Hayden Bayudan (center) led Damien with 17 points and shot 9 of 10 from the free throw line. Spencer Honda | SL

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Sat, Feb 8, 2020 @ Damien

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Mid-Pacific

54

Damien

58

Final	1	2	3	4
Mid-Pacific (5-10, 17-15)	6	22	6	20	54
Damien (8-7, 18-16)	12	17	14	15	58

H. Bayudan 17 pts  9/10 FTs

K. Lapina 16 pts  3 3pm  3/3 FTs

KALIHI — As soon as the Monarchs claimed their first state championship in Division II a year ago, they already had their sights set on taking the Division I title in 2020.

Now, Damien will have its shot after clamping down to narrowly defeat Mid-Pacific, 58-54, Saturday afternoon on its home court at the Bishop Scanlan Gymnasium to move on in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu single-elimination tournament and wrap up the league's third and final spot in the Snapple/HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball State Championship later this month.

Sophomore Hayden Bayudan and junior Tino Atonio steadied the Monarchs with points in all four quarters and combined to go 7 of 11 from the charity stripe down the stretch.

Damien jumped out to a 12-6 lead before the Owls splashed five 3-pointers in the second quarter to end the first half with a 29-28 deficit.

The Monarchs quickly extended their lead to 10 points at the top of the third quarter and entered the final period with a nine-point lead.

The Owls' Lucca Kitashima splahed four 3-pointers in the first half but was held to zero points the rest of the way. Kamana Lapina was also limited to zero points in third period after hitting a pair of shots from beyond the arc in the first half.

"It's always been a game of runs. When we make shots, we're really hard to play with. I got to give a ton of credit to (Damien) coach Alvin (Stephenson)," Mid-Pacific coach Robert Shklov said. "He made a lot of adjustments going to man and they were a little bit physical. We didn't love it."

But Lapina, a senior, came roaring back with 10 fourth-quarter points, including a huge 3-pointer to make it a two-point game with 1:39 remaining.

Damien's Jake Holtz later came up with a huge block on Lapina, and Bryce Forbes hit two free throws to ultimately wrap the game up for the final score of 58-54.

Damien moves on to play at Maryknoll — who finished second in the ILH regular season standings — Monday evening with the winner taking on undefeated Kamehameha for the ILH title on Wednesday. Both the Spartans and Warriors have already claimed the other league state tournament berths.

Mid-Pacific ends its season at 5-10 after having finished the regular season sixth out of seven teams in the standings before taking down Saint Louis and Punahou in the ILH tournament.

"It's an incredible run for these guys," first-year Owls coach Shklov said. "(Former Mid-Pacific coach and now current Iolani coach) Ryan Hirata did so much for the program: building it up, making these guys believe, having mentality. Every year we have to give them the same dang speech and it hurts: you guys play so dang hard, you do all you can in the offseason and you come up short.

"To have some modicum of success here, I told them: don't let anyone take that away from you. Don't let anybody demean that accomplishment. You guys won playoff games. You guys showed you belong. You guys competed with the best teams in the state."