KEAAU – It was anybody’s ballgame with six minutes left, tied 27-27 in the third quarter between Keaau and Parker, two teams sitting just on the outside of the postseason picture.
The Cougars started to get turnovers, stops, and rebounds, all the necessary little things, to defeat the Bulls 48-39 in a BIIF game on Friday night at their gym.
With the win, Keaau (6-6) is forcing its way into the four-team BIIF playoffs. If Kamehameha (5-6) beats Parker (2-9) on Tuesday, a postseason play-in game will be held Feb. 8 at Koaia gym.
The Bulls are eliminated from the four-team BIIF Division II playoffs and lose their top two senior starters in Conner Brown and Trevor Bastien.
Despite playing on an injured left ankle, Brown scored a game-high 21 points, and Bastien muscled his way for 12 points.
Brandon Pagala scored 11 points, Isaiah Akana added nine points, and Patrick Mears had eight points for the Cougars, who outscored the Bulls 15-6 in the third quarter.
The Bulls, who don’t have a deep bench, looked gassed, and the Cougars started to capitalize. Akana and Mears scored off turnovers before Brown drained a 3-pointer with 21.7 seconds left to cut Keaau’s lead to 33-30.
Then Keaau started to win the battle on the boards.
Rebounds led to extra possessions and another six-point run. Parker trailed 39-30 heading into the final eight minutes.
“It was win or go home,” Keaau coach Jun Pagala said. “It was a good thing for our seniors. You have to give credit to Parker for keep fighting.
“We made keys stops and had good looks and got easy baskets. We’ve got a lot of talented kids, but sometimes the ball doesn’t drop. But we need to keep fighting and keep working. In practice, that’s our focus to keep fighting.”
The game plan against Brown was simple enough. The Cougars played man defense and made sure he took his pull-up jumpers with a hand in his face.
“We wanted to keep him in front of us,” Pagala said. “He can shoot it from anywhere against anybody. But I give props to him. He’s an excellent shooter.”
The Bulls wouldn’t go away quietly in the fourth quarter. Brown sank a jumper from the elbow, then one of two free throws cut the lead to 45-37 with under four minutes.
Brown got a steal and raced down the court for a layup. But his shot was cleanly blocked. No foul was called, and Pagala scored on a three-point play with eight seconds left to close out the scoring.
“We played hard. We’re not deep with our experience,” Parker coach Greg Dunigan said. “They played eight or nine guys. We played five and had a few rebounds lost when we were standing. But I’m proud of our effort.”
Parker 12 12 6 9 — 39
Keaau 10 14 15 9 — 48
Honokaa 52, Hilo 41: Isaac Jardine scored 14 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and the Dragons stormed to a victory on the road
Honokaa (5-6) trailed 30-29 after three quarters before Jardine took over, spurring the Dragons to a 23 points in the final eight minutes.
Kaleb Yamasaki added 11 points and Tyler Fojas had six.
Mason Galima led the Vikings (7-4) with 18 points, but Hilo made only one basket in the fourth quarter.
Ka’u 51, St. Joseph 35: Weston Davis scored 13 points and Izaiah Pilanca-Emmsley added 11 in Pahala as the Trojans tied Pahoa for fourth place in D-II, forcing a play-in game for the final berth in the postseason.
The Daggers (4-8) and Ka’u will play Friday at UHH gym. Pahoa hasn’t played on its campus this season as its gym gets refurbished, but it will host the game since the teams played in Pahala during the regular season, a 55-51 Pahoa win on Dec. 15.
Nathan Faletoi scored nine points for the Cardinals (0-11), who trailed 21-15 at the half, and Dylan Costales added eight.
