Konawaena's Po'okela Hanato-Smith puts up a jumper over Kalaheo's Kekai Smith. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kalaheo's Dario Delcastillo battles Konawaena's Brandon Howes for the basketball. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Konawaena's Chase Takaki puts up a shot over Kalaheo's Alec Macleod. Takaki hit a game-winning three pointer with 2 seconds left to win it for the Wildcats. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Sat, Dec 14, 2013 @ Kalaheo

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Konawaena

54

Kalaheo

53

Final	1	2	3	4
Konawaena (11-2, 17-3)	6	6	23	19	54
Kalaheo (11-3, 26-10)	11	14	16	12	53

K. Harrison 15 pts  2/9 FTs

J. Bredeson 19 pts  1 3pm  6/6 FTs

KAILUA - Chase Takaki's 3-pointer with two seconds left lifted Konawaena over Kalaheo, 54-53, Saturday night in the final of the Pete Smith Classic boys' basketball tournament at the Mustangs' gym.

Takaki's game-winning shot highlighted a frenetic final minute of a game that started out as a blowout.  The Wildcats (6-1), who trailed by as many at 16 points early in the third quarter, tied the game at 51 on Zane Gray's 3-pointer with 46 seconds left.  But the Mustangs (11-1) regained the lead with 16 seconds left on Kekai Smith's drive through the key before it was taken away by Takaki's shot from the right wing in front of the Kona bench.

"I was in line with him, so I knew it was going to go in," Konawaena coach Donny Awa said.

The Mustangs' last-ditch effort, a court-long inbounds pass from Smith to Kupaa Harrison in the deep left corner resulted in an off-balanced shot that wasn't close to the basket at the buzzer.

"There wasn't much time on the clock," Takaki said. "I just looked at my shot and let it fly."

But he credited teammate Brandon Awa on the play.

"He creates lanes for our team," Takaki said. "He's a big part of our team because he creates shots for other on the team."

Strangely, the 3-pointers for Takaki and Gray were their only field goals of the game.

"I was having an off-game," Takaki said. "It wasn't falling tonight. I was just looking for my shot and one finally came through when we needed it most."

Coach Awa said that during his team's previous timeout before the game-winning shot that he wanted players on the court who weren't going to be afraid to take a crucial shot.

"I told them, 'If you don't want to shoot when you're open, then don't go in the game. So whoever's wide open, you better take the shot.' I'd rather lose on a miss than on a turnover."

"It was an exciting game," Kalaheo coach Alika Smith said. "They out-worked us in the second half and hats off to them."

Konawaena, which trailed 25-12 at the half, outscored Kalaheo, 42-28, in the second half.  Jonah Bredeson had 15 of his game-high 19 points in the second half for the Wildcats.  Awa was just as clutch, scoring 11 of his 16 points in the second half.

"I talked to (our players) in the timeouts," coach Awa said. "I let them go and they talked amongst themselves. I hear them saying, 'C'mon guys. This is Konawaena. This is not how we play.' Whatever happened, they were going to finish strong and that's what they did."

Kalaheo had four players with double-digit scoring.  Harrison led the way with 15 points, 10 of which came in the first half.  Zach Marrotte, Alex Macleod and Dario Delcastillo had 10 points each.

Konawaena scored six points in each of the first two quarters.  After scoring the first basket of the second half, Marrotte scored five points in a row for the Mustangs, who opened their lead to 30-14 with 6:56 in the third quarter.  But the Wildcats went on a 14-2 run to pull to within 32-28 with 3:50 left in the third quarter after Brandon Awa's 3-pointer.  Kalaheo managed to widen its lead to 41-35 entering the fourth quarter.  

Kalaheo opened its lead to 51-44 with 1:40 left after a Delcastillo on a backdoor play before Kona pulled a 7-0 run that was capped by Gray's 3-pointer that tied the game with 46 seconds left.

Coach Awa said Kalaheo did well against his team's press.  He added that while the press didn't force as many turnovers he wanted, it did make Kalaheo push its tempo on offense and force some shots.

"When you have a freshman shooting a 3 from the corner when we have a five-point lead, there are things we're going to learn," coach Smith said.

Still, the experience was valuable for the Mustangs, whose only returning starter from last year's state championship team is Harrison.

"At the end of the day, you can't' simulate this at practice, challenging as good a team as Kona, who should be there at the end (state tournament)," coach Smith said.

The Mustangs' next challenge is the Punahou Invitational.  Kalaheo will open against Walnut Grove Secondary and is in the same bracket as host Punahou I.

Konawaena returns home for more preseason games.

In the third-place game, Matthew Nuumanaia scored 24 points to lead Saint Francis over Punahou II, 59-47.

The amazing feat was that Punahou's starting five played all 32 minutes.  That was because most of the team was attending the football team's postseason banquet. Braden Matsuzaki led the Buffanblu with 19 points, including three 3-pointers.