SALT LAKE—No. 7 Kailua survived another close one and held off upset-minded Roosevelt, 42-37 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I semifinals at Moanalua.

The Surfriders eked out a 33-31 win over their windward rival Kalaheo (7-7) on Monday in the quarterfinal round and withstood a dramatic rally from the Rough Riders (10-4) to reach the OIA title game on Wednesday night.

Jonny Philbrick led the Surfriders with 14 points and Ethan Kunz added 11 points and six boards to help Kailua remain unbeaten at 13-0.

Kailua withstood a monster, double-double performance from Roosevelt's Kamuela Kaaihue, who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

"This is the first time we're playing back-to-back this season. Credit Steve (Hathaway) and his team. We had to make solid adjustments. We never played 2-3 zone the whole year, but we had to play a 2-3 zone to stop Kamu (Kaaihue)," Kailua coach Wally Marciel said.

The Rough Riders continue their run after taking down Leilehua, 49-46 in the quarterfinals and gave the Surfriders all they could handle. As a semifinalist, Roosevelt clinched a spot in the Heide & Cook/HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball Championships.

"The team has been playing great and they've been playing better defense. We are not scoring a lot, but we're shutting teams down and that's what we have to do. Our team is built better on defense. I think we're fine and we're playing with house money, I don't think anyone but us expected to be here. We have to get healthy for next week," Roosevelt coach Steve Hathaway said.

Both teams picked up the scoring in the second quarter but were neck and neck until Roosevelt created separation with under a minute to go. Roscoe Eddins was whistled for a technical foul and Kody Seguancia hit the free throws.

After getting the ball back, Kainoa Mizukami hit a banker in the lane, but the Surfriders raced down court and Kunz got the shot to drop and trailed, 23-19 going into halftime.

Kailua turned the tide and Kunz hit a jumper to bring the Surfriders within one and Japheth Lilo followed up with a steal and shot to reclaim the lead, 24-23 and forced a timeout from the Rough Riders. The Surfriders turned to their zone defense and press to make it uneasy for the Rough Riders.

"We didn't press in the first half. We came out with our press in the second half and we got turnovers or fast shots from them. That helped us in our run to come back. We were down by four at halftime and they were stuck at 23 for a while," Marciel said.

"We knew it was coming, I thought we were prepared for it, but we kind of threw it around a little bit. We would beat the first trap and we would go too fast and threw it around," Hathaway said.

Philbrick pulled up for a shot in transition to put Kailua up three.

Kaaihue made Roosevelt's first field goal of the quarter with under a minute left, but Kunz stole the ball and laid it up before the buzzer to give Kailua a 28-25 advantage going into the final stanza.

Kayman Lewis was able to keep it a three-point game until Lilo scored on a backdoor cut and Philbrick banked a runner in the lane to go up eight with 2:29 remaining.

Kaaihue scored in transition, but Reece Matsukawa sank a pair of free throws and Philbrick added a layup to put Kailua up 10 with over a minute remaining. Kainoa Mizukami got the scoring run going with a free throw and Kaaihue and Kainalu Davis each scored to bring the Rough Riders within five.

"We gave ourselves a chance. We had a bad third quarter. They went zone and it was like we never seen a zone before. It's hard for us to go like that the whole time because we had some guys injured, guys in foul trouble, the depth. The game was the speed we wanted, we wanted the tempo, but Kailua is a really good team," Hathaway said.

Kunz missed the first double bonus free throw but made the second to give Kailua a six point lead, 40-34. Philbrick failed to convert both free throws with 5.8 seconds left and Mizukami hit a deep 3-pointer from the left wing with 1.7 seconds on the clock. Kunz was fouled on the inbounds and made both free throws to end the game.

"That's Steve and his team, credit him and Roosevelt. They're a good group of guys," Marciel said of the Rough Riders' comeback.

After winning the 2020 OIA Division II title, the Rough Riders were seeking their first Division I title. They won titles in 2016 and 2010 and a OIA title in 2000.

Kailua won the regular season matchup, 57-38 on Feb. 8.