Kahuku's Denhym Brooke slams in a dunk for the Red Raiders. Greg Yamamoto | SL

×

021715_KahuL_0543.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase this image
4x5 5x7 8x10 image download

Kahuku used a formula of a different kind Tuesday night, but the result was the same.

Keanu Akina scored a game-high 14 points to lead three players in double figures as Kahuku rallied past previously-unbeaten Leilehua, 48-30, in a semifinal game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Boys Basketball Tournament at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium.

The Red Raiders (12-1), who are ranked second in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, overcame a 21-18 deficit by outscoring the fifth-ranked Mules (11-1) in the second half, 30-9. The win puts them into Thursday's 7 p.m. championship game, where they will play Farrington, a 60-58 winner over Kalaheo in the early semifinal Tuesday.

The game will follow the Division II final between Kalani and Kaiser at 5:30 p.m. Both games will be played at McKinley and will be televised on OC16.

"We weren't even thinking about that game," Kahuku first-year coach Alan Akina said. "We just wanted to get by Leilehua. We knew they were going to be tough, so we're glad we got through that game."

The Western Division-champion Mules were tough indeed in the early going. They made a 6-2 run late in the opening quarter, capped by a Jayeson Baine-bucket off the feed from David Tibayan, and led 10-9 to start the second.

Keanu Akina — the son of the coach — kept the Red Raiders in it with his hot shooting from behind the arc. Akina made three 3-pointers in the first half, including back-to-back treys to open the second quarter that gave his team a 15-10 lead.

However, the Mules closed out the first half on an 11-3 run, that included six points by Joseph Gouty, who had eight points by halftime.

Leilehua led 21-18 at the intermission, but the second half was all Kahuku.

The Red Raiders opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run, including three baskets in the paint by Denhym Brooke, who finished with 12 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the field and seven rebounds. They stretched their lead to 34-27 after three quarters and pulled away in the fourth.

"The second half we usually do a lot better," Alan Akina said. "We came out all hyped up to start the game with the music and we were just so emotional, which wasn't like us, but once we got in the locker room we settled them down and we started taking care of the ball."

Brooke and Harris, who finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists, were held to just five points combined in the first half, but went for 17 the rest of the way.

"You noticed when we started moving the ball we got better shots and we could do what we do best, which is pound it inside and hit some from the outside and then our defense was amazing, they really shut them down," Alan Akina said.

Keanu Akina said it was a contrast from the Red Raiders' past games, where they fed the bigs inside to open things up for the shooters on the perimeter.

"It's usually the reverse: we usually try to go inside-out, get them started and then when the defense starts dropping in on them, we start going to the outside guards," Akina said, a sophomore guard.

The Mules struggled against Kahuku's 2-3 zone and shot just 3 of 22 from the field in the second half and finished a meager 9 of 47 (19.1 percent) for the game.

"Obviously their length bothered us," Leilehua coach Pat Wetzel said. "Usually we hit a lot of 3's. I think we might have hit one for the entire game and that's something that we usually do well, so it was just the wrong team to have a cold shooting night against. Give credit to Kahuku. They're a tough team."

Gouty finished with nine points for the Mules. Anterrio Gainwell added seven points and Koa Kauhi chipped in six points and a team-high seven rebounds.

It was the 11th consecutive victory for Kahuku, which will try for its eighth league title Thursday after missing out on the playoffs a season ago.