Raiders ride hot outside shooting past Saints

Iolani's Kawika Lee puts up a shot in front of Saint Francis' Kordel Ng. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Kawika Lee scored a season-high 24 points and Sam Wheeler added 16 to lead No. 3 Iolani to a 52-47 win over No. 5 Saint Francis Wednesday night to claim the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's third and final berth in next week's Division I state championships.

The Raiders (9-7 league, 18-11 overall) avenged a nine-point loss to the Saints (8-8, 22-17) just two nights prior.

They did it with some hot shooting from the perimeter.

Iolani was 9-of-15 shooting on 3-pointers and 19 of 41 from the field (46.3 percent). Lee shot 53.3 percent (8 of 15) from the field, 3 of 5 from beyond the arc and 5 of 6 at the free-throw line. Wheeler was 4-of-6 shooting from distance and 6 of 11 in all.

Raiders coach Dean Shimamoto said some early buckets from the pair of seniors fed his team's confidence.

"Oh, for sure. I mean, you know, a couple guys hit, then other guys feel more confident, but you know, our looks in transition were pretty good — we were getting nice ones — and we were looking to find each other and that's always gonna lead to more makes just because you're getting better shots, so I'm really proud of the guys for sharing the ball and then knocking ‘em down," Shimamoto said.

Shimamoto's team also got off to a fast start to build a five-point lead after one quarter and stretched it to a 14-point advantage at halftime.

"You know, it started with (defensive) stops. I thought we were a heck of a lot tougher on defense (than Monday night)," Shimamoto said. "We came out with more pressure, we tried to speed them up a little bit and I think that led to good offense for us."

The Raiders went just two deep on their bench. Shimamoto was especially pleased with the play of his quartet of senior starters: Lee and Wheeler, along with Frank Felix and Noah Bumanglag.

"I thought our seniors were monsters today. You know, I mean, Kawika had points, but so did Sam. Frankie wasn't a one-dimensional shooter only — he got putbacks, he got rebounds, he played great on defense — and Noah handled the ball the whole game and he led the whole charge on both ends of the floor, so I mean, our seniors were absolutely spectacular and then the guys that came in and gave minutes — you know, we only played seven (guys) today; one other guys in our rotation was out sick — so really just credit to, I think, the toughness of our team," Shimamoto said.

The two-time defending D2 state champion Saints, however, did not go quietly. They got to within two points of the Raiders after Kameron Ng drained back-to-back 3-pointers to cut it 47-45 with 4:11 left to play.

The score held until nearly three minutes later, when Kawika Lee hit a pair of free throws to extend it back to a four-point lead for the Raiders with 1:13 remaining, but Ng answered with a make on the other end to make it a one-possession game once again.

Lee sealed the victory by making three of his final four from the charity stripe to punch the Raiders' ticket to states.

"We just had to keep sticking to what we do," Shimamoto said. "You know, (I'm) so proud of our guys for not letting that get to ‘em. We bent, but we didn't break and I think those are some signs of championship-type teams, so we hope to be able to take that moving forward."

Ng finished with a team-high 22 points and his younger brother, Kordel, added 14 in the loss.

Iolani will visit Hilo in one of four first-round regional games Monday. The winner will advance to play Oahu Interscholastic Association champion and No. 2 seed, Moanalua, in Thursday's quarterfinal round.

Other games Monday will feature Baldwin hosting Kapolei, Kalaheo visiting crosstown rival Kailua and Kahuku traveling to Punahou.