Kalaheo's Kaleb Gilmore puts up a jumper against Farrington. Brien Ing | SL

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Kalaheo forward Kupaa Harrison had a team-high 17 points in a win over Farrington. Brien Ing | SL

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Wed, Jan 21, 2015 @ Farrington

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Kalaheo

52

Farrington

38

Final	1	2	3	4
Kalaheo (13-1, 31-3)	10	15	11	16	52
Farrington (7-4, 22-10)	6	7	10	15	38

J. Smith 22 pts  4 3pm  2/3 FTs

K. Harrison 17 pts  7/9 FTs

Kalaheo relied on a strong first half to fight off host Farrington, 52-38, Wednesday night at the Richard Kitamura Gym.

The top-ranked Mustangs improved to 6-0 in Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division, while the No. 8 Governors fell to 3-3.

Farrington's Jake Smith led all scorers with 22 points, including four 3-pointers, but it wasn't enough as the Governors were a dismal 7 of 19 from the free-throw line. Smith scored 18 in the second half.

Kupaa Harrison, Kaleb Gilmore and Alex MacLeod paced the Mustangs with double-digit scoring. Harrison led with 17 points, Gilmore followed with 14 points and MacLeod had 10. The Mustangs were 16 of 21 from the free-throw line.

Kalaheo's commanding 25-13 lead at the half negated Farrington's second-half effort. The Mustangs committed 14 of their 20 turnovers in the second half, but Farrington failed to capitalize.

"We were playing not to lose, getting reckless, playing kind of complacent," Harrison said. "Against a team like this, you can't do that. They came at us, but we've played in situations like this in preseason and it's kind of prepared us for this…They have a lot of quick guys, so we had to take over."

The closest the game ever was when the teams were tied at 4 with four minutes, 42 seconds in the first quarter. The Mustangs then went on a 6-0 run en route to a 10-6 lead entering the second period.

Kalaleo opened the second period with a 5-0, then got and maintained a double-digit - the widest being 16 (29-13) early in the third quarter - until 2:35 left in the game when the Govs pulled to within 40-32. Eight of Kalaheo's last 12 points of the game came from the free-throw line, as Farrington tried to gain control of the ball.

The Mustangs kind of faltered early in the fourth period, when they did not score until the 3:54 mark when Gilmore sank two free throws.

"The beginning of that fourth quarter, I was disappointed in our leaders and our upper classmen handled that pressure," Kalaheo coach Alika Smith said, "because we're at our best when they're pressuring us and making them pay and we weren't doing that. We got sloppy with the ball; I don't know how many turnovers we had the first two or three minutes of that first quarter, but that kept (Farrington) in the game."

The difference was at the free-throw line. In Kalaheo's previous game against Kalani, the Mustangs were 19 of 32.

"We were atrocious last game," Alika Smith said. "The kids worked on (free throws) the last couple days, but we have to play better with pressure…We're learning each day with these kids; we have to get better each day."

It wasn't that the Mustangs took extra free throws at practice. It was more about quality than quantity.

"We take free throws at practice all the time, but we were kind of fooling around," Harrison said. "We had to take game reps, put ourselves in the environment, like a game, instead of talking on the side."

"That was a big difference," Farrington coach Allan Silva said of his team's poor performance at the free-throw line. "Seven out of 18, that's too many (misses)."

Macleod, who came off the bench, provided not only scoring, but seven rebounds and a blocked shot. He sort of plays in the shadow of the Harrisons and Gilmores of the team.

"He has so much energy," Alika Smith said. "If he uses it in the right way, he's an unbelievable talent. He's worked hard; that's all we can ask of him. He gives us an added dimension to our team."

Trailing 36-23 to start the fourth, the Governors managed only a 4-0 run the first four minutes, when they made only two of six free throws.

With five games left, the Governors are at a point where they can't afford any more setbacks.

"I told the team, the way we played in the fourth quarter, we have to play that way the rest of the season," Silva said. "Every game is very important right now. Every game is important, but right now, being 3 and 3, it's time to tighten the belts and play really, really well, because all the teams we play are decent teams."

Farrington has McKinley on Saturday, Roosevelt on Tuesday and Kaiser next Thursday.