Kalaheo's Kaleb Gilmore drives to the basket against Iolani's Hugh Hogland. Gilmore scored a game-high 30 points in the win. Steve Erler | Special to SL

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022815_02_28_15_kalahea_iolani_steve_erler-5.jpg - Steve Erler | Special to SL

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MANOA – Kaleb Gilmore poured in a season-high 30 points to help Kalaheo knock off defending state champion Iolani for its fifth Division I title, 53-46.

A crowd of 3,518 were on hand to witness the third-ranked Mustangs (31-3) claim their first state title since 2013 in the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Boys Basketball Championships at the Stan Sheriff Center Friday night.

"It feels great to win it with this group of guys," said Gilmore, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player. "We worked hard all year and this is something that we've all been looking forward to."

Gilmore, a transfer from Maryknoll, helped the Mustangs close out the game in the fourth quarter with a 10-for-10 performance at the free throw line in the final stanza. All of his fourth quarter free throw attempts came with under two minutes to play in regulation. For the entire game he was 18-for-20 at the line, which tied a record for most made free throws in a state tournament game. 

"He's just a player that wants to win," Kalaheo coach Alika Smith said on Gilmore. "He works hard on the offense and defensive end. With his ball handling skills and his shooting ability, he's capable of going 10-for-10 and sealing the victory for us." 

The Mustangs trailed 10-8 after the opening period, but outscored Iolani 17-5 in the second quarter to take a 25-15 lead at the break. Iolani connected on only one of its 10 field goal attempts in the period.

"We got away from what we were doing a little bit," explained Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto. "They spread us out, attacked us and got some foul calls. We came down on the other end and we weren't able to convert. It's simple, they took better shots than we did."

Kalaheo also got a strong showing from senior reserve Alec Macleod, who scored six of his 13 points in the fourth quarter before fouling out of the game. He and forward Kupaa Harrison were members of the Kalaheo squad that won the championship two years ago. 

"He had a huge impact," Smith said on MacLeod. "We've been waiting for him to play like this. He just has so much energy that he brings to both sides of the floor. He made a couple of huge buckets from feeds from Kupaa. I'm very happy for him that he finished out on top." 

Although Harrison only registered a single point, he was solid in other areas, notching game-highs in rebounds (16) and assists (five). He was also selected to the all-tournament team.

Kalaheo saw its largest lead of the game, 31-18, come on a pair of Gilmore free throws at the 3:54 mark of the third quarter. The Raiders responded with three unanswered triples to get themselves back into it. 

The Mustangs led 35-29 heading into the final period of regulation.

Iolani kept fighting through the final frame and got Kalaheo's lead down to one point, 41-40, on Zach Gelacio's three-point play with 2:01 left in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the Raiders, Gilmore was clutch at the free throw line. 

Gilmore was able to knock down all of his fourth quarter free throw attempts and Kalaheo got the defensive stops that were needed to pull off the victory.

Defensively the Mustangs held Iolani to 31.1 percent shooting (14-for-45) in the game. Smith said that the Mustangs' loss to Farrington in the OIA semifinals forced them to become a better defensive team.

"We went back to the drawing board following the loss and focused more on the defensive end," explained Smith. "We knew we were going to have the offense with guys that can put it in the bucket, but we had to concentrate on the defensive end more if we wanted the seniors to win a championship."

Gelacio led the Raiders in the loss with 12 points on three made 3-pointers. Erik Yamada added 11 and Hugh Hogland had a near double-double of eight points and nine rebounds.

It was the fourth time in the history of the state tournament that two unseeded teams met in the title game. Kalaheo was placed third in the OIA and Iolani was the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division runner-up. The Mustangs improved to 5-6 in the finals while the Raiders dropped to 10-4.

Division I Boys Basketball Championship All-Tournament Team
Kupaa Harrison, Sr., Kalaheo
Denhym Brooke, Sr., Kahuku
Hugh Hogland, So., Iolani
Erik Yamada, Sr., Iolani
David Marrero, Sr., Campbell
Most Outstanding Player: Kaleb Gilmore, Sr., Kalaheo