Mid-Pacific's Colin Ramos puts up a jumper against Saint Louis in an ILH Division I contest Saturday night. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Sat, Jan 13, 2018 @ Mid-Pacific

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Saint Louis

61

Mid-Pacific

65

F/OT	1	2	3	4	OT
Saint Louis (0-11, 7-19)	14	6	18	17	6	61
Mid-Pacific (3-8, 9-14)	16	17	11	11	10	65

C. Ramos 30 pts  2 3pm  12/14 FTs

J. Smith 22 pts  12/16 FTs

MANOA — Colin Ramos scored nine of his game-high 30 points in overtime and Mid-Pacific Institute fought off Saint Louis, 65-61, an emotion-packed thriller Saturday night at the Mills Gymnasium.

The Owls (2-3) snapped a three-game losing streak in keeping the Crusders (0-5) winless in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I standings.

Kyle Lagana added 20 points off the bench to help mitigate the Owls' foul trouble in the first half. Jalen Smith led Saint Louis with 22 points, while Trey Taba added 16 off the bench for the Crusaders, who had one player foul out and two ejected for flagrant fouls.

Saint Louis overcame a 33-20 halftime deficit in forcing OT.

"Never easy in the ILH," MPI coach Ryan Hirata said. "Six outstanding teams. Ten-point lead, 20-point lead, never safe. Saint Louis did a great job coming back, very talented team. We were fortunate to make enough shots to win."

Ramos' performance had a lot to do with MPI's fortune.

"I can't say enough about the kid," Hirata said. "From day one when he stepped on this campus as a freshman. Scrawny kid, 5-foot-6, 110 pounds. He's grown into a leader and grown into one of the best point guards in the ILH."

On top of that, starters Hugh Donton and Cameron Hersh incurred early foul trouble, but Lagana filled the void, as far as scoring.

"He's been struggling to start the season, but for some reason he shoots well at Mid-Pac (gym)," Hirata said of Lagana. "You gotta give him a ton of credit because he came in and was one fire. I'm so happy for that kid, all that he's been through."

It was a tough and frustrating loss for the Crusaders, who battled back.

"They're getting better everyday," Crusaders coach Sol Batoon said. "They're resilient and they never give up, so that's a good thing about what we're trying to get done…Now they're playing for each other rather than themselves."

It was MPI's homecoming and the MPI crowd was loud in supporting its team. Emotions ran high. Saint Louis starters Liloa Kapiko and Noa Purcell were ejected. At one juncture, Taba had to be restrained by teammates as he confronted an MPI cheering section, which was warned to settle down by school officials.

"I think the emotion part of the game got us off-track," Batoon said. "We got so intense about it that we start to lose our minds and not focusing on what we're trying to get done."

The smaller Owls were the aggressors against the bigger Crusaders. Saint Louis were beneficiaries of double-bonus situations in both halves.

It was tough," Ramos said. "We had to fight through the physicality (of Saint Louis) and emotions because of our homecoming, but our team pulled through. I want to thank Coach Ryan (Hirata) for believing in us the whole time. Sometimes we have our downs, but he helps us push through."

In four-minute OT, the Owls broke the ice on Ramos' 3-pointer at 2:38. The Owls opened their lead to 62-55 before Taba made all of his free throws after being fouled on a 3-point try to make it 62-58. Ramos made one free throw with 16 seconds left to makie 63-58, but Saint Louis made it a one-possession game on Lachlan Hanneman's 3-pointer with eight seconds left. Ramos was fouled with six seconds and made both free throws for the final outcome.

"It was unbelievable," Ramos said of his 3-pointer in OT. "When I shot it, I already knew it was going in. Once we go the lead all we had to do was take care of the ball and hit our free throws when they fouled us."

Saint Louis clawed from its 13-point halftime deficit by using a 10-0 run to end the third period to pull to within 44-38. But Saint Louis finally tied the game at 46 on Taba's 3-pointer with 3:47 in the fourth period. The Owls increased their lead to 50-46 on a jumper by Hugh Donton and a dribble drive by Ramos. Saint Louis pulled to within one when Smith converted a three-point play with 1:52 left.

Taba then stole a pass at midcourt and drove for a layup to put Saint Louis ahead, 51-50, only to see that lead disappear on Bobby Thompson's 3-pointer. The Crusaders regained the lead at 54-53, on another 3-pointer by Taba, but another dribble drive by Ramos put MPI ahead, 55-54, with 22 seconds left.

Smith tied the game at 55 with nine seconds left after making one of two double-bonus free throws.

With 2.2 seconds left, MPI inbounded ball from its baseline. A pass eventually went to Ramos, who missed a 3-pointer to force OT.

The game started close with MPI taking a16-14 lead after the first period. But turnovers killed the Crusaders in the second period as the Owls pulled away in part to Lagana's 12 points in the quarter, including three of his four 3-pointers.

"It's great to have teammates who can make big plays," Ramos said of Lagana. "Kyle, he did that today. He some big 3s when we didn't have our big men. Once we lost our big men, we had to take care of the physicality of the other team, but we were able to push through."

The Owls visit Iolani on Thursday to start the double round-robin of the regular season. The Owls only other win was against the Raiders, 49-40, on Jan. 4.

Saint Louis will host Kamehameha on Thursday.