KEAAU — Patrick Mears is a clutch free throw shooter, and his late foul shooting rescued Keaau for a much-needed win against Kamehameha.
Mears made two late free throws to lift the Cougars over Kamehameha 60-59 in a BIIF Division I game on Wednesday night at their gym.
In a possible fight for the No. 4 seed in the four-team BIIF playoffs, it went down to the finish line with a furious final 22 seconds, after Mears made a layup to tie it.
Austin Kaleo was fouled and had a chance to put Kamehameha ahead. But he missed both free throws. Izayah Chartrand-Penera grabbed the rebound and was fouled, giving the Warriors another chance to break the tie.
Chartrand-Penera made the back end of two free throws for a 59-58 lead with 11.9 seconds remaining. Keaau called timeout with 8.5 seconds to go to set up a play.
Mears got the ball from the inbound, raced to the basket and split a pair of defenders to draw the foul with 2.5 seconds left. Mears calmly sank both free throws for a 60-59 lead with 2.5 on the clock.
The Warriors got a turnover when they threw the ball out of bounds. Keaau inbounded under its basket and the clock ran out.
Mears scored 23 points, going 4 of 4 from the line, Ricardo Blas added 12 points, and Ace Bermal had 10 points for the Cougars (4-3), who made 7 of 11 free throws.
Chartrand-Penera scored 14 points, Randon Arima had 10 points, and Kaupena Yasso added nine points for the Warriors (2-4), who sank just 12 of 21 free throws.
The Warriors established good position in the post and fed Austin Kaleo, who scored eight points to stake the visitors to a 31-22 halftime lead.
Kamehameha built shots off that and went on a 12-0 run, helped by two baskets by Kaleo, in the first quarter.
Mears got warmed up in the second quarter and scored a pair of three-point plays off give-and-go attacks to the rim. His second basket cut the lead to 24-14. Mears later scored on a putback to get Keaau within 26-17 with under four minutes.
The trio of Mears, Blas, and Akana carried the Cougars in the first half. Mears had 10 points, Blas scored six, and Akana had five points, including a 3-pointer.
The Warriors carried a 45-39 lead into the fourth quarter. But the Cougars hit clutch shots down the stretch and got defensive stops.
Bermal sank two free throws to get Keaau within 55-54 with 1:59 left. The Warriors then ran into a dry spell, and Mears later dropped in a layup to tie it 58-58 with 22 seconds remaining.
Kamehameha 16 15 14 14 — 59
Keaau 6 16 17 21 — 60
