McKinley claims key win over Roosevelt, 60-48

McKinley's Dan Villejo drives to the basket against Roosevelt. Villejo scored a game-high 18 points in the win. Evan Asato | SL

MAKIKI – McKinley kept its playoff hopes alive with its biggest road victory of the season Thursday night.

The Tigers saw three players score in double figures as they knocked off host Roosevelt, 60-48 in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division contest. This gives McKinley (4-5) the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rough Riders (4-5) with two games remaining in league play.

"We just had to raise our intensity up," said McKinley's Dan Villejo. "We just didn't give up. We knew that we were fighting for the playoffs so we just had to play through it and give it our all."

Villejo led all scorers with a game-high 18 points. The 6-foot junior guard was perfect from the free throw line (6-for-6), and also added nine rebounds, five assists and five steals.

"He's a good player. We just couldn't stop him. He's probably one of the top five players we played this year by far," Roosevelt coach Steve Hathaway said on Villejo.

Another key player in McKinley's victory was center Nelson Pita, a solid low-post player that was ineligible for most of the season. In his second game back from academic probation, Pita finished with 13 points and six rebounds.

"We weren't expecting him. The videos that I've seen I didn't even see him (so) I didn't expect them to have him," Hathaway said on Pita. "He had pretty good footwork and good hands. His presence hurt us early so we had to kind of adjust."

Also finishing in double figures for the Tigers was Macjun Otarra with 12 points.

Kevin Foster led the Rough Riders in the loss, scoring 16 points with nine rebounds. Brent Quakenbush added 12 points with three made 3-pointers.

The first quarter was a defensive struggle with both teams committing turnovers on their opening possessions. With Roosevelt having a rough shooting performance to start the game, McKinley was able to jump out to an early 4-0 lead. The Rough Riders would be held scoreless until Keanu Furtado's 3-pointer at the 3:59 mark of the opening period.

Following Furtado's triple, Otarra turned it on offensively and scored the next six points for McKinley. This helped the Tigers close out the first quarter with an 8-2 run to lead 12-5 heading into the second.

The second quarter was much more closer. After going 0-for-5 in the opening period, Foster found some steam and scored nine of his team-high 16 points in the second quarter. This helped Roosevelt trim McKinley's lead down to two, 28-26, at halftime.

After Villejo knocked in a long 2-point shot to begin the third quarter, the Rough Riders scored five straight points to take their first lead of the game. However, it would also be the Rough Riders' last as Pita scored on a hook shot to reclaim the lead for McKinley.

The Tigers would build on its lead and close out the third quarter with a 6-0 run to take a 46-38 lead into the final period of regulation.

McKinley closes out the season with games against Kalani (3-6) and Kaimuki (2-7) while Roosevelt takes on top-ranked Kalaheo (9-0) and the Falcons.

Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].