ILH Boys Basketball
Mid-Pacific outlasts No. 9 Maryknoll, 45-44


  



Wed, Jan 14, 2015 @ Mid-Pacific


Final 1 2 3 4  
Maryknoll (6-6, 12-10) 10 1213944
Mid-Pacific (2-9, 9-17) 9 15 9 1245
D. Florenco 15 pts  1/1 FTs
J. Sueing 17 pts  1 3pm  4/6 FTs
D. Kargol 6 tot  6 def
J. Cain 3 tot  2 off  1 def
D. Kargol 1 ast
M. Miske 1 ast

MANOA — Ken Colombe's layup lifted Mid-Pacific Institute past No. 9 Maryknoll, 45-44 to notch their first Interscholastic League of Honolulu win at Mills Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

"There are winning programs and there are programs that need to be taught how to win and that's what we're learning with coach Ryan. His passion in practice carries over to us. Sometimes we get down we get on a bad streak, but he gets on us and wants us to do better," said Colombe.

The Owls broke through to improve to 1-2, while the Spartans suffered another heartbreaker at the buzzer to drop to 0-3.

"It's really big and it gives us a good confidence boost and we haven't felt this in a while. Coming into this game, both of us didn't have any wins. We had to step up to get this win, I wanted to come out aggressive and I wanted to help my team. If I'm aggressive it opens up my teammates for shots," said junior point guard Daniel Florenco, who led the team with 15 points.

During one of their timeouts, MPI first-year coach Ryan Hirata yelled to his players, "Don't be afraid of the moment!"

"I think when you come from a program like this when you're used to coming out on the short end, you don't know how to respond if you are up one or down one in a close game like this," explained Hirata. "This was a good test to figure out who we were as a team and accept that challenge. We were able to do that tonight, we needed key stops and got them and needed a late bucket and got it."

Justice Sueing, Jr. was fouled and his two free throws put Maryknoll up, 44-43 with 29.4 seconds remaining. He led Maryknoll with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Colombe took the pass from Florenco, drove and laid it up to put the Owls ahead, 45-44. Maryknoll pushed the ball down court and passed it around, but Jaylen Cain's shot near the right block fell short as the buzzer sounded.

"I saw Danny (Florenco) drive and drew my defender and coach told me in practice I have to keep shooting it. I saw the shot, I pumped and then I saw him go in the air and saw the open lane," said Colombe. 

Both teams traded baskets to start the fourth and Sueing, Jr.'s 3-pointer put the Spartans up, 40-39. Kargol's drive and layup put the Owls back up, 41-40. Around the 3:07 mark, Justin Daise went down with a leg injury and did not return. He was the Owls' second leading scorer with 9 points. Both teams traded turnovers prior to Sueing, Jr. getting fouled.

"We had a couple turnovers at the end and needed to get loose balls and get some stops," said Florenco.

"That's what coach kept stressing and we have to play defense. When we turned it over, I told the guys we have to calm down and we're still in the game. The guys came through and that was team effort right there," said Colombe.

Sueing, Jr. had two consecutive 3-point plays in the third to tie the game at 28. The Owls went to a man in the beginning of the game, but changed it up to a zone to put the clamps on the Spartans.

"That's our bread and butter and we go to it a lot. We're comfortable with it. We want to force teams to shoot from the outside and Justice, he's a good player and is beyond his years as a sophomore. We tried to keep him away from the basket and the zone did that for a little bit," said Hirata.

"Justice is a really good player and coming into the game we wanted to emphasize d-ing him up," said Florenco.

MPI tied the game at 11 after Florenco's drive and his 3-point play gave the Owls their first lead of the game. Maryknoll went up 19-16 after Calvin Koo's 3-pointer, but MPI scored eight straight points. Koo's hit another 3-pointer cut the score to 24-22 as the Spartans trailed at halftime.

Maryknoll took a 10-2 lead before the Owls went on a 7-0 run capped by Drew Kargol's 3-pointer from the right corner to end the quarter. Hirata didn't like his team's start and called a timeout to wake them up.

"Our team is a team of responders. A lot of times, we find ourselves down, but we find our way back. We need to come out stronger than we have been, but the fact they're able to battle back and make it a game, is something we can build on," said Hirata.

MPI hopes to take the momentum as they play No. 5 Saint Louis, who lost to Punahou at the end, 59-58, on Friday, Jan. 16 at 5 p.m. Maryknoll hopes to regroup as they play at Kamehameha on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 6 p.m.

"That's our first home win in like four years—at least since I've been here. We can't be complacent with that and we have to be more hungry," said Colombe.



Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].




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