Farrington's Jacob McEnroe finishes off a slam dunk against Maryknoll. Karina Nago | Special to SL

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Farrington's Van Hugo puts up a jumper from the wing against Maryknoll. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Maryknoll's Kaleb Gilmore drives down court as Farington's Isaiah Smith defends. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Maryknoll's Sean Ogata drives to the basket against Farrington. Jim LeBeau | Special to SL

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Farrington's Isaiah Smith drives the ball to the basket against Maryknoll. Karina Nago | Special to SL

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Fri, Dec 13, 2013 @ Moanalua

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Maryknoll

83

Farrington

90

F/OT	1	2	3	4	OT
Maryknoll (10-3, 26-6)	13	21	17	24	8	83
Farrington (10-1, 26-5)	14	20	20	21	15	90

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. McEnroe 23 pts  1 3pm  2/5 FTs

J. Burnett 34 pts  3 3pm  7/13 FTs

V. Hugo 7 tot

J. Burnett 5 tot

I. Smith 5 ast

K. Gilmore 5 ast

> watch a replay of this game on-demand

SALT LAKE – The battle waged between Maryknoll and Farrington may have just been a preseason game, but it could easily be a state title game preview.

A playoff atmosphere crowd of over 500 people witnessed the Farrington Governors prevail over the Maryknoll Spartans in overtime, 90-83.  This was the third game in the final day of the OIA/ILH challenge, which was held at Moanalua.  Farrington became the first Oahu Interscholastic Association team to go undefeated against the Interscholastic League of Honolulu teams in the invitational.

“It feels real good,” said Farrington’s Jacob McEnroe, who led the team with 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting.  “(I’m) excited for our team, and this season.  Our team is going to look real interesting.  I can’t wait for the season to start.”

Farrington improves their preseason record to 6-1 while Maryknoll drops to 7-2.  Maryknoll was the number one overall seed in the state tournament last season, making it all the way to the title game before falling to the Kalaheo Mustangs.

“It’s a big statement (win for us),” said Farrington coach Allan Silva.  “It shows that we can compete at this level and we’ll be (in) the dance if we keep on getting better.  The win is good but we got to get better and (not) be satisfied with this win.”

“They’re a great team, they have all the parts for a championship team,” Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant said on Farrington.  “They got guys who can drive, guys who can rebound.  They got shooters on the perimeter and they got a lot of beef underneath the basket.  If you’re not prepared for a total package team they’re going to beat you up.” 

Including McEnroe, the Governors seen four of their starters score in double figures.  Nearly matching McEnroe’s point total was point guard Isaiah Smith, who notched 22 points in the win.  Smith also dished out five assists and gathered three rebounds and one loose ball.  Van Hugo and Isaiah Visoria were the other two starters who scored in double figures, scoring 17 and 15 points respectively.

“If we just rely on one guy, we’re not going to be good,” said Silva.  “I told them a long time ago before the season started, its not just Jacob McEnroe.  Now we’re coming together as a team and these other players are starting to step up.  It’s amazing, these guys are starting to see what they can do.”

The Governors also held a strong advantage on the glass, out rebounding the Spartans 42-27.  This allowed Farrington to attempt 12 more field goals then Maryknoll.  Hugo and reserve big man Mason Semisi led the rebounding effort with seven each.  McEnroe also brought down six boards, with five of those being on the offensive side of the glass.

“It really helped,” McEnroe said on the rebounding advantage.  “The second chance points really helped us keep us in the game and also win.”

Farrington’s collective team effort was needed as Maryknoll’s Joshua Burnett exploded for a game-high 34 points.  McEnroe, who plays in an outside league with Burnett, spent most of the evening trying to limit Burnett’s impact.

“We play together in an outside league,” McEnroe said about Burnett.  “It was like a practice but he was scoring on me; he was on fire.  Thankfully he missed some.” 

It was Burnett’s three-pointer in McEnroe’s grill that tied things up at 75-all and sent the game into overtime.  That was just moments after McEnroe out leaped two defenders for a put back to put the Govs up by three.  Visoria’s prayer shot before the buzzer was well short and fans were treated to free basketball.

Semisi started the overtime scoring with his strong, high-post move off of a Tua Unatoa pass.  The Govs played defense on the other end to force a miss and Visoria followed it up with a three-pointer from way beyond the wing, his first of the game.  Visoria was previously 0-for-6 from three-point land before that make.  This put Farrington up by five with 2:29 remaining in the extra period.

Burnett wasted no time after the made three, driving the length of the court and drawing the foul.  He hit one of two at the line to put Maryknoll in the overtime scoring column.  Visoria lost the handle on the other end, prompting Maryknoll’s Brandon Floyd to go coast to coast for the easy bucket, cutting the deficit to two. 

McEnroe responded by driving into the paint drawing attention, before dishing it out to Unatoa in the corner for a wide-open trey.  Burnett then silenced the crowd with a bucket to make it a one score game.  It was all for naught as Smith answered back with a tough runner of his own.

Burnett’s three-point attempts would not find its target on the Spartans’ next possession, getting his first attempt swatted by Visoria, and bricking his second attempt.  After the miss, Smith was able to break the Spartans’ full court press and go coast to coast for the bucket and the foul.  Smith completed the three-point play at the free throw line, putting the Governors up by eight with 38.9 remaining in the extra period.  Maryknoll could only help to play the foul game after the Smith three-point play, eventually falling for the final score of 90-83.

“I wanted to win,” Smith said after the game.  “My main goal was just to win the game. (I knew) I couldn’t be too aggressive (with my four fouls), but I knew I had the energy (to come up big).  It was a good win.  Hopefully we can just keep on improving.”

A huge turning point in the game came at the 4:19 mark of the fourth quarter.  Hugo had just made a tough bucket to go to cut the Spartan lead down to one.  Maryknoll guard Kaleb Gilmore tried to respond with an equally tough drive of his own.  Gilmore’s shot would fall, but he also got called for a technical foul after the made basket, his fifth and final foul.  The junior guard fouled out of the game with 22 points, putting a lot of the scoring load on Burnett’s shoulders.  Gilmore’s absence in the final stages of the game was a huge blow for the Spartan offense, as he was the one to score the first six points of the first quarter for them.

The game was played tightly from the very beginning.  Maryknoll had the early first quarter lead thanks to Gilmore’s six first quarter points, but Semisi’s bucket off of a Visoria pass put the Governors up 14-13 just before the first quarter ran out.

Maryknoll continued to threaten to blow the game open in the second quarter, but the Governors hanged in there.  It wasn’t until a Burnett trey that McEnroe went into takeover mode.  McEnroe scored eight straight points for the Governors during a short second quarter span. 

“When we was losing what I wanted to was to try and get the team to stay (positive), so they don’t give up” McEnroe said about his second quarter scoring spree.  “What I wanted to do was keep the game close so I (tried) to score everytime, drive it in, shoot, whatever it took to keep the team in the game.”

The McEnroe scoring flurry was jumpstarted with an emphatic dunk off an assist from Smith.  McEnroe continued to be active around the paint, getting rebounds on the offensive glass to retain possession.  This eight-point individual run was capped with a three-pointer from the wing off of the inbounds pass. 

Maryknoll did a real good job containing McEnroe in the second half, which opened things up for Smith, Hugo, and Visoria, as the trio accumulated just 11 first half points.  Hugo did most of the work for the Governors in the third quarter, scoring seven of his 17 points in the period.  Smith knocked down a three-point shot off of a Visoria pass, which was followed up by a Visoria circus shot just before the third quarter ended.  Visoria contorted his body around two defenders in the lane just to get the shot off.  Farrington led 54-51 after three quarters of play. 

Both squads were locked in a chess match throughout the fourth quarter, which continued up until Gilmore fouled out of the game.  After that point, Maryknoll had to rely on Burnett’s brilliance to keep them in the game.  Farrington’s overall team balanced outdueled Gilmore in the end and they were able to come out victorious.

“Besides the experience of playing all these teams, the best thing that came was that the team came together.” Silva reflected on the past three days.  “They were just 15 guys all separate (at first).  Now they are starting to support each other, even the guys on the bench, it was amazing and beautiful.”

Maryknoll will take a preseason trip next Wednesday while Farrington will take part in the three-day Punahou Basketball Invitational being held at the Hemmeter Fieldhouse.  Farrington opens up the Invitational with a 3:30 p.m. tipoff time next Thursday.

“This is the most balanced team that I’ve had in my ten years (here at Farrington,” Silva said after the game.  “This was a great win but it’s only the beginning.  (We) got to get better and better every single day, there’s still a lot (that we need) to work on.”