The East side is the best side, at least in Oahu Interscholastic Association boys basketball.
Kailua dominated from the start, roaring to a 16-point first-quarter lead en route to a 57-36 win for the OIA Division I boys basketball championship Wednesday night at McKinley Student Council Gymnasium.
Kailua (24-4 overall) will have an opening-round bye when the HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships start on Wednesday. The Surfriders went a perfect 13-0 in league play under Walter Marciel.
Skyler Unten scored 14 points, Nainoa Hirasuna-Kenny added 11 and post man Joseph Bienek added 10 to pace a balanced scoring attack for Kailua. Maddox Pung, who scored 30 points in a semifinal win over Moanalua, tallied seven points and seven boards, while Dylan Kunz had five points and seven boards.
“I told everyone we have to dominate. We came out and punched them in the mouth, and that’s what we wanted to do,” said Pung, a 6-foot-3 junior. “Everyone contributed and that’s what we’ve been preaching since the beginning of the season. One guy can’t do it all. Nainoa had a great game. Skyler had a great game. Everybody had a great game. That’s what we needed.”
Sebastian Ledda patrolled the paint and finished with eight points and three rebounds. Kunz transformed from a 3-point specialist into a complete player this season.
“I just want to win. We lost the past two years and I was tired of it. I want to win at all costs so if that means taking a step back and playing my hardest off the bench, that’s what I was going to do,” the 6-3 junior said. “I’m so happy for my team. We finally did it. We got over the hump.”
Most of Kailua’s players have been together since their youth, playing Windward leagues and Eastside Basketball Club.
“Shout out to (assistant) coach David (Guerreiro). He does everything for us,” Kunz said of the Eastside coach.
LeCedric Brown led Mililani with 16 points. Roman Gabriel was blanketed all game long by a strategic Kailua defense and finished with two points on 1-for-9 shooting.
Mililani (21-6 overall) is one of five OIA teams to qualify for the state tournament. The Trojans will begin play on Wednesday.
“We’ve got to find a way to get better. We just happened to pick the wrong day to play our worst game of the year,” Mililani coach Garrett Gabriel said. “Kailua did a lot of good things, and that had a lot to do with it.”
Kailua last won the OIA title in 2013 under Marciel. The school’s first boys basketball crown was in 1961 under legendary coach Louis “Koko” Santos. In ’75, the Surfriders won under Harry Murai, then again in ’82 under Santos with George Puou and Andy Roe leading one of the best lineups in school history.
Mililani won its first OIA championship in 2008 under Hiram Akina. The Trojans won the ’22 crown under current coach Garrett Gabriel.
Kailua was the alpha dog early on Wednesday, smothering Mililani’s main scorers en route to its big first-quarter lead. Six different Surfriders scored, including Sebastian Ledda in the paint on a pass from Tyler Parker for a 22-6 lead going into the second quarter.
The Trojans finally got going offensively in the final four minutes of the first half. Roman Gabriel posted up for his first bucket, bringing Mililani within 26-15 with 1:23 left.
Mililani shot 4-for-17 from the field in the first half. Pung had two points and six rebounds, all in the first quarter, and did not play in the second quarter.
The Trojans’ hopes of a comeback took a hit in the third quarter. Kailua opened the second half with a 13-3 run, splashing three 3-pointers. After Unten found Joseph Bienek for an easy layup, the Surfriders had their biggest lead, 40-18, with 5:04 remaining in the third stanza.
After Unten hit a tough turnaround jumper from the elbow, the lead was 24. Pung drove down the middle for a lay-in, and Kailua led 44-18 with 3:40 left in the third. The Surfriders led 50-25 after three quarters.
