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Brandon Ching | ScoringLiveFebruary 10, 2024, 8:00pm
Sat, Feb 10, 2024 @ Maryknoll
MAKIKI—The Crusaders will have an opportunity to defend its state title.
Jordan Nunuha hit a buzzer-beater layup in transition as No. 3 Saint Louis outlasted No. 2 Maryknoll, 36-34, in a decisive ILH Division I single elimination matchup at the Maryknoll Community Center Saturday afternoon.
After dropping the two regular season matchups to the Spartans, the Crusaders (10-3 ILH) broke through to clinch the league's last spot in the HHSAA/Heide & Cook Boys Basketball State Championships starting on Monday, Feb. 19.
"For us it was good, we got a lot of young guys. To finish a team like that, that was something. We just wanted to get there. That was the goal. We can't defend if you're not there, so we wanted to get there. At least we know we're in," Saint Louis coach Dan Hale said.
Saint Louis advances to the ILH final with a seeded berth at stake at Punahou (9-1 ILH) on Monday at 6 p.m. The teams split the regular season series winning at each others' gyms.
"Taking a different route was good for us. No words to explain, we have to take this to Punahou next," Revuelto said.
Maryknoll, who was seeded second in the tournament and hasn't played since beating Saint Louis in the regular season finale on Jan. 25.
The Spartans ended their season with a 7-4 record in the ILH and 21-6 overall and failed to make the state tournament for the first time since 2017.
Pupu Sepulona scored a team-high 12 points with eight rebounds, Caelan Fernando added eight points, and Stone Kanoa had six points off passes from the posts and eight boards in the win.
"If they were doubling Pupu, they had to look up and I was right there for him. I would come through for my boys," Kanoa said.
Maryknoll seniors Hunter Marumoto (17 points) and Zion Milare (15 points) accounted for 32 of the team's 34 points.
From the sideline inbound, Marumoto got the pass, dribbled and pulled up for a jumper that dropped with 6.7 seconds on the clock to tie the game at 34.
Shancin Revuelto pushed the ball up court despite an inadvertent buzzer and rifled a pass to Jordan Nunuha, who slipped behind the defense, and floated up and dropped the shot as the buzzer sounded.
"It's amazing, still shocked in the moment. Crazy how I got it. I heard the buzzer going off too, we played through it," Nunuha said.
"I'm glad we made that play because they would've had all the momentum if it gone into overtime. Shancin's a true point guard, he sees the floor, he saw Jordan cutting to the basket and it's exactly what we wanted him to do. It was a tough angle," Hale said.
"It was all instinct, we do that everyday so it's second nature for us," Revuelto said.
It was a play that Saint Louis runs in practices.
"We run that play everyday. That was our set play. They all thought we were going to get it to Pupu and make him get the last shot, but we run that play everyday so it worked out today. Anyone can finish that shot. Our coaches tell us that five seconds is a lot of time," Revuelto said.
Saint Louis was seeded third in the ILH single elimination tournament and beat Mid-Pacific (2-9 ILH), 67-54, in the opening round on Tuesday and knocked out Kamehameha (3-9 ILH) 56-43 on Thursday.
"Those were no easy games and they were do-or-die games against two really good teams and so we had to put them away. In the end it gave us some confidence in a two point game to come out," Hale said.
"I'm glad we got those games and we wasn't sitting. Reps everyday, it was good for us. We needed these games to get here and I'm glad we took that route. Nothing is going to come easy, nothing is free, you have to take it," Nunuha said.
Keanu Meacham hit a pull up jumper for a 12-6 lead after the first quarter.
Sepulona put Saint Louis ahead by seven, but Marumoto hit two 3s and a reverse to keep Maryknoll within striking distance. He drove it in just under a minute but Fernando hit a jumper as Saint Louis took a 22-18 lead at halftime.
Milare hit the Spartans' only field goal of the quarter near the 6:50 mark in the third and the team was 1 for 9 from the field. Sepulona hit the Crusaders' only field as they shot 1 for 8 from the field.
"We had to lock up and that was a big part of what we were trying to do," Kanoa said.
Fernando was intentionally fouled by Marumoto and he hit the free throws with 12.4 seconds remaining. Saint Louis got the ball back and Meacham converted a 3-point play to put the Crusaders up, 29-20 going into the fourth.
"It was a tough defensive game. They're a really good defensive team. That's what we pride ourselves on. It wasn't surprising it was going back and forth. We kept staying aggressive and we were able to hit free throws. At the end of a game like that, all those things add up. We knew they weren't going to go down lightly," Hale said.
"We had to play some hard defense, that's a great scoring team. We stuck to our game plan and we kept grinding. We stuck to what we usually do and that's defense first, that's how we won," Kanoa said.
Kanoa converted Jordan Posiulai's assist and Sepulona scored in the paint to put the Crusaders up 13, their largest lead of the game.
Milare brought the Spartans back with a pull up jumper then added a 3-pointer at the 5:04 mark. He hit a pair of free throws to get Maryknoll within six, 33-27 with 2:58 to go.
Jiovanni Ramos split a pair of free throws to make it, 34-27 with 43.6 seconds.
Marumoto got to the rim and drew a foul, but could not hit his free throw to trail, 34-29 with 35.6 seconds remaining. He got to the rim again and was fouled and this time he converted the 3-point play to make it, 34-32 with 20.4 seconds.
Revuelto missed both free throw attempts and Maryknoll took a timeout to set up a play where Marumoto tied the game at 34.
Saint Louis shot 16 of 34 (47.1 percent) from the field and was 4 for 7 from the free throw line.
Maryknoll shot 12 of 37 from the field and was 4 for 17 (23.5 percent) from 3. The Spartans converted six of their 11 (54.5 percent) free throw attempts.
The Crusaders won the glass, out rebounding the Spartans 32 to 17.
Maryknoll won the regular season matchups 54-36 on Jan. 13 and 39-37 on Jan. 25.
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