Cards conquer Kane, Lono

Cardinals rally to win stunner
by Bill O'Rear
Tribune-Herald Sports Editor

Published: Friday, January 21, 2011 10:11 AM HST
Kaui hits layup at buzzer to down Kam
"Shock City."

That's the best way to describe St. Joseph's incredible come-from-behind 35-34 win over Division I Kamehameha on Thursday night.

The Big Island Interscholastic Federation boys basketball game was played at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium and left fans from both teams standing, cheering and then in shock after a wild final 10 seconds when the shorthanded Cardinals snatched victory from the jaws of the heavily favored Warriors.

Kamehameha led most of the evening before Christian Kaui, a 6-foot-1 junior forward, hit two free throws with 1:38 remaining to give D-II St. Joseph (5-2) a 32-31 advantage. The hosts then grabbed a two-point lead on Dalton Kaitoku-Lucas' free throw at :27.

But the talented Warriors (5-2) spread the floor and sophomore Shaun Kagawa drilled a clutch 3-pointer at the :10 mark to lift the visitors on top 34-33.

The Cardinals didn't have a time out left and they pushed the ball down court, with the quick Kaui catching a pass on the run and driving for the winning layup just before the final buzzer sounded. The Cards then broke into a huge celebration in front of their bench as the last second ticked off the clock, realizing that they had won a game that few people outside their locker room thought was possible on Thursday evening.

The big victory came without senior point guard Will Scanlan-Leite, who missed the hard-fought contest with the flu. However, without their star guard handling the ball against Kamehameha's full-court press, St. Joseph got strong performances from Kaui, a Kamehameha transfer, and juniors Sebi Ohara-Saft and Thomas Fairman plus inspired contributions from the rest of the reinforcements who played.

"It was a total team effort," said an almost voiceless Scott Saft, the Cardinals' co-coach this season along with Harry Scanlan-Leite.

"All of our guys did what they could do and not what they couldn't do to help us tonight -- and our defense was just tremendous."

The Warriors, under coach Dominic Pacheco, jumped to a 15-4 lead by the end of the first quarter and led 29-17 at the intermission. But from there, the visitors couldn't buy a basket. They were shutout in the third period and only scored five points over the final eight minutes -- with Kagawa's 3-pointer at :10 their biggest scoring play in a cold-shooting half.

"We shot 22 percent for the game," Kamehameha coach Dominic Pacheco said. "But like I told the kids after the game, 'it's over.' The most important thing for us now is to get ready for the playoffs. The team that gets hot in the playoffs is the one that's going to make the most noise."

Kaui led St. Joseph with a game-high 12 points -- with none more important than his two free throws at 1:38 to give the Cardinals their first lead and then his game-winning basket that left him with tears of joy in his eyes after the emotional win.

Ohara-Saft and Fairman each added six points, but both did much more to help pull off the stunner. Ohara-Saft had seven rebounds and two steals and teamed with senior guard Aldyn Dalere to effectively bring the ball up against Kamehameha's pressure defense. The 6-5 Fairman had nine rebounds and five blocked shots plus teamed with 6-4 junior Cody Andrade (8 rebounds, 2 blocks) to contain the Warrior big men inside and anchor St. Joseph's difficult-to-attack zone defense.

"Cody and Al played great defense," Saft said. "They gave us a big lift and Christian played his best game of the season. Dalton also came in and hit a big three and a free throw. It was just a huge team effort for us and something that will give our guys more self-confidence as the season moves ahead."

Senior forward Jayce Carvalho led the Warriors with eight points and seven rebounds. But the visitors' dangerous backcourt of Kawaga and junior Lanaki Apele struggled all evening. Apele finished with five points, all in the first half, and Kagawa had just three, on his clutch trey in the final seconds.