The Damien boys basketball team is right where it set out to be a year ago.

The Monarchs earned a return trip to the Division II title game of the Snapple/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships with a convincing 78-50 win over Seabury Hall on Friday night at Kalani.

Six-foot-7 junior Bryce Forbes led four Monarchs in double figures with 20 points to help Damien (14-0), ranked No. 3 in the Star-Advertiser Top 10, move within one win of its first state championship in school history.

“It means everything, especially to our seniors that have been here since the seventh grade,” Damien coach Alvin Stephenson said. “I’m just so happy for them to be able to get back to that point and win a state title for a school which would be the first ever.”

Reserve guard Lindon Sevilleja, one of three seniors on the team, had 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals in 23 minutes off the bench.

Sophomore Jydon Hall had 16 points, six rebounds and four assists and freshman point guard Hayden Bayudan, who was on the bench during last year’s loss to St. Francis in the state final, had 18 points, including 9-for-9 at the free-throw line, to go along with four steals.

“We knew what was at stake,” Bayudan said. “I thought we looked (ahead) in the first quarter, but the second quarter we settled down and just started to play.”

Seabury Hall (12-2) hit three 3-pointers to hang tight in the first quarter, trailing 18-15 after the opening eight minutes.

The Spartans made just one trey the rest of the way as the Monarchs turned long rebounds into fast breaks for easy shots in a 23-10 second quarter to go up 16 at the break.

Damien led by as many as 27 to end the third quarter before the Spartans opened with a 9-0 run to start the fourth.

Hall, who combined with Bayudan to go 15-for-15 from the free-throw line, stopped the run with a steal and an and-1 layup at the other end.

Damien had 15 steals and forced 22 Seabury Hall turnovers.

“Overall, a ‘W,’ and we’ll take that however it comes,” Stephenson said. “We’re ready to try to grind out wins.”

Noah Payne, who hit two early 3-pointers for the Spartans, scored a game-high 15 points for Seabury Hall, which was knocked out of the tournament in last year’s quarterfinals by the Monarchs.

Masyn Johnson added 12 points and seven rebounds and Kama Konohia had a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.

Farrington 58, Hawaii Prep 44

Raefe McEnroe had 17 points and 14 rebounds, including 10 on the defensive glass, to lead the Governors (12-3) into the Division II state final.

Aeman Kurt Castro added 10 points, four rebounds and three assists off the bench for Farrington, which last played in the D-II state final in 2011, when it beat Pahoa.

The Govs were eliminated by St. Francis in the quarterfinals in their only other appearance since in 2017.

Farrington put the game away shooting 61.5 percent (8-for-13) in the final period.

Kelsen-Jaye Walker led Ka Makani (15-1) with 16 points, five assists and three steals, and Javan Perez added 11 pounds and four rebounds.

Walker’s jumper early in the fourth quarter cut the Farrington lead to 38-35, but Pono Roberts’ three-point play started a 20-9 run to end the game.