Maryknoll's Kaleb Gilmore puts up a jump shot against Baldwin. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Baldwin's Ryan Garces heads to the basket against Maryknoll. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Maryknoll's Sean Ogata heads to the basket between a trio of Baldwin defenders. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Baldwin's Phillip Thomas looks for room to put up a shot against Maryknoll. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Maryknoll's Joshua Burnett puts up a shot as Baldwin's Phillip Thomas defends. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Thu, Feb 20, 2014 @ Radford

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Maryknoll

66

Baldwin

61

Final	1	2	3	4
Maryknoll (10-3, 26-6)	19	16	17	14	66
Baldwin (13-1, 17-5)	10	11	28	12	61

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

R. Garces 22 pts  4 3pm  2/2 FTs

K. Gilmore 26 pts  3 3pm  1/4 FTs

T. Eldridge 9 tot  1 off  8 def

J. Burnett 8 tot  8 def

K. Takushi 5 ast

K. Gilmore 5 ast

ALIAMANU – Nothing in the state tournament will be won so easily.

Maryknoll, ranked No. 2 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, used a big first half effort to get by Baldwin, 66-61, in the quarterfinal round of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball Championships at Radford’s Jim Alegre Gymnasium Thursday night. The Spartans move on to play Farrington tomorrow, 7:00 p.m. at the Neal Blaisdell Center. 

“That was a gritty win,” said Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant. “Too bad that wasn’t a semifinal or a final; that was a classic game right there.”

The Spartans punched their ticket into the quarterfinals with a 59-54 win over Maryknoll the day before. Baldwin, ranked No. 4 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, received a bye in the first round for winning the Maui Interscholastic League.

Rust definitely played a factor against the Bears, who trailed by fourteen at halftime, 35-21. Baldwin shot poorly in the first half (7-for-21), and also committed seven turnovers.

“I think we had the jitters in the first half,” said Baldwin coach Wayne Gushiken.

Leading the Spartans in the win was junior guard Kaleb Gilmore, scoring a game-high 26 points. Gilmore also chipped in three assists and four steals.

“We couldn’t stop Gilmore,” said Gushiken. “He just kept slicing through our defense whether it was a man or a zone. The kids is really good, he showed it tonight.”

Gilmore got things going early for the Spartans, forcing a steal on the Bears’ first offensive possession. Baldwin hanged toughed though, taking the lead 7-4, on a Phillip Thomas 3-pointer. 

That would be the only lead the Bears would have as Maryknoll roared back with a 13-0 run to take a 17-7 lead six minutes into the game. Kamakana Winquist 3-pointer from the top of the key capped the run, which was ended by a Thomas pull-up jumper.

“If we are able to run our sets and everybody is unselfish with the ball, everybody executes what we need to do,” explained Grant. “It really helped that (Brandon Floyd) got some early scores under the basket – Kamakana hit a 3-pointer, that’s the way I kind of like the game to go. Some of our role players got some early points in the game, (giving) our guys some confidence.”

Maryknoll led 19-10 after the first quarter.

The Spartans continued to pile it up on Baldwin in the second quarter, even leading by as much by 16 points. Maryknoll led 35-21 at the break thanks to 13 first half points from Gilmore.

“It’s so hard to guard Kaleb in the open court because he’s so quick,” said Grant.

Baldwin would not go down so quietly however, roaring back in the third quarter with a 28 -oint effort.

“Some of the stuff I can’t repeat,” Gushiken said on the message at halftime. “A lot of it was getting over the jitters and just performing on the state level. We can play on Maui, but we got to be able to play here also.” 

The Bears got the lead down to nine on a fast break layup from Thomas. This forced Grant to call timeout at the 5:46 mark with the score 42-33. 

“They ran the press and they ran it really well,” Grant said on the Bears’ second half resurgence. “They’re very aggressive, they were in our face.” 

Baldwin was able to get the lead down to five, but they suffered a bump in the road when senior forward Teva Eldridge had to leave the game with an injury. Eldridge came out of the game at the 3:57 mark of the third quarter and never returned, being seen with crutches during the fourth quarter. He finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.

“There’s no value that you can put in Teva,” Gushiken said on Eldridge’s injury. “He’s our main guy, he’s got to be in the game and he’s got to be playing.”

“It was unfortunate that Eldridge got hurt,” added Grant. “If he was in the game it would have made a big difference.”

Even though his presence was missed, the Bears continued to battle without him. Ryan Garces knocked in back-to-back triples to get the lead down to two at one point. 

Things got even scarier health-wise when Gilmore was got shaken up diving for a loose ball. He was checked for concussion symptoms for much of the second half, but later returned late in the fourth quarter. 

Maryknoll led 52-49 heading into the final period regulation.

Baldwin was able to stay in the game, but could never really find the extra offensive touch needed to get over the hump. Tyson Kaloa’s two free throws with 9.9 remaining sealed the deal for the final score, 66-61.

Garces led the Bears in the loss, scoring 22 points with four 3-pointers made. Thomas added 17 points with three triples.

The Spartans will tangle with the second-seeded Governors tomorrow, following a semifinal game between top-seeded Iolani and Campbell. Farrington and Maryknoll played each other in the Moanalua preseason tournament, with the Governors winning in overtime, 90-83.

“Tomorrow we get (a chance at) revenge against Farrington, this is what the kids wanted,” Grant said on their upcoming matchup. “They’re a great team, well coached. They’re deep.”