Kalaheo's Kalei Zuttermeister attempts to drive past the defense of Moanalua's Justin Hudcovic. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Moanalua's Eliet Donley takes the ball hard to the basket against Kalaheo. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Kalaheo's Kupa'a Harrison drilled this three-pointer late against Moanalua to help seal the win. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Sat, Jan 5, 2013 @ Kalaheo

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Moanalua

40

Kalaheo

41

Final	1	2	3	4
Moanalua (12-2, 20-10)	5	11	16	8	40
Kalaheo (14-0, 28-4)	10	12	14	5	41

D. Morgan 11 pts  5/7 FTs

E. Donley 11 pts  7/9 FTs

KAILUA-Kahanu Pu'ulei-Auld's off-balanced desperation shot rolled off the rim as time ran out and Kalaheo survived the late scare in a thrilling 41-40 win against Moanalua Saturday night at the Pete Smith Court at Kalaheo High's gym.

If anything, the battle of O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red East contenders gave the Mustangs (2-0) a tie-break advantage for playoff seeding purposes should the two wind up even after the regular season. Na Menehune (1-1) are expected to keep pace with the Mustangs when the regular season ends. But it also is somewhat of a confidence-builder for the Mustangs, who lost to defending state champion Punahou and nationally ranked Yates (Texas) by two and three points, respectively, in preseason.

"It's really good," Kalaheo's Kupaa Harrison said. "So far in the really big games this year, we kind of fell short. We came out to play hard tonight. This is our first real marquee win against a good Hawaii team."

Derick Morgan led the Mustangs with 11 points. Eliet Donley also had 11 points to lead Moanalua.

Kalaheo was held to five points in the fourth quarter. It did not score until six minutes, 33 sends into the quarter on Harrison's 3-pointer that came after Moanalua just took the lead, 37-36, on Pu'ulei-Auld's 3-pointer with 1:58 left.

"Kupaa's shot was huge," Moanalua coach Greg Tacon said. "We go up by one, they go up by two and now we're chasing. Our whole mode is different when he makes that 3."

Kalaheo coach Alika Smith said Harrison's 3-pointer worked because his team players finally played as a team in that moment.

"We got selfish," Smith said. "Guys wanted to do their own thing. I call one thing in the huddle, someone else does another. It's to the point where I don't know whether they're panicking or what. But best times when we've played is when we shared the ball. When we share the ball, we get wide-open shots. Kupaa had a wide-open shot. Why? Because we share the ball. We gave it to the guy who was wide open. We got away from that a lot tonight. When you go one-one-one against a good team that plays good defense, you're not going to go very far."

But Smith was pleased with the defensive play.

"When we asked our kids to dig down deep and grind it out in the end and play defense, they did," Smith said.

"Both teams were really expending a lot of energy on the defensive side, so scoring is really tough," Tacon said. "We got opportunities at the end, so I'm happy with that. But we have to make plays at the end. When you have the opportunity, if you can grab it, you have to grab it."

With a chance to cushion its 41-40 lead with 30 seconds left in the game, Kalaheo's Josh Ko missed the front end of a one-and-one that was rebounded by Moanalua's Donley. Moanalua brought the ball down to the front court and called time with 25 seconds left. It called time again with 16 seconds left. Ola Brown inbounded to Pu'ulei-Auld, who worked his way to the left wing, but missed his shot. Morgan got the rebound and was fouled, sending him to the free throw line for a one-and-one with seven seconds left.

Morgan missed the free throw and Donley got the rebound and quickly passed it off to Pu'ulei-Auld, Moanalua's hottest shooter in the second half with nine points. Trying to find an open shot, Pu'ulei-Auld began losing his footing and put up his desperation shot that missed.

Kalaheo led most of the game and took a 22-16 lead into the half. But Na Menehune chipped away and went ahead for the first time since an early 3-2 lead with 1:58 left in the game on Pu'ulei-Auld's 3-pointer to put Moanalua up, 37-36.

But Harrison responded with his team's fourth 3-pointer of the game with 1:27 left to give the Mustangs a 39-37 lead.

"The last few weeks, coach has been telling me to shoot a little more instead of just looking to pass," Harrison said. "It feel real good."

On Moanalua's ensuing possession, Donley tried to drive through the middle of the key, but was fouled in the act of shooting by Kalei Zuttermeister, who fouled out. Donley, the team's most reliable free-throw shooter, missed his first shot, but made hit second to pull Moanalua to within one.

On Kalaheo's possession, Morgan was fouled and cushioned  his team's lead to 41-38 by making both ends on a one-and-one with 44 seconds left.

Moanalua pulled to within 41-40 when Brown converted both one-and-one free throws with 33 seconds left.

Note: The OIA tournament has reverted back to the single-elimination format. That means once a team loses, it has no chance to advancing to the title game. The OIA used a double-elimination format the past four seasons.