These Falcons are ready to leave the nest.

Kalani got 19 points from Brandon Roberts and the Falcons beat Kohala 70-59 in the Division II semifinals of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships at Kalani on Friday night.

Kalani is in its first tournament since 1999 and its first championship game. The Falcons, the last seed in the tournament, beat top seed St. Francis in the first round and had two home games because their athletic director had the foresight to volunteer for it.

"Being home helps," Kalani coach Nathan Davis said. "It never doesn’t help."

Kalani moves on to play in the championship Saturday at Blaisdell Arena.

Don’t expect the bright lights to frighten the Falcons. They were in a televised game for the OIA White championship just last week.

The Falcons were in control of the Cowboys for most of the game, leading by as many as 15 in the first half and by eight early in the fourth. Kohala’s scrappy group of 10 went on a run to cut the margin to 53-51 with 3:40 left in the game.

That would be as close as it would get, as the Falcons went on an 8-0 run over the next minute.

Kalani’s Cory Mitchell started the deciding stretch when he flew down the court after a Kohala turnover and converted it into a basket to double the lead. The scene repeated itself on Kohala’s next possession to make it 57-51 and Roberts laid one in off a pass from Jaron Yamauchi.

Just like that, Kalani led 59-51 with 2:40 left.

"Those were huge," Davis said of converting on the turnovers. "We try to get 20 turnovers and believe if we do that we have a good chance. Plus (Mitchell) is never afraid to stick his nose in there."

Kalani fell short on that measure, committing 21 turnovers to Kohala’s 14. But the Falcons got the two that mattered.

Kohala shot only 29 percent from the field to Kalani’s 45 percent.

"Turnovers lead to points," Kohala coach Louis Turbeville said. "I probably should have called timeout. I think those were tired turnovers."

Mitchell added 11 points to the Falcons’ effort and Alexander Tungpalan scored 10.

Makala Jordan led the Cowboys with 25 points.

"We have never been there before," Mitchell said of playing in the final. "We don’t want to go there just to lose."

At Kalani gym

KOHALA—Bronson Fuertes Jr. 0, Kealen Figueroa 12, Justin Agbayani 1, Ryan Carvalho 12, Mikala Jordan 25, Chance Pang 0, Sandrex Ramos 0, Shawn Ray Ramos 9, Kamaalea Emeliano-Solomon 0.

KALANI—Dallas Asuncion 2, Shane Ra 2, Jaron Yamauchi 5, Cory Mitchell 12, Brandon Roberts 19, Jeremy Robinson 0, Alexander Tungpalan 11, Blaise Manabe 5, Dunavan Hahn 0, Kevin Kang 2, David Faletoi 0, John Lam 0, Juwan Bohannon 4, Ace Faumui 8.

3-point goals—Kohala 4 (Jordan 3, Carvalho). Kalani 5 (Tungpalan 3, Roberts, Manabe).