Saint Louis' Jimmy Nunuha III puts up a shot against Maryknoll. Evan Asato | SL

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Wed, Jan 7, 2015 @ Maryknoll

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Saint Louis

44

Maryknoll

42

Final	1	2	3	4
Saint Louis (5-6, 15-9)	10	17	6	11	44
Maryknoll (6-6, 12-10)	6	8	7	21	42

J. Sueing 17 pts  1 3pm

J. Nunuha III 13 pts

MAKIKI— It wasn't a pretty win, but Keith Spencer will take it.

No. 7 Saint Louis (1-0) overcame a late Maryknoll (0-1) rally to win, 44-42 in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu opener for both teams at Clarence T. C. Ching Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

"It gives us huge confidence, even though it's our first game, we knew it was going to be tough and we didn't beat Maryknoll before, and beating them is a good start," said Jimmy Nunuha III.

The Crusaders led by 13 points going into the fourth quarter before the Spartans stormed back to almost pull out the victory. The Spartans had a chance to take the lead with 12.5 seconds remaining off of two missed Saint Louis free throws and Jordyn Perez had a shot attempt before the buzzer to potentially tie the game. 

"This game should have never been that close, we had opportunities but we let it down. I'll take an ugly loss right now and we'll learn from it and move on," said coach Spencer.

Maryknoll rallied in the fourth quarter and outscored the Crusaders, 21 to 11. The Spartans went on a 10-2 run and eventually cut the deficit to 1, 35-34 after Justice Sueing, Jr. hit a baseline jumper. The Crusaders held a 4-point lead before Sueing, Jr.'s 3-pointer made it 43-42. Kevin Marks went 0 for 2 from the line, but redeemed himself with a key steal as he passed it to Ihaka Johnson, who was fouled immediately with 1.7 seconds remaining.

"This week we were working on defense and helping and recover. We played smart we made good decisions, but at the end, we started to getting mixed up and confused, but we held them off," said Nunuha III.

Johnson missed the first free throw, but sank the second to make it 44-42. Off the inbounds, Maryknoll's Brian Johnson raced down court, but Perez's shot bounced off the rim as time expired.

"The kids are disappointed and the coaching staff is disappointed. I knew every game is going to be tough, this is our fourth or fifth 2 or 3-point loss, so these kids need to learn how to win games. We're talented, but we need to learn how to work together and play together," said Grant.

Jimmy Nunuha III led Saint Louis with 13 points, four steals and went 7 for 10 from the free throw line. He was also assigned to guard Sueing, Jr. for most of the game. Sueing, Jr. was held to 6 points in the first half, but scored 9 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth.

"He's a good player and he's only a sophomore and he's going to be good in the future. Coming into this game, it was going to be a big game for me and him so coach trusted me and made the decision to put me on Justice and it turned out to be a good game between me and him," said Nunuha III.

"Jimmy is our best defender and Sueing is a really good offensive player, but our concept is team defense— on-ball pressure and help side," said Spencer.

The Crusaders had an opportunity to put the game out of reach, but had trouble connecting on their free throws. They shot 7 for 16 (43.8 percent) from the line in the fourth quarter and shot 16 for 28 (57 percent) for the game.

"That's one thing we need to work on," said Nunuha III. "Last year we had trouble shooting free throws."

"Down the stretch, we had guys who have been on the team for four years and missing free throws, that's unacceptable. They know tomorrow, we're going to be shooting free throws in practice," said Spencer.

The Crusaders didn't get their first field goal of the quarter until about the 3 minute mark. They closed out the quarter and took a 33-21 lead going into the fourth.

"We came out flat," said Spencer. "We talked about it in the locker room, the first 3 minutes of the third quarter is going to be key, how we come back and we came out flat and that's how we let them right back.

"We ran a zone press and ran a man press at the end," said Grant, on defensive adjustments.

The Crusaders started the second quarter on a 6-2 run after Drew Kobayashi's steal and layup and Maryknoll called a timeout. Saint Louis was able to push the lead to double digits and went 9 for 12 from the free throw line in the quarter. Brian Washington and Sueing, Jr. combined for all of Maryknoll's 8 quarter points. 

"We told the kids you have to play fast and it took a whole first half to for them to realize how fast you're supposed to play. You have preseason games but when you jump into the ILH or any league, the intensity kicks up," said Grant.

Saint Louis took a 27-14 lead at halftime and led by as much as 15.

"We played hell of a defense in the first half. In the locker room we talked about being complacent, we talked about we still need to attack and play defense. In the second half we got tentative and complacent and we didn't want to attack the basket. In huddles, I told them they have to be aggressors, because that's what got us there in the first half."

"We had a good effort, but we had 35 turnovers, I think that's the most turnovers I've ever had on any of my teams. I think a lot of it, our guys don't know what they're supposed to be doing, if they take away something, the kids had difficulties making some adjustments," said Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant.

Saint Louis will play at top-ranked Iolani (1-0) on Saturday night at 6 p.m. Maryknoll hosts No. 3 Punahou (1-0) on the same night at 7 p.m.

"We have to improve tremendously to be ready for those guys," said Grant, on preparing for Punahou.