Mid-Pacific's Justin Daise heads to the basket against Radford. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Mid-Pacific's Daniel Florenco leads the break against Radford. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Radford's Jordan Riley goes up for a rebound against Mid-Pacific. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Mid-Pacific's Kyle Husslein puts up a shot against Radford. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Thu, Dec 5, 2013 @ Radford

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Mid-Pacific

42

Radford

41

Final	1	2	3	4
Mid-Pacific (1-10, 7-13)	9	8	12	13	42
Radford (8-5, 12-12)	13	10	10	8	41

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. Riley 15 pts  3 3pm  2/2 FTs

K. Husslein 16 pts  1 3pm  3/6 FTs

A. Henry 8 tot

J. Daise 12 tot

T. Powell 3 ast

D. Florenco 3 ast

ALIAMANU – The Owls were down for most of the game, but were able to make the clutch plays in crunch time to pull away with a win.

The Mid-Pac Owls rallied from a six-point half time deficit to stun the Rams in the final minute, 42-41, in the first round of the Alegre tournament Thursday night. 

“I always tell my kids, don’t worry about it.  Just do what we worked on in practice and it’ll come through in the end, and it did,” said Mid-Pac coach Dwight Holiday.

This is Holiday’s first year as head coach of the Owls, a team that went 0-11 last season in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu. Holiday was a member of the Rainbow Warriors' "Fab Five" teams from 1970 to 1972. He has previously served as an assistant on the staffs at Maryknoll, Damien and Punahou, but had been away from coaching to run basketball camps for several years before applying for the Owls' position.

Center Justin Daise shored most of the load for the Owls, finishing with a double-double of 11 points, 12 rebounds and a blocked shot.

“He’s a hard worker,” Holiday said of Daise.  “He’s a beautiful kid.  I love him to death and he works hard.”

Mid-Pac was down by six at the 3:39 mark of the fourth quarter, after Radford’s Mark Reven Villejo hit two free throws to make the score 35-29.  The Owls responded with a three-pointer from Ken Colombe, prompting a Radford timeout.

Jordan Riley was sent to the line on the ensuing Rams possession, hitting both free throws to push the lead to five.  The Owls missed their next shot, but Daise stayed with it, grabbing the offensive rebound and drawing the foul.  He would split a pair at the line to make the score 37-33. 

Following Daise’s free throws, Radford needed to call another timeout after nearly committing a turnover in the backcourt.  Reserve Tobias Powell got the call out of the timeout, driving in the paint drawing the blocking foul, sending him to the line with a chance to put the game out of reach with 1:41 remaining. 

Fortunately for the Owls, Powell missed both freebies and Mid-Pac’s Kyle Husslein was able to drive it to the hoop for an easy bucket cutting the lead to two.  Husslein had a good game to compliment Daise, finishing with a game-high 16 points.

Powell got a chance to redeem himself, getting sent to the line with 1:08 remaining.  His shots went in this time, knocking both shots to make it a four score game.  Mid-Pac responded with Den Suehiro getting in the lane and drawing the foul with 1:01 remaining.  Suehiro knocked both shots down cutting the Radford lead to two once gain. 

Daise and Husslein may have carried the Owls for the majority of the game, but it was Daniel Florenco who made all plays when they needed it the most.  After Suehiro’s free throws, Florenco forced a steal in the backcourt, passing it up ahead to Husslein who got the bucket and the foul.  Husslein’s free throw bounced off the rim but Florenco was able to gather the loose ball in the corner, allowing Mid-Pac to call a timeout.  Husslein got the bucket out of the timeout, but Radford’s Riley responded with a bucket of his own to tie it up at 41 a piece.

With little time left on the clock, Florenco took the ball and went to the hoop, drawing the foul and going to the line with 6.7 remaining.  He missed the first one, but knocked down the second for the game-winning point.  

“I told (Florenco) he wears my number so he has to play good,” Holiday said as both he and Florenco has don the No. 12 on the court.  “He’s our sparkplug; his heart is as big as his body and we love him.” 

Radford’s Derrick McLamore was able to get a shot in the closing seconds, but his shot and teammate Absolom Henry’s offensive rebound put back was off the mark, giving Mid-Pac a solid win early in the preseason.

“We stuck to what we worked on and we executed better down the stretch and the results was in favor for us (at the end),” Holiday said on the comeback. 

“I’m really proud of my teammates today,” added Daise.  “(Preseason) might not be as important as other people say, but to us it means a lot because it shows that we’ve been working hard in the offseason.”

Riley led the Rams in scoring, garnering 15 points with six rebounds.  Riley was hot from the perimeter in the first quarter, nailing three triples to give Radford a 13-9 lead after one period of play.

Another bright spot for the Rams was the play of reserve Absolom Henry who gathered eight rebounds and swatted layup attempt after Mid-Pac broke Radford’s full court press.  Henry got a more minutes in this game because starting center Kendall Bryant battled foul trouble during the duration of the game. 

Mid-Pac really took upon them selves to attack the basket after the halftime break.  The Owls nearly took a double bonus situation into the fourth period as Radford committed nine fouls in the third quarter.

“We just played with heart,” said Daise.  “We’re tired of losing, tired of people treating us (like we suck), saying we’re hopless this season.  We’re ready to turn the ILH around and also (hope to) show in the preseason that we’re not a team to mess around with.”

Daise and the rest of the Owls will have the chance to make an even bigger statement tomorrow, as they move on to face Punahou Friday night in the nightcap of the second round of the Alegre tournament.  The Buffanblu made the semifinals of the state tournament last season, and also won it all the year before.  Radford slides over to the other side of the bracket and will face Kalani, around 4