the ILH season opener on Dec. 9, was coming off a tough 43-40 home loss to Punahou on Tuesday.

“Every game is going to be like that, we already knew that,” Spartans coach Kelly Grant said. “We do have a break, we have our bye on Saturday, so we’ll get in the weight room (Friday), get a chance to look at the film … but I told (the players) we gotta take some ownership. We’re playing bad. If things are going good for us, like when we played against Kamehameha (a 78-55 win on Jan. 3), we were on all cylinders. But don’t get me wrong, those guys (the Raiders) did a good job, they mixed things up and when they run their cuts, they’re running hard, they’re setting solid screens, they’re blocking out … so Ryan (and staff) did a good job.”

Beckette, a 6-foot-4 junior wing in his third varsity season, showed his versatility by scoring on short jumpers, two 3-point baskets and going 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

“It was full commitment from everyone, a trust,” Beckette said. “In the second half, we kind of got that second wind. The coaches really emphasized what we had to do, and we just stuck to their game plan. We were trying to control the paint on both sides. Maryknoll is a really big team, but just the fact that we were able to get inside really helped us.”

‘Iolani plays host to defending state champion Punahou (2-2) in another big test Saturday, with tipoff set for 5:30 p.m.

“Every win in the ILH is a big win, so whenever you can get a win especially at home, you want to make sure you take care of home court,” Hirata said. “You know you’re going to be in for a battle every night … We’ve got a tough one coming up on Saturday that we have to get ready for, we gotta turn the page and take what we did well, take what we gotta improve on, and gotta try to put it together for another 32 minutes.”