Iolani's Hugh Hogland scored a career high 28 points in a win over Kaiser in the Division I semifinals. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Fri, Feb 19, 2016 @ Stan Sheriff

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Kaiser

42

Iolani

61

Final	1	2	3	4
Kaiser (12-2, 28-7)	10	11	12	9	42
Iolani (9-5, 19-9)	12	15	16	18	61

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

H. Hogland 28 pts  4/7 FTs

C. Kalaugher 24 pts  2 3pm  8/9 FTs

R. Mann 7 tot  1 off  6 def

C. Kalaugher 7 tot  4 off  3 def

H. Hogland 3 ast

K. Mahiko 3 ast

MANOA – Hugh Hogland posted a career-high 28 points and top-seeded and No. 1 Iolani beat No. 4 Kaiser, 61-42, in Friday's semifinals of the OC16 Division I boys basketball state tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Raiders will meet No. 3 Punahou in Saturday's championship. It will be the fifth meeting between the two teams this season. Iolani owns a 3-1 lead, including the Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship.

Ironically, although the teams have combined to play in 33 state title games, this will be the first time they will play against each other for the championship. The ILH rivals are share the tournament record with 10 titles each.

"I think we're both going in with the same formula," Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto said of the upcoming fifth meeting of the season with Punahou. "We've been playing basically the same way for the whole second half and having some success in staying with Punahou. The approach will be the same, keep the focus on the same things and just try to play some good basketball tomorrow."

The Raiders (18-9), the only seeded team left in the tournament, brought their best game against the Cougars, denied a chance being the second team win D2 and D1 titles in consecutive season. The Raiders shot 51.2 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Cougars, 35-25.

The 6-foot-9 Hogland was the hottest Raiders, shooting 12 of 18 from the field and shared the team lead with seven rebounds. He capitalized on his length to frustrate the 6-5 Kalaugher on the inside and used his four-inch advantage to simply get above the Kaiser center to score.

"We were getting single coverage on the inside and we knew Chance was going to try to stay out of foul trouble, so we kept feeding him" Shimamoto said. "We've been waiting for (that performance) all year. We love seeing him be aggressive."

Kalaugher led the Cougars with 24 points, but a third came from 8-of-9 free throw shooting. With Hogland and even 6-1 Nick Kennedy defending Kalaugher, the Cougar center had to take his game to the perimeter. Kalaugher was 7 of 22 from the field with half his attempts from beyond the arc (2 of 11).

"Hugh dominated inside," Kaiser coach Branden Kawazoe said of Hogland. "It's kind of pick your poison with Iolani. You sag, they have shooters all over (the outside)."

The game started close with Kaiser leading 10-8 with 1:13 in the first quarter. But Kennedy drained a 3 and Hogland made a free throw with 43 seconds left and Iolani took a 12-10 lead into the second quarter.

The Raiders began pulling away in the second period with Hogland accounting for eight of the team's 15 points in taking a 27-21 lead into the half.

The Cougars opened the second half with Kalaugher making three free throws after a foul by Kennedy behind the arc. The three-point deficit would be the closest for Kaiser the rest of the game. Hogland added seven points and Robby Mann added five with a 3-pointer and putback off a Hogland missed shot.

Kaiser trailed 43-33 entering the fourth period, but saw Isaiah Akiona open with a 3-pointer to keep the deficit in single digits. But the Raiders went on a 14-3 run to secure their lead.

Hogland's 28 surpassed his previous game-high of 17, so this game had a different feel since usually the Raiders spread their wealth of offense.

"Definitely felt different after the first five shots went in," Hogland said. "I started getting a rhythm. Give credit to my boys. They have complete unconditional faith in me and that's something special."

Originally, Hogland was to guard Kalaugher, a natural matchup between the teams' bigs. Eventually, Kennedy, who started out guarding Kalaugher on the outside, took over inside duties, too.

"Eventually we decided that Nicky was the best guy to guard him and I'd just come over to help," Hogland said.

It was heart breaker for the Cougars, who had high hopes after strong preseason and regular season before losing to Kalaheo for the OIA championship. This was a senior-heavy group with 12.

"As far as my guys, I'm proud of the way hung in there, the legacy that these 12 seniors are going to be leaving," Kawazoe said. "They helped put Kaiser on the map and I and the rest of the coaching staff are just proud of them. Sometimes in life, things don't' go your way. We told them you just have to fight through it, keep your head up."