This year, it won’t be the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Big 3 at the Division I boys basketball state tournament.

Academy of the Pacific knocked off Punahou 37-36 yesterday at Hemmeter Fieldhouse to earn the league’s last of three berths to the states that start Wednesday. It’s a major accomplishment for the small school, which moved up to D-I this year after many years in Division II.

Micah Dunhour hit two free throws with 57 seconds left to give the Dolphins the final margin of victory. They held on from there in a frenzied final minute of a rough-and-tumble second half.

"Our school is so small, but we’ve gotten so much support all year from all the students," AOP head coach Wally Marciel said. "The team bought into it in one year. We hit our goal today. We knew to get into the states that it was probably going to go through Punahou. It’s a tough place to play."

With 11 seconds left, Malik Johnson’s 15-foot baseline jumper for the Buffanblu hit the rim and the Dolphins’ Drew Vienna clutched the rebound.

AOP (20-8) failed to expand on the lead, though, when Kona Makaula missed two free throws.

Punahou (24-8) had two more chances. Bryan Matsukawa missed a 15-footer with less than 5 seconds left and, after Makaula’s rebound and outlet pass, the Buffanblu’s Lowell Tong came up with a steal and his desperation long-range heave hit the backboard.

Dolphins players, coaches and fans stormed the floor in celebration.

"This means a lot. It means everything, actually," Dunhour said after the victory. "They (the Buffanblu players) are huge. We had to believe."

Dunhour said he was thinking of Joel Botelho, the former Castle quarterback who was murdered last month, when he went to the line and hit the two pressure shots.

"He was going to be my brother-in-law. He had just proposed to my sister (Chandi Dunhour) a week before," said Dunhour, who finished with 11 points.

Free throws were a hard thing to come by for both teams. And it wasn’t for lack of trying. In the final 1:47, AOP went 2-for-8 and Punahou went 0-for-3 from the stripe. Any of those nine missed shots could have changed the outcome had they gone in.

The victory was the first for the Dolphins over the Buffanblu this season after two losses.

"Our kids tried their best," Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said. "We’re a young team, and we’ll be back next year. We didn’t execute and that’s a part of the growing pains.

"It’s a great win for them (AOP). They made history. They deserve to go to states."

Punahou dominated the first half with great ball movement and effective zone defense.

AOP missed consistently from the outside and went to the locker at the break down 24-16.

The third quarter was a whole different story. AOP began to push the ball up and use an occasional trapping defense. Meanwhile, the Buffanblu — who had great success penetrating in the first half — started to bog down inside while getting a case of the turnover bug during some highly physical play by both teams.

"We had to stop their bigs (6-foot-8 DeForest Buckner, 6-8 Luke Kaumatule and 6-6 Malik Johnson)," said Makaula, who scored six of his 11 points in the second half to lead the comeback charge. "We had to block down DeForest and we had to block down their shooters. I finally got into a rhythm after my shots weren’t falling in the first half. We knew this wasn’t going to be easy."

Johnson scored a game-high 12 points and Buckner added 10 for the Buffanblu. The Dolphins’ Moritz Krume chipped in to the winning cause with eight points.

In the second quarter, Punahou took a commanding 18-9 lead, thanks to a 12-2 run.

AOP got as close as 28-26 late in the third quarter, but Punahou went up 34-30 before Maakula hit an 18-footer and Dunhour made a free throw to cut the lead to one, 34-33. Makaula added a 16-foot baseline jumper for a temporary 35-34 edge.

Punahou’s last lead came at 36-35 after Buckner fed Johnson inside for a successful drive.

AOP joins a pair of perennial powers — ILH champion ‘Iolani and runner-up Kamehameha — at the states.

"One thing I know at states is we will play our hardest and bring our best," Dunhour said.

ILH DIVISION II
University 47, St. Francis 22

Ryan Alvarado and Gui Aires scored 10 points each as the Junior ‘Bows clinched the league’s second of two berths in the state Division II tourney with a rout of the Saints.

Austin Ursua led St. Francis with seven points.