Damien's Kapi'ina King puts up a shot between a trio of Saint Francis defenders. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

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Saint Francis' Matthew Nuumanaia battles for a rebound against Damien. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

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Damien's Kobe Ikari puts up a shot in the paint against Saint Francis. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

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Fri, Jan 3, 2014 @ Damien

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Saint Francis

53

Damien

59

Final	1	2	3	4
Saint Francis (9-2, 18-13)	9	21	12	11	53
Damien (8-3, 14-8)	16	10	16	17	59

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

K. Ikari 19 pts  2 3pm  9/15 FTs

B. Won 17 pts  5/7 FTs

J. Layco 8 tot

B. Won 9 tot

K. Ikari 5 ast

R. Mamiya 5 ast

KALIHI – Damien opened up its 2014 ILH campaign by accomplishing what no ILH Division II had been able to do in two complete seasons, taking down the defending ILH and HHSAA Division II champion Saint Francis, 59-53.

"I'm extremely proud of them, all types of emotions I want to cry, I'm happy it was an unbelievable game," Damien head coach Alvin Stephenson commented after the game. "We knew that in two years they haven't lost a game, they've been untouchable, and they have what we want, if we want to be state contender we have to beat them."

Damien jumped out early on St. Francis, 16-9, in the first quarter.

St. Francis came back in the second segment with a balanced offensive explosion as seven players scored in the quarter to make 30-26 at the half.

The first half featured six ties and six lead changes, and the seesaw battle continued in the second as well.

Things got interesting in the third stanza as several players got tangled up and had to be separated at the 3:54 mark. Once things settled down, Damien senior Linden Quintal hit two clutch free throws to close the gap to 38-37.

Moments later Monarch sophomore guard Kobe Ikari hit a three-pointer from the corner that sent the crowd into a frenzy with Damien now leading, 40-38.  

"In that third quarter we just gathered up and told each other to stay calm, stay humble, don't let the emotions get to you," said Ikari, who finished as the leading scorer with 19 points and 5 assists.

The Saints' 6-foot-5 senior Matthew Nuumanaia answered with a lay-in plus the foul, but missed the free throw that would have given Saint Francis the lead.

Nuumanaia, who scored 23 against Iolani and 32 against MPI last week in the Merv Lopes classic, was held to just 12 points for the game.

"We contained Matthew that was one thing we did well and forced other guys to beat us," Coach Stephenson reflected after the game.

One guy who stepped up for St. Francis was senior Blayne Won who hit a late second jumper to tie the game at 42-all heading into the final quarter. Blayne finished as the Saints' top scorer with 17 points and 9 rebounds.

The Monarchs played a little keep away in the fourth quarter, forcing both the home team and the Saints' to earn much of their points off of free throws.

"Our 'bigs' were in foul trouble, I didn't want to force anything and to foul anybody out," said Coach Stephenson.

"We weren't hitting our free throws, we were horrible from the free throw line," St. Francis head coach Solomon Batoon commented. "In a game like this you need to hit your free throws."

The Saints shot just 46 percent from the line, which included hitting just 7-of-17 attempts in the fourth quarter.

Four Monarch players fouled out in the fourth quarter, including Ikari, senior Jaylen Layco and junior Rocklen Mori.

Layco finished with 15 points 8 rebounds and shot a superb 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Mori had only 10 points, but contributed 3 blocks and 3 steals in the win he also drew the assignment of guarding St. Francis' top player Nuumanaia.

"Last year we were both undefeated and they embarassed us at home, we didn't want that to happen again" commented Layco after the game.

"In that third quarter it was kind of hectic we told everybody keep your heads, stay focused, get your 'money' and go to the hole." Mori remarked about the trials of the
third quarter.

The Monarchs improved to 7-3 overall and 1-0 in league play.

"With this win we can finally say we have a rival, lots of respect for them," said Coach Stephenson.  

The Saints' dropped to 8-10 overall and 0-1 in the ILH.