Kamehameha needs one more win.
The Warriors moved closer to clinching a state tournament berth after knocking off host ‘Iolani 43-38 on Wednesday in the semifinals of the ILH postseason tournament. Fifth-ranked Kamehameha (8-5) will face Punahou, also ranked fifth, in Friday’s final that will determine the league’s final state berth.
Second-ranked Iolani (8-5), which won the regular-season title and earned a state berth, will face the tournament champion on Saturday to determine the league’s seeded team in next week’s state basketball tournament.
“The fact that we’ve gotten this far is something that our kids can be proud of but we‘ve got one more,” Kamehameha coach Greg Tacon said.
The Warriors made a big push in the second half, building an 11-point lead to hold off a late run by the Raiders. Kamren Victorino-Kato scored all eight of Kamehameha’s points during a three-minute stretch that spanned the third and fourth quarters. The reserve drove to the basket and made two putbacks to finish with a team-high 10 points.
After doing well with a zone defense in Tuesday’s win over Mid-Pacific, Kamehameha went with the same defense against ‘Iolani. ‘Iolani couldn’t get the ball inside to its big post Hugh Hogland and the Raiders missed from behind the arc. Kamehameha also forced six turnovers in the third quarter.
“We’re a man team, we always play man, but we just felt our guys, what they did against Mid-Pacific, we really liked the way they came out in our zone so we played more zone,” Tacon said. “They shot more on the outside, Hugh was kind of neutralized for a little bit. That got us going and we knocked down shots.”
Kaeler Kahana made two free throws to give the Warriors a 37-26 lead with 2:18 remaining. The Raiders hit two 3-pointers during 10-3 run, closing to 40-36 after Helam Baldomero’s two free throws with 52.1 seconds left.
Fatu Sua-Godinet then made one of two free throws for Kamehameha and blocked an ‘Iolani 3-point attempt. He came up with the blocked shot and raced down for a layup to extend the lead to 43-36 with 24 seconds remaining. The Raiders couldn’t convert until Hogland’s putback as time expired. Hogland led ‘Iolani, which had won five straight, with 16 points.
“We wanted to a do a lot of ball picks, kind of attack their bigs and make them come out a little bit and defend us,” Tacon said.