KALIHI — The Farrington basketball team ended 2018 by starting league play with a bang.

The Governors sank their free throws down the stretch to hold off No. 8 Moanalua, 59-55 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association East opener for both teams at Kitamura Gym Friday.

Farrington (1-0 OIA), who is in Division II, avenged its season-ending loss to Na Menehune (0-1 OIA) last year and outscored Moanalua in the next three quarters after trailing after the first period.

"This is a big win for our program," Farrington coach Steven Leopoldo said. "Once we buckled down on defense, we'll be a tough team to beat. We marked this day because of what happened to us last year. Fortunately we came out with a ‘W'."

"We're happy, we got revenge and revenge is sweet and we're excited to go on with our season," Farrington forward Raefe McEnroe said.

Raefe McEnroe was relentless on both ends of the floor as he poured in a double-double with 16 points and 17 rebounds to go along with four blocks to lead the Govs.

"He did wonderful tonight," Leopoldo said of McEnroe. "He finally woke up and I told him, ‘If you keep the way you're playing, no one will stop you."

Aaron Bagaoisan scored 12 points and Christian Havea added 13 points and seven boards off the bench for Farrington.

The Govs led by as much as eight, 48-40 after McEnroe found a cutting Havea for a layup. Na Menehune pulled within four twice after Sugiura's steal and layup and McRaven's dunk.

Free throws were kind to the home team, but it haunted the visitors as the Govs made eight of their 10 attempts in the final minute, including four of their last six attempts in the final 12.8 seconds to pull away from Na Menehune.

Farrington finished the game shooting 13 of 17 (76.5 percent) from the free throw line, while Moanalua was dreadful shooting 2 of 11 in the first half and finished 10 of 30 (33.3 percent) overall.

"We've been practicing free throws the past couple days. I keep telling them, what you miss is what you run," Leopoldo said.

"Everyday, we have to make 4-for-4, if we don't, we're running," McEnroe said. "Free throws is a big part of our practices. We practice them even after practice and it's a mental thing."

Geremy Robinson, who scored a team-high 15 points, was fouled on a 3-point attempt, but hit two of three foul shots to trail by three, 55-52 with 14.1 seconds remaining.

Havea made the first free throw and missed the second, but a batted ball to Aeman Kurt Castro put him at the line and he split a pair of free throws with 10.3 seconds left to put the Govs up, 57-52.

"That's what I told them, ‘You have to make free throws, this is the time," Leopoldo said during the stretch.

McEnroe sealed the game with a pair of free throws and Isaiah Sugiura, who scored 12 points, made a 3-pointer with the game already decided.

Robinson, who was guarded mostly by Bagaoisan, tied it up at 8 and Na Menehune went on a 7-2 run sparked by its defense that created transition points for a 15-10 lead.

Na Menehune led by as much as seven, 24-17, but the Govs chipped away with a 3-pointer from Aeman Kurt Castro and baskets by Christian Havea as Farrington outscored Moanalua, 12-4 to close out the quarter to lead, 29-28 at halftime.

"I told the boys, if we be patient, we'll have a successful season. In the preseason, they kept going, going, but I told them to relax. The game will come to you and fortunately, some guys settled down and started playing their games," Leopoldo said of the difference between the first and second periods.

"We started to calm down a lot. We talked things out more and we weren't panicking and got it going," McEnroe added.

Sugiura's layup put Na Menehune up, 32-31, which was their only lead in the second half as the Govs answered with McEnroe's basket and a 3-pointer from Johnsen Bautista.

McRaven, who was held scoreless in the first half, put down a two-handed flush to bring Moanalua within one, but Bagaoisan converted a layup off of a feed from Bautista to give Farrington a 40-37 lead going into the fourth.

"For McRaven, we had to big-body on him and power him out of the key and for Geremy, we had to help a lot since he likes to drive to the basket and make sure he and DiAeris didn't have easy looks," McEnroe said.

Robinson made a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to tie the game at 40, but Farrington countered with an 8-0 run to force a Moanalua timeout. Robinson hit a step-back 3 and was fouled on another 3-point attempt, but only came away with one point from the charity stripe. Moanalua got the game within four with 1:35 left on the clock but could not get any closer.

Both teams participated in the Iolani Classic the previous week.

Farrington looks to carry over the momentum to 2019 as it faces McKinley on Tuesday, Jan. 2. Moanalua looks to rebound as it hosts Kaimuki on the same night.