Michael Lasquero | ScoringLive
February 15, 2019, 4:44pm
Game of the Week
University, HBA to play for last D2 state berth
University Lab and Hawaii Baptist will play for a state berth into the Division II state tournament Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Michael Lasquero | SLOne ticket is left.
Two teams remain.
Three meetings in one season.
A state berth into the Snapple Division II Boys Basketball Championships is up for grabs when University Lab takes on Hawaii Baptist Saturday in a 2:00 p.m. contest at Klum Gym.
The two teams came away with semifinal victories in the ILH D2 single-elimination tournament Thursday night at Dan Liu Gymnasium to set up this weekend's final.
The Jr. Bows (13-10 overall, 9-4 ILH D2) and Eagles (15-12, 8-5) split their first two meetings, so University will need to win the rubber match if it hopea to make its first state tournament appearance since winning the ultimate prize in 2016.
"The last two years we played them in the ILH tournament and it was a good game, so we can expect nothing less," said University coach Ryan Tong. "They're a good team, they're disciplined, they're well-coached. We've got our work cut out for us."
It will be a battle between two strengths on Saturday afternoon. HBA likes to push the pace and swing the ball around for open shots from the perimeter while University would rather work methodically and pound it inside with 6-foot-3 center Leif "LJ" Fautanu (19.5 points per game).
Tong knows it will be a tall task against the Eagles, who forced 22 turnovers in their 42-34 semifinal win over Hanalani.
"We gotta be patient on offense. I think a few times we rushed and we turned the ball over, so I told the boys it's important for us. We've been preaching value each possession, every single time down we want to score, so if we take care of the ball we've got to be disciplined, play good defense because they're going to put a lot of pressure on us, so we gotta handle the pressure. Hopefully everything will work out for us."
Protecting the paint will be critical for HBA, who gave up a lot of second chance points to the Royals on putbacks.
"Definitely, but that's always a focus for us — or should I say, an area of concern," said HBA coach George Week, whose team last reached the state tournament in 2015. "We're just not as big as the other teams in the state so we have to do things a little bit differently than other teams, but that is a glaring issue that we always have."
The two earlier season meetings between the two teams were night and day. In a Dec. 18 contest, Fautanu scored 25 points and Colby Chun added 15 to power the Jr. Bows to a 72-53 win on the Eagles' home floor.
The rematch on Jan. 19 was much different.
With Fautanu playing in the Polynesian Bowl, HBA jumped out to a 27-13 halftime lead in the Jr. Bows' homecoming game. However, University rallied to force overtime before the Eagles won, 52-48.
"They played us tough," said Tong. "I was proud of our guys that without our best player, we hung in there."
Tong added that the X-factor on Saturday will be HBA senior Max Wiemken (20.4 PPG).
"He's on a different level and he's gonna get his, but we can just hope to kind of contain him and then close out on the shooters…again we gotta do a good job on the boards. If we do that, we'll be alright."
