OIA Boys Basketball
Top-seeded Roosevelt upends Campbell, 55-41


Wes Nakama
January 26, 2011, 6:38pm

    


Wed, Jan 26, 2011 @ Roosevelt

Campbell

41

Roosevelt

55

Final 1 2 3 4  
Campbell (7-8, 7-8) 10 1112841
Roosevelt (12-4, 15-8) 16 14 8 1755
A. Koki 15 pts
F. Haskins 15 pts  1 3pm
Asten Koki scored 15 points, J.J. Mariano added 13 points and Kaipo Pale contributed 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists last night to help Roosevelt hold off Campbell, 55-41, in O'ahu Interscholastic Association boys basketball playoff action.

A vocal home crowd of about 350 watched the Eastern Division No. 1 seed Rough Riders improve to 11-2 in league play and advance to tomorrow's third-round game against West runner-up Mililani (10-3). Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Roosevelt.

"We had a feeling we would make it this far," said Koki, a 6-foot-3 post who entered last night averaging 6.8 ppg but scored eight points in the first 11 minutes. "Kaipo and I have been on the varsity since we were freshmen, and we knew this would be our year."

Campbell, the West's No. 4 seed, fell to 7-7 and will travel to East No. 3 Kaimuki (9-5) tomorrow for a 6 p.m. elimination game.

The Sabers fell behind early last night and were down, 26-14, after Pale's putback midway through the second period before clawing back to close it to 34-33 on Christopher Crawford's layup which capped a 12-4 run to start the second half.

Koki answered on a layup with 2:53 remaining in the third period to make it 36-33, but the lead appeared tenuous when Pale -- an athletic 6-4 forward who averages 16 points per game -- went down with a cramp in his left calf with 46 seconds left.

The other Rough Riders responded, however, as point guard Shai Brown converted a three-point play 13 seconds into the fourth quarter to start them on a 9-2 run capped by shooting guard Mariano's 3-pointer to push the lead to 47-37 with 4:44 remaining.

"I knew the team could sustain the lead and even push it further," said Pale, who returned early in the fourth period. "All the props to them."

A layup by Crawford 10 seconds later cut it to 47-39, but Roosevelt responded with eight straight points to close out the victory.

"We've been putting it away in the fourth quarter, that's how we've been winning," Rough Riders coach Steve Hathaway said. "But Campbell was scrappy, we couldn't get away from them earlier."   

Fouina Haskins scored 15 points for the Sabers and Crawford added 13 points. 

Campbell made just 3 of 11 free throw attempts in the first half and finished 4 of 13 overall.

"Just like football coaches talk about special teams -- you have offense, defense and special teams -- in basketball it's offense, defense and free throws," Sabers coach Wyatt Tau said. "You gotta win at least two out of the three."



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