Farrington's Jacob McEnroe passes the ball to a teammate against Maryknoll. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Farrington's Seu Luafatasaga puts up a shot against Maryknoll. Melissa Ing | SL

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Maryknoll's Kaleb Gilmore gets airborne as Farrington's Jacob McEnroe defends. Melissa Ing | SL

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Maryknoll's Kamakana Winquist puts up a shot against Farrington. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Farrington's Isaiah Visoria attempts to block a shot attempt by Maryknoll's Kaleb Gilmore. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Farrington's Isaiah Smith drives to the basket against Maryknoll. Melissa Ing | SL

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Farrington's Jacob McEnroe puts up a shot over Maryknoll's Joshua Burnett. Melissa Ing | SL

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Fri, Feb 21, 2014 @ Blaisdell

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Maryknoll

57

Farrington

63

Final	1	2	3	4
Maryknoll (10-3, 26-6)	15	8	14	20	57
Farrington (10-1, 26-5)	10	16	18	19	63

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. McEnroe 14 pts  6/9 FTs

J. Burnett 24 pts  3 3pm  7/8 FTs

J. McEnroe 9 tot  4 off  5 def

J. Burnett 13 tot  4 off  9 def

J. McEnroe 4 ast

S. Ogata 4 ast

Led by four players who scored in double figures, Farrington rallied past Maryknoll, 63-57, in a semifinal game of the Hawaiian Airlines/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Boys Basketball State Championships Friday night.

A crowd of about 3,000 at Neal S. Blaisdell Center Arena witnessed the second-seeded Governors improve to 14-1 on the season and reach Saturday's state final. It is their first appearance in a non-Division II title game since 1970, when they were in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.

"It feels great," Farrington coach Allan Silva said. "The kids worked for this all year long. They're close to reaching their goal, now they have to go and finish it."

The Govs, who are ranked third in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings and are champions of the Oahu Interscholastic Association, have won 10 straight games and are now 33-13 all-time in state-tournament games.

Jacob McEnroe scored a team-high 14 points, Van Hugo added 13, Isaiah Smith — who previously played at Maryknoll — pumped in nine of his 11 points in the fourth quarter and Tuamasaga Unutoa chipped in with 11 of his own.

"It feels good because I went to Maryknoll my freshman and sophomore year and we beat them in the preseason and it feels good to beat them again," said Smith, a senior guard.

Silva was especially pleased for Smith.

"I'm really happy for him," Silva said. "Many years ago he was at Maryknoll and when he came to us, it was like a blessing. I said to him, 'Maryknoll? You're leaving Maryknoll? OK fine, we'll take you and we'll give you a scholarship, too.'"

The Govs came back from a 15-10 deficit after the opening quarter and outscored the Spartans 34-22 in the second and third quarters.

"We played better defense," Silva said. "We played much better defense and we got aggressive (offensively), too, and started taking the ball to the hole."

Farrington shot a blistering 54.1 percent from the field, including a 61.1 percent clip in the second half. Maryknoll shot 38.1 percent on field goals and made just 7 of 21 from behind the arc.

"It's really tough, because we're a senior-heavy team, so we were shooting for a title," Spartans' coach Kelly Grant said. "The kids are extremely disappointed — like anyone else who loses their last game of the season. It's a tough loss, (Farrington) ran multiple defenses against us, some of our shots just went in and out, they got some crucial rebounds on us, we lost our man on certain plays and they were able to capitalize on backdoors and stuff. They're a good team, they're a real good team."

The Govs finished strong at the end of the second and third quarters. A 7-0 Farrington run turned a 23-19 deficit into a 26-23 lead at halftime. A 3-pointer by Maryknoll's Kaleb Gilmore cut the Govs' lead to 37-35 with 1:24 left in the third quarter, but the Spartans closed out the period on a 7-2 run to lead 44-37 going into the fourth.

"I think the ending of the third quarter, when we started running a different offense and started going to the post more was a real turning point for us," Smith said.

Farrington led by as many as 12 in the final minute after five straight points by Smith. The Govs were 20 of 34 from the free-throw line, including 11 of 20 in the fourth quarter.

Josh Burnett led Maryknoll — the second-ranked team in the SL/OC16 Power Rankings and ILH runner-up — with 24 points and 13 rebounds, but he committed nine turnovers and fouled out with 1:24 to play. Gilmore, who was banged up in the Spartans' quarterfinal victory over Baldwin Thursday, finished with 15 points.

"This is his third game in three days and when you're running up and down the court for 30 minutes and you're getting banged all the time, of course there's going to be some effects — I mean, everybody was worn down," Grant said. "I played five or six guys the entire time for three consecutive nights — these guys are going to be hurting tomorrow. Josh is hurting, Sean (Ogata's) elbow is sore, Kaleb's going to be sore tomorrow. All I can ask of those guys is to play 100 percent and they gave me 100 percent so I'm real proud of those guys."

It was the second meeting of the teams this season. Farrington also won the first time, 90-83 in overtime, back on Dec. 13.

Maryknoll fell to 12-4 and will play Campbell in the 3 p.m. third-place game Saturday.

The Govs, who won Division II state titles in 2008 and 2011, now turn their sights to Iolani, the tournament's top seed and the state's top-ranked team.

"We've been thinking about Iolani for over a month now, because we knew we were going to meet them here," Silva said. "Iolani is a great team. We have to play on all cylinders tomorrow."