Kalaheo's Kekai Smith drives to the basket against Kalaheo. Smith scored a team-high 18 points in the win over the Mules. Tyler Guieb | SL

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Tue, Feb 9, 2016 @ McKinley

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Kalaheo

49

Leilehua

46

Final	1	2	3	4
Kalaheo (12-2, 25-7)	11	13	11	14	49
Leilehua (11-2, 17-9)	13	12	13	8	46

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

K. Kauhi 12 pts

K. Smith 18 pts  2 3pm

K. Kauhi 7 tot  6 off  1 def

A. Kearney 6 tot  1 off  5 def

J. Gouty 7 ast

K. Smith 7 ast

With its leading scorer serving a one-game suspension, the seventh-ranked Kalaheo boys basketball team had to dig deep Tuesday night.

Kekai Smith scored a game-high 18 points and Alex Layi added 13 to help Kalaheo to a thrilling 49-46 win over previously-unbeaten Leilehua in a semifinal game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Tournament at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium.

The Mustangs improved to 11-2 with the win, which sets up a rematch against top-ranked Kaiser in Thursday's 7:30 p.m. tournament final at McKinley.

Smith, a senior guard, scored 10 points by halftime and had six of Kalaheo's 14 fourth-quarter points. He made two of his team three 3-pointers and added five rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Kalaheo was without leading scorer Captain Whitlock (17.4 points per game), who was ineligible for the game after drawing back-to-back technical fouls — and a consequent ejection — from a quarterfinal win over Kailua Friday.

"Nobody was going to try to do more than they can do or go outside of their role, but we knew that we had to pick it up to another level," said Layi, a senior forward. "We just played with each other. We're still a team, so we still played as a team."

Layi was an efficient 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 4 of 5 on free throws. It was his ninth consecutive game in which he scored double figures.

"He did a great job setting the tone early," Kalaheo coach Rob Pardini said of Layi, who had eight points by halftime. "He's got some real good footwork and so once he gets going it really kind of sets the tone for us and then Kekai … what can you say?"

The Mustangs held a 45-40 lead with 1:21 left to play before the Mules stormed back with six straight points to pull ahead.

Joseph Gouty drained a 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game. After a held ball gave Leilehua the ball back, Gouty found Trey Boatwright under the basket for an easy lay-in. Boatwright drew a foul on the play and converted the three-point play to give his team a narrow lead.

Kalaheo tied it at 46 when reserve guard Christian Graham made the front end of a 1-and-1 situation and took the lead for good on his second make.

Leilehua grabbed an offensive rebounds off a Gouty miss on the other end, but a Kalaheo defender tied up the ball handler for another held ball, which went the way of the Mustangs this time.

Layi went to the line with 1.2 seconds left and made both free throws to give Kalaheo a three-point lead.

The Mules had a chance to tie it at the buzzer, but Gouty's desperation 3-pointer from beyond midcourt missed left.

"They're a well-coached team, they've played in a good (division) like us all year long and neither team was going to back down and it's what you would expect in the play-in game for a high seed in the state tournament, the right to play a good Kaiser team," Leilehua coach Russ Fitzgerald said.

Gouty, last year's OIA West Player of the Year, was held to nine points on 3-of-14 shooting (1 of 8 on 3-pointers), but did have seven assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Leilehua's 6-foot-6 center Koa Kauhi finished with a team-high 12 points. He had eight points by halftime, but picked up two quick fouls in the final minute of the second quarter. Kauhi was whistled for his fourth foul at the 2:36 mark of the third quarter and was relegated to the bench. He did not return until there was 2:43 left in the game and eventually fouled out.

"We've just got to play a little bit smarter as a team — not one person, not two people, but as a whole team," Fitzgerald said.

As a team, Leilehua shot 19 of 51 (37.2 percent) from the field.

Kalaheo was 16 of 37 (43.2 percent) from the field.

Nick Duran added 10 points for the fifth-ranked Mules, who fell to 11-1 and will host McKinley in a third-place game at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Leilehua, the top seed from the Western Division, held a 25-24 lead at halftime and a 38-35 advantage after three quarters, but was outscored in the fourth, 14 to 8.

"I thought in the first half we didn't do a great job and they executed well against our zone," Pardini said of the Mules. "We ended up hanging in there defensively. It could have gone either way. It was a tough ending there."

Kalaheo, the East second seed, will try for its league-leading 19th title Thursday night. Standing in the way is Kaiser, which handed the Mustangs a 59-55 loss when the teams met on Jan. 26 in the regular season.

As the teams exchanged postgame handshakes, a fracas broke out in the mauka bleachers amongst supporters from both teams. Several Leilehua players entered the stands, but because it was after the final buzzer OIA executive director Ray Fujino said he will leave it up to the administrators from both schools to determine if there will be any possible repercussions.

An officer from the Honolulu Police Department confirmed that a police report was filed. As of 10 p.m. Tuesday night no arrests had been made.