Wes Nakama
December 20, 2011, 7:31pm
Lincoln (San Diego) pulls away from 'Iolani, 58-43
Lincoln's Tyree Robinson soars to the basket against 'Iolani. Eugene Tanner | SLThe Hornets will face De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) at 5 p.m. today for fifth place. 'Iolani will play Fairfax (Los Angeles) for seventh place at 3:30 p.m.
The Raiders played the first three periods yesterday without 6-foot-7 senior center Gabriel Vega, who was benched for team reasons. Yet they started strong, using a 10-0 run to lead 10-4 after Duke Pauli's putback with 1:33 remaining in the first period.
Lincoln responded with an 11-1 run spanning into the second quarter to take the lead back at 15-11 on a turnaround jumper by Jeremiah Turner with 4:43 left in the half. 'Iolani later tied it at 18-18 after Zach Buscher's two free throws.
The Hornets then went on a 9-2 run capped by Robinson's jumper with four seconds remaining, but Buscher was fouled on a halfcourt attempt at the buzzer and sank all three free throws to cut it to 27-23 at intermission.
"We challenged our guys today to come out with intensity," Raiders coach Dean Shimamoto said. "We wanted them to be more aggressive, to attack and hopefully catch (Lincoln) off guard."
The Hornets defense clamped up in the third period, however, as 'Iolani managed only one basket in the first seven minutes while Lincoln extended the lead to 38-27.
The Raiders closed it to 38-30 on Austin O'Leary's jumper to open the fourth quarter, but the Hornets answered with an 8-2 run to go up, 46-32, on Tyrell Robinson's two free throws with 4:48 left.
Turner added 14 points and Steve Martin contributed 10 points.
Pauli led 'Iolani with 12 points and O'Leary added 11 points.