Oak Hill's Devontae Shuler rises up for a dunk against Southwind. Shuler had a double-double in the Warriors' win. CJ Caraang | SL

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Tue, Dec 20, 2016 @ Iolani

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Oak Hill

72

Southwind

59

Final	1	2	3	4
Oak Hill	9	25	20	18	72
Southwind	8	17	14	20	59

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

M. Freeman 22 pts  7 3pm  1/1 FTs

D. Shuler 20 pts  2 3pm  4/6 FTs

M. Freeman 9 tot  2 off  7 def

B. Preston 12 tot  5 off  7 def

C. Marshall 4 ast

L. Wigginton 4 ast

Oak Hill (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) overcame a slow first quarter to put away Southwind (Memphis, Tenn.), 72-59, in the semifinals of the Iolani Classic at Iolani's Lower Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

The Warriors, fifth in the USA Today Super 25 Expert Rankings, advance to the tournament final and seeks their first title since 2014 and will play Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), who's ranked eighth in the Expert Rankings.

Devontae Shuler led the Oak Hill starters with 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals. Billy Preston (17 points, 12 rebounds), Lindell Wigginton (14 points, seven assists), and Matt Coleman (14 points) got it going in the second half.

"Devontae is high energy and he takes pride in playing defense and he likes to get down, guard, and create offense by turning people over," said Oak Hill coach Steve Smith.

"We can't be selfish. We have to play as a team and to play together, anyone can score. We have multiple weapons," said Shuler.

Oak Hill led, 9-2 before Southwind went on a 6-0 run to close the quarter to trail by one, 9-8, despite 3-for-14 shooting in the quarter.

"We wanted to try and slow the tempo down and they're so big and talented and we wanted to keep it close. I'm proud of the kids for battling," said Southwind coach Paul Edwards, on starting with a 2-3 zone.

"We didn't get going early on and our defense couldn't create easy baskets. Our guys like to get out and go. We had to work and run clock and that 3 minute stretch, we got it going down a bit and same thing happened in the third and we got a double digit lead and kept it there," said Smith.

The Warriors hit four 3's to start the second quarter to get the offense going. Shuler drained a pair of 3's to score 10 of his 20 points in the quarter. Oak Hill shot 7-for-17 from behind the arc, 26-for-47 (55.3 percent) overall.

"The first half, I was making shots so coach wanted me to keep going and to keep spotting up. So I feel like I got comfortable in the second half with a lead and it boosted my confidence," said Shuler.

"We can shoot the ball from the perimeter with Lindell, Shuler, Wigginton, and Coleman," said Smith.

Mark Freeman kept the Jaguars in the game with five 3-pointers and scored 15 points by halftime. He finished the game with 22 points off of seven 3's and even converted a rare 4-point play late in the fourth. Despite being listed at 5-foot-10, he grabbed nine rebounds to go with six steals and three assists.

"He's up for the challenge. He likes to compete against the known players throughout the nation and he gets up for that. He really does and played a great game tonight," said Edwards, on Freeman.

Oak Hill led, 34-25 at halftime.

Southwind continued with zone on defense for the game, but the Warriors' length and athleticism caused problems for the Jaguars. Southwind's shots weren't falling as they finished 23-for-62 (37.0 percent) from the field. Wigginton sparked Oak Hill in the third with nine points—including a 3-point play as the Warriors pulled away from there.

"We were penetrating and looking for gaps. Someone is going to be open," said Shuler.

Carlos Marshall came off the bench to contribute 11 points and had a baseline flush in the third quarter.

The Warriors turned to a zone on defense and put 6-foot-9 Preston at the top of the arc. Oak Hill went up by as much as 20 in the fourth before some late buckets from the Jaguars.

"I was more concerned about my kids competing and finishing the game strong. My kids were talking about this when I walked in. They were saying, if we play like this in Memphis—Memphis is a very competitive and if they bring forth the same effort, we'll do well in Memphis," said Edwards.