No. 3 Punahou holds off late charge from University Lab

1 week ago 2

Tanoa Scanlan scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the first half as No. 3 Punahou held on for a 48-43 win over University on Saturday night at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

Punahou evened its mark in ILH play at 1-1 (15-7 overall ) with the win. The gritty Jr. ’Bows rallied from a 15-point deficit to within 40-37 with 6 :08 left, but the Buffanblu clamped down with double-teams on Alika Ahu and found their offensive flow in the final minutes.

“Today’s a step in the right direction. We’ve still got a long way to go, ” Scanlan said. “They cut it to three points, but we told each other to stick with it. We know they can make runs and we’re going to make runs. Stay in the moment and finish out the game.”

University dropped to 1-1 (7-5 overall ) after playing its first game in nearly a month. The Jr. ’Bows beat Mid-Pacific 44-29 on Dec. 9.

Ahu played nearly the entire game and finished with 16 points to lead ULS. The senior also had six rebounds and two assists while giving Scanlan a tough battle on the block after halftime.

“That long break, obviously, didn’t help us, but we did some good things. Defensively, we did a pretty good job, ” ULS coach Ryan Tong said. “Offensively, we had 12 turnovers in the first half. We usually like to be sub-10 for a whole game. I’m proud that they were able to battle. We’re asking Alika to do a lot more this year. He’s going to have to carry more of the load on offense. Defensively, he’s always been stellar.”

Punahou coach Darren Matsuda saw illness and injury impact his roster during a recent trip to The Classic at Damien.

“A win in the ILH is hard. We’ll take it. It wasn’t pretty, ” Matsuda said. “I thought we did a good job overall defensively. Any time you hold a team in the ILH to close to 40 points is good. Offensively, we didn’t get into a flow in the second half.”

The Buffanblu were extremely tough defensively on the perimeter with Dane Keller applying pressure both in halfcourt traps and man-to-man. Eventually, Ahu willed his teammates in a comeback attempt.

“They’re going to be fine, ” Matsuda said. “They have two of the best athletes in the league with Alika and Avari (Zion-Branch ). They’re good defensively. I’ve watched a lot of film of them.”

Punahou rolled to a 29-14 lead in the second quarter and appeared to be on the verge of a runaway. Instead, ULS chipped at the lead, cutting it to 29-18 by halftime.

In the third quarter, the Jr. ’Bows fixed their turnover issue and kept chipping, bringing the lead down to 31-25 after a layup by sophomore center Ethan Kamahele-Tolbert on a pass from Ahu.

Punahou extended its lead to 10 points, but ULS rallied. After Zion-Branch swished an elbow jumper, the visitors were within 40-37 with 6 :08 left.

Nahua Lloyd, who sat a big chunk of the second half with foul trouble, scored on a layup, and after Ethan Chung splashed a 3, Punahou’s lead was 45-37 with 5 :10 remaining.

A steal by Lloyd led to a fast break layup by Koen Makinano, opening the lead to 10 points with 3 :10 remaining. University got no closer than the final margin.

On Tuesday, Punahou will visit Maryknoll, while University travels to ‘Iolani.

Read Entire Article