ILH Boys Basketball
Maryknoll squeaks by 'Iolani in ILH thriller, 53-51


Wes Nakama
January 28, 2012, 8:18pm

  


Sat, Jan 28, 2012 @ Iolani

Maryknoll

53

Iolani

51

Final 1 2 3 4  
Maryknoll (7-7, 15-9) 6 14141953
Iolani (8-6, 14-11) 9 10 13 1951
A. O'Leary 21 pts  5 3pm
T. Shramm 14 pts
Maryknoll used a 21-4 second-half run to overtake 'Iolani and then withstood a furious last-minute rally for a 53-51 victory tonight in thrilling Interscholastic League of Honolulu boys basketball action.

A breathless crowd of about 650 at 'Iolani watched the Spartans improve to 6-4 only after the Raiders (6-4) missed a potential game-tying layup at the buzzer.

"We were lucky they didn't make that basket," Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant said. "I feel bad ... but it happens."

The Spartans trailed 29-21 after Zach Buscher's jumper three minutes into the second half, but Austin Gaskins bookended the 21-4 run with two free throws and a layup to put Maryknoll ahead, 42-33, with 4:15 remaining in the game.

The Spartans still led, 51-44, after Tobias Schramm's two free throws with 41.6 seconds left, but O'Leary drained an 18-footer from the right corner seven seconds later and -- after Isaiah Dowdell sank one of two free throws to make it 52-46 -- Buscher was intentionally fouled on a 3-point attempt with 19 ticks on the clock.

Buscher made two to cut it to 52-48, then Gabriel Vega converted a three-point play four seconds later to make it 52-51.

Maryknoll freshman Kaleb Gilmore was fouled on the ensuing possession and made the first of two free throws, but missed the second and the Raiders advanced the ball into the frontcourt before calling timeout with 8.6 seconds remaining.

"We were pretty fortunate to be in the situation we were in," 'Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto said. "We wanted to get the ball to O'Leary for a 3-pointer to win it, I would have been fine with that. Even if he missed with three seconds or so, we still would have had time for a rebound or a foul."

As it happened, the pass to O'Leary at the top of the key was knocked away and Schramm came up with the loose ball near the baseline, but his save attempt while falling out of bounds was intercepted by Josiah Situmeang at the free throw line.

Situmeang dribbled into the key and dished to Vega under the basket, but his hurried layup attempt went off the rim and a tip-in attempt at the buzzer also missed.

"I think he fumbled it a little while going up because he thought he didn't have enough time," Shimamoto said. "But these type of games don't come down to only one play. This game had a lot of runs, and we had ours at the end but just came up short."

The Raiders jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes, with O'Leary -- who was shut out in Thursday's 39-37 victory over Academy of the Pacific -- scoring all seven points on a runner, layup and 3-pointer.

But the Spartans answered with a 10-2 run capped by Gaskins' coast-to-coast layup 44 seconds into the second period to make it 10-9, then took a 20-19 halftime lead on Wyatt Pedro's layup with two seconds left.

O'Leary then drained two 3-pointers to spark 'Iolani's 10-1 run that put the Raiders up, 29-21.

Schramm led Maryknoll with 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks and Gaskins added 13 points and two blocks.

"Austin played huge, and that was the difference for us," Grant said. "He made two crucial blocks and hit some crucial shots."

O'Leary finished with a game-high 21 points, Duke Pauli added 13 points and Vega scored 10 points.



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