Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
University, HBA to play for last D2 state berth


 



One ticket is left.

Two teams remain.

Three meetings in one season.

A state berth into the Snapple Division II Boys Basketball Championships is up for grabs when University Lab takes on Hawaii Baptist Saturday in a 2:00 p.m. contest at Klum Gym.

The two teams came away with semifinal victories in the ILH D2 single-elimination tournament Thursday night at Dan Liu Gymnasium to set up this weekend's final.

The Jr. Bows (13-10 overall, 9-4 ILH D2) and Eagles (15-12, 8-5) split their first two meetings, so University will need to win the rubber match if it hopea to make its first state tournament appearance since winning the ultimate prize in 2016.

"The last two years we played them in the ILH tournament and it was a good game, so we can expect nothing less," said University coach Ryan Tong. "They're a good team, they're disciplined, they're well-coached. We've got our work cut out for us."

It will be a battle between two strengths on Saturday afternoon. HBA likes to push the pace and swing the ball around for open shots from the perimeter while University would rather work methodically and pound it inside with 6-foot-3 center Leif "LJ" Fautanu (19.5 points per game).

Tong knows it will be a tall task against the Eagles, who forced 22 turnovers in their 42-34 semifinal win over Hanalani.

"We gotta be patient on offense. I think a few times we rushed and we turned the ball over, so I told the boys it's important for us. We've been preaching value each possession, every single time down we want to score, so if we take care of the ball we've got to be disciplined, play good defense because they're going to put a lot of pressure on us, so we gotta handle the pressure. Hopefully everything will work out for us."

Protecting the paint will be critical for HBA, who gave up a lot of second chance points to the Royals on putbacks.

"Definitely, but that's always a focus for us — or should I say, an area of concern," said HBA coach George Week, whose team last reached the state tournament in 2015. "We're just not as big as the other teams in the state so we have to do things a little bit differently than other teams, but that is a glaring issue that we always have."

The two earlier season meetings between the two teams were night and day. In a Dec. 18 contest, Fautanu scored 25 points and Colby Chun added 15 to power the Jr. Bows to a 72-53 win on the Eagles' home floor.

The rematch on Jan. 19 was much different.

With Fautanu playing in the Polynesian Bowl, HBA jumped out to a 27-13 halftime lead in the Jr. Bows' homecoming game. However, University rallied to force overtime before the Eagles won, 52-48.

"They played us tough," said Tong. "I was proud of our guys that without our best player, we hung in there."

Tong added that the X-factor on Saturday will be HBA senior Max Wiemken (20.4 PPG).

"He's on a different level and he's gonna get his, but we can just hope to kind of contain him and then close out on the shooters…again we gotta do a good job on the boards. If we do that, we'll be alright."

University's Leif Fautanu waits for a rebound against Le Jardin.

UNIVERSITY 54, LE JARDIN 33

Fautanu notched a double-double of 21 points and 14 boards and Ryder Rebibis added 11 points to power the Jr. Bows over the Bulldogs (3-20, 1-13).

Le Jardin hung tough during the first half, but University eventually established its will to pull away.

Riley Brunel had 10 points to lead the Bulldogs in the loss.



Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].




Show your support

Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ScoringLive continue its mission to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state of Hawaii and beyond.

Please consider making a contribution today.

ADVERTISEMENT


IMAGE GALLERY



MORE STORIES

Radford wins on walk-off wild pitch to turn back Kalaheo

Mataio Tauanuu batted 4-for-4 and scored the game-winning run in back-and-forth game for the Rams.

Punahou continues unbeaten streak, hands Kamehameha second straight loss

Third-ranked Warriors suffered consecutive losses in the regular season for the first time since 2017.

No. 4 Iolani rallies to hand No. 1 Kamehameha first ILH loss

Ethan Akagi and CJ Taira scored the winning runs for the Raiders off a wild pitch to hand the top-ranked...

Punahou pulls away from PAC-5 to notch first ILH win

The Buffanblu ended a five-game skid and broke into the win column to keep the Wolfpack winless in the...

Kalani's Nishigaya headlines All-OIA East selections

Forward/midfielder Kaiulani Nishigaya helped lift Falcons to first-ever league title; Kaiser's Noelani...

Trojans' Fuamatu-Maafala leads All-OIA West picks

Mililani's Iai Fuamatu-Maafala named Player of the Year; Campbell's James Curran named coach of the year.