It was blackout night for the White Station Spartans.

Making his first appearance in the tourney, 6-foot-7 senior post Leron Black amassed 26 points and 20 rebounds — 11 on the offensive glass — as White Station (Tenn.) fought off West Linn (Ore.) 66-54 in the semifinals of the ‘Iolani Classic on Friday night.

Black’s presence was welcome for a Spartans team, ranked No. 7 nationally by MaxPreps, that had all the elements for a title run — except for that certain edge under the bucket.

"We’re not the tallest team, but we love crashing the boards," said Black, who sat out the first two games of the tourney for breaking a team rule. "I feel like I’m the physical one on the team. I made sure I came in there and brought the physicality back up. I make sure we stay physical and nobody tries to hurt us."

The University of Illinois-bound post man was joined by Davell Roby (6-5) and LaDarius Coleman (6-6) on the Spartans glass attack. The three combined for 12 offensive caroms in the first half against West Linn’s 2-3 zone.

Coach Jesus Patino’s team saw a variety of styles in its first three games in the tourney.

"West Linn’s well coached. We played the first game, the Chinese team (Fuxin), we were a little erratic. Then Mount Vernon, very physical. Then West Linn, the 3-point shooters, backdoor cutters, the whole style changes," Patino said.

With point guard Chris Chiozza sparking the Spartans offensively and defensively — he had five assists and five steals to go with 12 points — they zoomed to a 28-12 lead. Two of those buckets came on steals for layups by Chiozza, a springy 5-10 senior who nearly threw down a one-handed alley-oop dunk.

West Linn, burdened by foul trouble — Ben Shearmire and Anthony Mathis sat big minutes –made a run in the last three minutes of the first half. Mathis returned and fed Payton Pritchard for a layup. Haydon Coppedge hit a trey, and Pritchard, who had struggled early, nailed a long 3 before the buzzer.

That brought the Lions within seven — 28-21 — at intermission. They continued to chip away and made it 39-37 after Ty Cleland’s trey late in the third quarter.

The Spartans went on a 13-3 run, buoyed by 6-6 forward Curtis Phillips. He scored nine of his 11 points during the run, mostly on midrange jumpers, as White Station opened a 52-40 lead.

West Linn swished four treys in the final quarter, including three by Shearmire, their 6-5 post. They got no closer than four, however. Mathis picked Chiozza’s pocket at midcourt, but missed a tough reverse layup with less than two minutes to play.

Chiozza scored off a steal to open the lead to 60-54 and Coleman sank two foul shots with 37 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

"I’m really proud of our guys, down 10 or 11 a couple of different times. We hit some shots, we make that layup, it’s a totally different game. But they score and it’s a six-point game. But I’m really proud of our guys," West Linn coach Eric Viuhkola said. "Normally, we get up and down. Against this team, I didn’t feel like we could do that against this team."

Now that they’re past West Linn, the Spartans can focus on one more game in the islands. There’s room for a championship trophy back home in Memphis.

"It would mean a lot. We came out here and played hard. We would love to take it back home to them," Black said.