Kailua edges Roosevelt in overtime, 53-51

Kailua's William Kalilimai puts up a shot against Roosevelt. Tyler Kanoa | Special to SL

MAKIKI — William Kailimai missed Kailua's first five games of the regular season, but helped make up for it Saturday night.

The senior guard — who returned from "paternity leave" — was one of three players to score in double figures as Kailua rallied to beat Roosevelt, 53-51 in overtime, in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division game at the Rough Riders' gymnasium.

Kailimai scored 10 points, including a 10-foot jumper to tie it at the end of regulation, to help the Surfriders won their fourth straight game and improve to 5-2 in the Red East.

"I can't say how big of a win this is for us to take one away from Roosevelt," Kailua coach Wally Marciel said. "They're a very good team so to come in here and beat them is a huge, huge win for us."

Roosevelt held a 47-45 lead after Mick Colling hit a free throw with 14 seconds left in the fourth quarter. On Kailua's ensuing possession, Kailimai ended up with the ball after grabbing teammate Christian Kamu Scheer's miss and with time winding down, drained the game-tying basket to beat the buzzer and send it into overtime.

"I knew there was only like two seconds on the clock and I had to put up something, so I just put it up and praised and it happened," Kailimai said.

Marciel said Kailimai, whose season-high in points was 25 in a preseason game against Moanalua on Dec. 20, is returning the form after missing nearly a month of the season.

"That shot that Willie hit at the end was a big, big shot for him," Marciel said. "He was out for a couple of weeks — he had a baby — and he's back into the groove now. He was one of our guys that came back from last year's team and gave us good minutes. When he was out on (paternity) leave, we missed him. He's our leader and a big contributor for us."

The Surfriders jumped out to a 52-49 lead in overtime after a pair of free throws by Kailimai and three straight points by Noah Aud. However, Valen Inaura pulled the Rough Riders back within a point on his basket with 25 seconds remaining. A free throw by Kawehe Hano Kohatsu on Kailua's next trip down the floor put his team back up by two with 20 seconds left.

On Roosevelt's ensuing possession, Inaura missed a close-range shot, which was rebounded by Colling, who attempted to put it back up but was blocked by Kailimai. Kailua recovered the loose ball and Roosevelt was forced to foul.

"That block was huge defensively," Marciel said. "If he doesn't block that, we're probably looking at double overtime."

Jake Kawasaki had a chance to tie it for Roosevelt in the final seconds, but his shot was off the mark.

Kohatsu scored a team-high 11 points, Matthew Bishop had 10 and Auld nine for Kailua, which is tied for third in the division with three games to play.

Henry Maumalanga had a game-high 13 points, Colling 11 and Kevin Foster added 10 for Roosevelt, which fell into a tie for sixth place.

Kailua led at halftime, 21-14.

Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].