Nuumanaia's 32 points carry Saint Francis past MPI, 63-56

Saint Francis' Matthew Nuumanaia puts up a jump shot against Mid-Pacific. Peter Caldwell | SL

MANOA - Matthew Nuumanaia, the reigning Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II Player of the Year, is picking up where he left off last season.

The 6-foot-5 senior scored a season-high 32 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in helping host Saint Francis fend off Division I Mid-Pacific Institute, 63-56, Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Saint Francis/Merv Lopes Hoops Classic.

The Saints will play another ILH Division I opponent, Kamehameha, in Saturday's semifinal set for 6 p.m. 'Iolani and Santa Margarita (Calif.) will play in the other semifinal at 7:30 p.m. The Owls will play Kamehameha-Hawaii in a fifth-place semifinal at 4:30 p.m.

"Our team came out to play," Nuumanaia said. "We wanted it more from the start and came out to win."

Nuumanaia scored eight points off offensive rebounds and made all four of his team's 3-pointers.

"Matt is our player," Saints coach Sol Batoon said. "Everyone has their player; he's our player. That's why he made Player of the Year last year. His legs are getting stronger. Every game he's getting a little bit better and better and better. He was a little more under control tonight."

Nuumanaia said he strengthened his legs in the offseason by doing more squat lifting and running in the sand.

Also 6-3 post Blayne Won added 17 points and nine rebounds for the Saints.

For the Owls, it's a matter of finding some consistency. They out-scored the Saints, 36-31 in the second half. Kyle Husslein had 12 of his team-high 22 points in the second half; Justin Daise had all of his 16 points in the second half.

"We've got to get two halves (of performance) out of everyone," MPI coach Dwight Holiday said. "You can't just play one half. We get in a hole and then we have to fight out of it."

The Saints stormed out with an 11-0 run in the first quarter in taking a 13-2 lead with 1:34 on the clock. The Owls managed to pull to within 15-7 before the quarter ended.

Saint Francis widened its margin to 11 points twice in the second period and went up by as many as 14 before the Owls got the last basket of the half to trail 32-20.

The Owls began chipping away in the third, but Nuumanaia kept them at bay, scoring nine points, including two of his four 3-pointers. Husslein's basket near the end of the quarter pulled MPI to 43-35.

Mid-Pacific closed the gap to 60-56 with 31 seconds left in the game after Daise made two free throws. But the Owls were forced to foul in the final 30 seconds, sending the Saints to the free-throw line three times. Nuumanaia iced the game when he made both ends of a one-and-one with 28 seconds to make it a two-possession game.

The Saints then intercepted to successive half-court length inbounds passes to draw fouls; they made 1 of 4 free throws in the double-bonus situation.

"MPI's a very good team," Batoon said. "They're well-coached; they have some experienced people out there and they have some talent. And they're long. So that was a good test for us."

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].