HONOLULU — Kailua staged improbable rallies to extend Monday’s Oahu Interscholastic Association boys basketball semifinal on two occasions.
Leilehua made sure there would not be a third.
The Mules got 31 points from guard Twain Wilson and held the Surfriders without a field goal in double overtime as Leilehua prevailed, 73-67, at McKinley and advanced to its first OIA final in two decades. It will face Mililani at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the same site in an attempt at its first league title since winning its only one to date in 1988.
“It’d mean everything, for the community, for the kids,” coach Chad Townsend said.
Leilehua (11-1) lost only to Mililani (12-0) in the OIA West regular season, 52-50 on Jan. 26.
Mililani defeated Nanakuli 60-42 to reach its third straight OIA final under coach Garrett Gabriel. The Trojans seek their second title in three years.
While the Trojans scored the first 11 points of their game and cruised down the stretch, the preceding contest was anything but comfortable for the Mules.
Kailua (10-2), the top seed out of the OIA East, refused to be put down behind a 29-point outing from guard Maddox Pung, who pulled up for a long 3-pointer at the end of the first overtime to send it to a second.
“I mean, I was nervous the whole time,” said Wilson, who shot 10-for-19 from the field and 10-for-12 at the free-throw line. “Pung, he hit crazy shots, but I’m glad we were able to rebound it and close out on shooters, and that let us win the game.”
The Surfriders had to stage twin fourth-quarter rallies — the first after they fell behind by seven and went up by one on a three-point play by Pung with 4:55 left. The second came after Wilson countered with some layups for a six-point Mules lead.
Kailua, trailing by two, had to take fouls in the final seconds of regulation, and had three fouls to give. But on the third, forward Noa Donnelly stepped into the lane of the inbounds pass and broke downcourt. He found Dylan Kunz under the basket for the tying shot with 15 seconds left.
Kailua jumped ahead by four in the first overtime with back-to-back buckets by Donnelly, but Wilson came back with a triple and a jumper.
Townsend was proud of his group for its mental fortitude after Kailua would not go away.
“Easy with this group of kids, man,” Townsend said. “One thing about these guys, real resilient group of kids, so they really showed it tonight because we made a lot of mistakes towards the end and we still pulled it out. I’m proud of these guys.”
Mules forward Trystin Stevens (16 points) came up huge with the first scores of the final OT with a layup, steal and a layup for a four-point lead.
Donnelly posted 16 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots in the loss, while Kunz scored 12.
Kailua took a 16-8 lead, but started freelancing outside of its offense, allowing several Leilehua transition buckets, including a Wilson breakaway dunk.
In the end, Surfriders coach Wally Marciel thought his team settled too much with his team in the bonus. Kailua will play in the third-pace game against Nanakuli on Wednesday, then prepare for the state tournament, which begins Monday.
“They attacked the bucket. We relied on shooting 3s at the end. We should’ve attacked the bucket a little bit more with five fouls up there,” Marciel said. “But we hit some big shots too, to even get where we were. You can’t take that away from the kids. Leilehua played a great game. Twain is a good player. He hit some big shots.”
Mililani was led by forward LeCedric Brown with 16 points and six rebounds in the win over Nanakuli.
Aiea faces Kaimuki for the Division II title at 5:30 p.m. Na Alii won its only titles in 2007 and 2008 while the Bulldogs won their fourth OIA title in 2022, in D-II.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.