The Kamehameha-Hawaii Warriors needed a minor miracle to heal up from their mystery, teamwide illness.

Instead, they got a dose of high-octane defensive pressure from Kahuku, and the Red Raiders rallied from a 10-point deficit for a 57-50 win last night at Blaisdell Arena.

A crowd of 1,108 saw second-seeded Kahuku (31-9) advance to tonight’s Division I final of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships. The Red Raiders will meet top-seeded Punahou at 7 p.m.

Mekeli Fiso, better known by his middle name, Barkley, amassed 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead Kahuku. Point guard Mason Kuali‘i-Moe added 12 points and three assists before fouling out late in the contest.

The Oahu Interscholastic Association champs struggled from the field (34 percent), but used their three-quarter-court press to generate 17 turnovers. KS-Hawaii succumbed after losing guard Lanaki Apele to an injury in the first half.

“It’s pressure defense and we got fired up,” Fiso said. “We knew they were going to be fired up because of the injury. We had to just keep it close.”

“Lanaki’s our closer,” said Shaun Kagawa, who led KS-Hawaii with 17 points and 10 boards. “It was hard without him out there. Most of the pressure was on me, but everybody played their hearts out and left it on the floor. They stepped up.”

Punahou defeated Kahuku handily early in preseason.

“Our defense has gotten better since then,” Fiso said.

“I’m kind of excited,” Kahuku coach Darren Johnson said. “Our kids played hard and they did that all year. They find ways to win. A lot of them are just born winners and they pulled this out tonight. Kamehameha-Hawaii is a great team and they lost a great kid, and that could’ve been a key to us making a run. They lost one of the best guards in the state. I feel bad for their coaches, they’re really good people. They had all those problems and they showed up. That’s scary enough.”

The third-seeded Warriors came into the game with serious obstacles. The team suffered from a bout with symptoms of stomach flu after its quarterfinal win over AOP on Thursday. Five players went to the on-campus clinic at Kamehameha-Kapalama. The problem was initially thought to be food poisoning, but Kagawa confirmed that he was ill and vomiting before they had their postgame meal at a local restaurant.

That setback had most of the team sick all night and morning, and then half the team was in the clinic and late for warmups for the game. Things got gloomy after Apele went down after a collision with Fiso with 7:39 left in the second quarter. Coach Dominic Pacheco, kneeling at Apele’s side with a trainer, punched the ground multiple times when he saw Apele’s left elbow, which was dislocated.

“I seen it had popped, so I knew already. I felt bad for him because I knew how much he wanted this game. We fought through adversity all day and all night. It was hard to ask of Shaun to run the point, coming from a scoring position,” Pacheco said. “Jacob (Kackley) was in foul trouble, so I had to do a different scheme defensively.”

Even with the tribulations, the Warriors got strong efforts from sophomores Blaine-Allen Manliguis and Rylan Kiko. Kagawa, a junior, took over the ballhandling duties and still scored 15 points by the break.

KS-Hawaii got a post basket from Kaeo Alapai, one of the players who got treatment at the clinic, and a trey from senior Kekoa Turner to open a 41-31 lead.

From there, however, the Red Raiders chipped away.

“I could tell we just weren’t moving well,” Pacheco said. “I could see the (illness) was getting to us.”

KS-Hawaii switched to a 2-3 zone — a rarity for the Warriors — but Kahuku brought the lead down to six entering the final quarter.

Big Red used its trapping defense to collect five fourth-quarter turnovers. Reserve Bronson Beatty came through big again. The 6-foot-2 senior blocked a shot in the paint and fed Kawe Johnson for a layup to tie the game at 47-all. After Johnson hit an open trey from the right wing, Kahuku had its first lead since early in the second quarter, capping a 19-6 run.

Lasselle Thompson and Fiso combined for three free throws to extend Kahuku’s lead to 53-47 with 1:49 remaining.

KS-Hawaii got a foul shot from Kackley, who also turned a steal into a pass to Kagawa for a layup, and the Warriors were down by three with 1:23 to go.

But from there, they went cold from the field. Johnson hit one of two foul shots with 38 seconds left for a 54-50 lead, and added another free throw with 28 ticks left. Fiso put the game out of reach with two foul shots with 15.5 seconds left.

Now it’s a rematch of the two schools that met for the state football championship nearly three months ago: Punahou and Kahuku.

“They’re big, they’re fast, they’re deep,” Johnson said. “I hope our kids show up to play. I hope Punahou comes in shooting bricks, but they’re a great team and they’re well coached.”

KS-Hawaii shot 39 percent from the field (19-for-49), but got just 12 free-throw attempts and made eight. Kahuku shot 16-for-24 at the line.