Kahuku holds off Saint Louis, 42-38, to reach state final
By Wes Nakama
Digging down deep once again to gold off its second straight ILH opponent, Kahuku held off Saint Louis, 42-38, Thursday night in the Hawai'i Army National Guard Boys Basketball State Semifinals.
A tense crowd of about 500 at Hemmeter Field House watched Justus Daley score 12 points and grab eight rebounds as the Red Raiders improved to 24-4 and advanced to Friday night's title game against defending champion Punahou. Keanu Meacham scored a game-high 18 points and Zion Lefotu added 10 points for the Crusaders, who fell to 27-6 and out of the finals for the first time since 2021.
Saint Louis had built leads of 5-0 and 18-11 through the first 12 minutes, but Kahuku closed it to 20-16 by halftime and then outscored the Crusaders, 15-5, in the third period to take a 31-25 lead into the fourth. Inoke Lloyd scored on a layup to stretch it to 35-28 with 4:08 remaining, but Saint Louis was able to close it to 36-33 after two free throws by Meacham with 1:49 remaining.
Meacham sank to more free throws to make it 40-36 with 1:03 still on the clock, but his 3-point attempt glanced off the rim with 41 seconds left and Noah Feinga converted two foul shots five ticks later to push the lead to 42-36, and the Crusaders could only manage a layup by Meacham just before the final buzzer the rest of the way.
"I thought our guys played great defense," Red Raiders coach Brandyn Akana said. "In the first half they were kind of able to push it on us and get some fast break layups, which we told our guys to take that away. So once we did that and were able to settle down in our halfcourt defense, man, we made it tough for them. They took bad shots, and we were able to get rebounds."
Kahuku won the OIA championship despite losing its top scorer, Ronin Naihe, to a season-ending wrist injury in the league quarterfinals. Naihe had been averaging 16.9 points per game and provided the Red Raiders with a versatile inside-out presence. But despite him being out, Kahuku defeated Nanakuli, 62-46, in the OIA semifinals and Kailua, 35-32, in the championship game. Then the Red Raiders held off 'Iolani, 57-50, in Wednesday's state quarterfinals.
"They were good with Ronin, and they're good without Ronin," Saint Louis coach Dan Hale said. "They're a different type of team. It came down to us, we had a bunch of shots kind of bounce in and out, and part of that is their defense. They play really tough defense. For us, those balls had been falling in, but they didn't fall today."
Akana said the Kahuku players have been resilient and resolute ever since Naihe went down with his injury.
"We knew that (absence) was gonna hurt, but we also were very confident in our other guys," Akana said. "We know who they are and what they can do. I think the OIA tournament was a good example of different guys stepping up. We're a talented team, and a deep team, and it's good to see different people step up. We really didn't talk about it, and I wanted that for a reason, because I wanted them to kind of figure it out.
"It's been awesome, and we've got one more game so we gotta keep it going."
Photos: Garin Paguio
