Pearl City scored every time it got the ball in overtime and beat Moanalua 68-60 in the Division I first round of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships at McKinley on Wednesday night.
The surprising Chargers will take on BIIF champion Konawaena today at 5 at McKinley.
Lawrence Glisson led the way for the Chargers, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 22 points. He assisted on Pearl City’s first two baskets in overtime, a fast-break layup by Isaac Amorin and a dagger 3-pointer by Reymart Rosario. He followed it up with a 3-pointer off the glass to give the Chargers a 59-55 lead with 1:40 left.
"I don’t know, I was just feeling it," Glisson said. "I didn’t think we were going to win, to be honest. I don’t know about this team, but we came hard."
Pearl City coach Lionel Villarmia said Glisson has had the green light to shoot, but prefers to dish. He had plenty of turnovers to go with his 22 points.
The Chargers let the lead grow from there. A jumper off the glass by Rosario made it 61-55 and a parade of free throws gave Pearl City its final margin. The Chargers hit seven of 12 from the line in overtime.
Pearl City starters Daicorri Briscoe and Tyson Hickox fouled out with a minute left in regulation. There was not much difference between them and Zachary Kaya and Bryce Shafer, the seniors who took their places.
"It was their first year they came out for varsity," Villarmia said. "They made the team and they have been learning and learning and they produced tonight."
The pair provided one point to the effort, but helped force Moanalua into three turnovers in overtime. Rosario finished with 15 points for the Chargers and Amorin added 14. Brown led Moanalua with 16 points and Eliet Donley scored 15.
Trailing by seven in the second half, Moanalua tied it on a pair of free throws by Justin Hudcovic with 18.2 seconds left. Moanalua fouled Glisson in the backcourt with 15.9 seconds left and the senior hit two shots. Kahani Pu‘ulei-Auld earned a trip to the line with 10.1 seconds left, but missed both. Moanalua got the ball back when the rebound went out of bounds off a Pearl City player. Glisson then fouled Ola Brown trying for a steal with only 8.6 seconds left. Brown rattled the first free throw home before swishing the second. Rosario’s clean look at a 3-pointer at the buzzer missed to send it to overtime.
"This has happened to us before," Moanalua coach Greg Tacon said. "It is so disappointing. We got outplayed, we scrapped to get back into it and send it into overtime and then got outplayed and were chasing again."
At McKinley
Moanalua (12-3) 14 9 13 15 9 — 60
Pearl City (11-3) 10 10 17 14 17 — 68
MOANALUA—Ola Brown 18, Elo Badua 0, Kahani Pu‘ulei-Auld 7, Jamaal Willis 2, Antoine Hines 5, Justin Hudcovic 7, Eliet Donley 15, Alaziar Torres 2, Aaron Stuart 4, Austin Failauga 0.
PEARL CITY—Isaac Amorin 14, Eric Dela Pena 0, Reymart Rosario 15, Tyson Hickox 8, Zachary Kaya 0, Lawrence Glisson 22, Daicorri Briscoe 8, Bryce Shafer 1.
3-point goals—Moanalua 2 (Pu‘ulei-Auld, Donley). Pearl City 7 (Glisson 5, Rosario 2).
