HONOLULU — Saint Louis and Punahou were at the best of their respective games — one bruising, one exhilarating — to oust the best of the OIA in the Heide & Cook/HHSAA Division I boys basketball semifinals on Friday.
Now the Crusaders and Buffanblu will see which style prevails when the stakes are highest. The familiar ILH foes meet at the Blaisdell Arena at 7 Saturday night.
Two-time defending state champ Saint Louis got 25 points and 11 rebounds from forward Pupu Sepulona to overpower Kalaheo, 58-40, while Punahou proved the better of Leilehua at a mutual run-and-gun pace, 67-49, in the semifinals at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.
The Crusaders (13-3) beat the Buffanblu (12-2) in two of three meetings this year, including for the ILH tournament championship.
Saint Louis can become the first team to win three in a row since Iolani’s record run of five straight from 2002 to 2006. The Crusaders have eight titles, including a three-peat from 1966 to 1968.
“Going for a three-peat is going to be tough,” Sepulona said after shooting 9-for-17 on a combination of post-ups, putbacks and jumpers. “We gotta be more hungry to win that state and win that koa.”
Coach Dan Hale is under no illusions that past success guarantees the same Saturday.
“This will be the toughest one, in my book,” Hale said. “Last year we kind of caught people by surprise. The year before we had that super team with Aiva (Arquette) and them. This year people know us and know what to do, and we’re going to have to be able to answer that. We’ll see. I’m just glad the guys have a chance to defend it.”
Punahou is in pursuit of its first title since 2018, and 12th overall. It has won two (2012, 2018) under coach Darren Matsuda.
“They’re playing at a really high level right now, especially defensively,” Matsuda said of the Saints. “We gotta play smart, gotta play patient, and gotta push our pace a little bit. They’re a very disciplined team. They’re two-time state champions, so it’s going to be a challenge for us. But if we can play the way we can play, we have a good chance.”
Both teams showed why they were so effective throughout their seasons.
In the first semifinal, the Crusaders crushed the Mustangs on the glass, 36-15, and nearly doubled them up in points in the paint, 40-22. When it wasn’t Sepulona doing damage, it was Stone Kanoa, Jordan Posiulai and Shancin Revuelto.
Hale marveled at Sepulona, who broke onto the scene as a sophomore in his team’s run to the title last season.
“He’s done a great job of really kind of taking that next step and being much more of a complete player,” Hale said. “He scored tonight but he also was facilitating, also helping break the press. I mean, the rebounding from him has been tremendous too. When he’s doing that, he’s maximizing what his skill set is. It’s just been a wonderful journey to watch him have that growth and take the next step.”
Sepulona and Kanoa had eight of their team’s 14 offensive rebounds and Saint Louis shot 53.5% from the floor with a number of point-blank looks.
“They have great size and strength and we just didn’t execute our game plan, defensively,” Kalaheo coach Rob Pardini said. “We wanted to play some zone and mix it up, and obviously get up and play man when we needed to. But trying to front and deny the post was a big deal, and obviously we didn’t do a good job enough.”
Guard CJ Bostic led the Mustangs with 12 points on 5-for-16 shooting. His running mate, Jaron Gilmore, had 23 points in Kalaheo’s quarterfinal win over Baldwin, but was stifled to the tune of four points on 1-for-6 shooting Friday. Saint Louis made it a point to deny Kalaheo’s cadre of talented shooters.
In the nightcap, Punahou was at ease on its home floor as it and Leilehua played at a breakneck pace throughout the first half.
Leilehua coach Chad Townsend was concerned about the transition defense for his OIA champs after its one-point quarterfinal win over Kahuku on Thursday.
Friday’s first half was too much of a good thing for the Mules, who were pumped up to knock off Punahou in its own building. The Mules scored in thrilling fashion behind guard Twain Wilson but gave up the same at the other end, and then some.
“We loved it. We expected that with Punahou,” Townsend said. “We wanted to keep the track meet going, run up and down, play some defense, but we needed to get stops.”
Punahou forward Ayndra Uperesa-Thomas was an all-around force with 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.
“We knew Leilehua, coming into the game, we’re like a carbon copy of each other almost, we play similar styles of basketball,” Uperesa-Thomas said. “It was like coming in and playing ourselves, and we were prepared for that.”
James Taras scored 15, Dillon Kellner had three 3-point hits among his 13 points and Evan Porter supplied 11. Point guard Noah Macapulay was scoreless but dealt five assists and had three steals in leading his team’s fast break.
Punahou shot 51.3%.
Wilson scored 17 points on 7-for-15 shooting in the loss, including his team’s only two 3-pointers. His younger brother Tyree added 12 points.
It is the first all-ILH final since 2020, when Maryknoll topped Kamehameha.
In the 5 p.m. Division II final, BIIF champ Kohala faces MIL champ Seabury Hall. The Cowboys seek a repeat title and third overall, while the Spartans seek their first after six previous appearances among the D-II final four.
Kohala beat OIA champ Kaimuki 50-40 and Seabury edged University Lab 53-52.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.