Punahou rallies past Saint Louis, 43-40, to win state title

Using a different, last-minute defensive strategy, Punahou rallied from an eight-point third-period deficit Friday night to overtake Saint Louis and stun the Crusaders, 43-40, for its first HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championship since 2018.

A vocal and spirited crowd of 2,272 in SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center watched junior guard Dane Kellner score a game-high 13 points and sophomore forward Zion White add nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds as the Buff ‘n Blue finished their season at 28-8. Caelan Fernando scored 11 points to lead the Crusaders, who fell to 32-2 and saw their three-year run as state champs end in frustration.

“Saint Louis, man, hat’s off to them,” Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said. “To win three (state titles) in a row at any level is unbelievable. They are great champions, and we were very fortunate to win this one.”

It came in surprising fashion, as the Buff ‘n Blue unveiled an unexpected 2-3 zone that seemed to discomfort the Crusaders and helped Punahou flip a 26-18 deficit into a 38-30 lead over the next 10 minutes of game time overlapping the third and fourth periods.

Pupu Sepulona’s free throw then sparked a 9-1 run capped by Shancin Revuelto’s layup that tied it at 39-39 with 1:12 remaining, but White quickly answered with a contested jumper in the paint 14 seconds later to put the Buff ‘n Blue back in front for good at 41-39. Sepulona made the second of two free throws to close it to 41-40 with 11.8 ticks on the clock, and Houston Hosoda was fouled after catching the ensuing inbounds pass with 0:07.9 showing.

As he did the night before in a 49-46 victory over University, Hosoda swished both attempts to make it 43-40.

Revuelto then advanced the ball to the left wing, but his deep 3-point attempt was long and glanced off the backboard as time expired.

“We were up by three, so in the timeout before we were saying the main thing is, don’t foul,” said Kellner, who added five rebounds, two assists and two steals. “We didn’t want to give them three free throws. If they get inside the 3-point line, just let him go, anything else just part-contest, and that’s what we do well.”

Saint Louis, which defeated Punahou, 48-39, for last year’s title, started well Friday night as well. The Crusaders jumped out to leads of 11-4 after one period, 17-8 midway through the second and then 21-11 after Jordan Nunuha’s mid-range jumper with 2:28 remaining in the half.

Saint Louis led 22-16 at the break and extended it to 26-18 after Keanu Meacham’s scooping fast break layup with 6:09 left in the third period.

But that’s when Matsuda turned to a plan offered up by assistant Steve Hathaway, a former longtime head coach at Roosevelt.

“We made some adjustments at halftime, our staff did a really good job of getting together, trying to figure stuff out,” Matsuda said. “Steve said, ‘Let’s go zone,’ and I said, ‘OK, we haven’t done zone all year, but let’s do it.’ We actually practiced it, just in case we got into this situation for this game. And it worked.”

Tate Takamiya’s free throw and Kellner’s 3-pointer from the right corner drew the Buff ‘n Blue to 26-22, followed by White’s jumper to make it 26-24. Ethan Chung then drained a deep 3 from the left wing to cap a 9-0 run which gave Punahou its first lead at 27-26. Then after Jordan Nunuha’s layup put the Crusaders ahead one last time at 28-27 with 2:02 remaining, Watanabe responded with a layup to ignite an 11-2 run capped by Kellner’s cut to the basket and layup which made it 38-30 midway through the fourth period.

Saint Louis coach Dan Hale said the 2-3 zone was effective in part because of the Crusaders’ injury situation — starting forward Stone Kanoa was limited to five minutes with his left arm heavily wrapped, and starting point guard Revuelto’s right hand was in a protective brace.

“It kind of exposed us a little bit,” Hale said. “I had to pull Stone out, because he only had one arm, and Shancin’s hand was pretty banged up. But there is no excuse. It (the zone) was a good move, and it slowed down Pupu, he was going (before that).”

Saint Louis shot just 35.7 percent (15 of 42) from the field, including only two 3-pointers in 13 attempts (15.4 percent). The Crusaders also were just 8 of 17 (47.1 percent) from the free throw line.

“There was that, but they (the Buff ‘n Blue) hit some shots, and in the end they got their rhythm,” Hale said. “We fought, we battled back … but in the end, it just wasn’t enough.”

Perhaps the biggest shot was White’s mid-range jumper to give Punahou the 41-39 lead with 58 seconds remaining, after Saint Louis’ 9-1 run to tie it.

“I think it was very important to answer back and keep our same energy,” White said.

The Buff ‘n Blue were able to keep up their same energy the past three weeks, even after leading scorer Tanoa Scanlan was lost for the season due to a broken finger.

Punahou won six of seven games with Scanlan out, with the only loss coming to Saint Louis in the ILH championship game, which White also missed due to illness.

“The first night when we saw Tanoa was going to be out (for the season), it was pretty devastating,” Matsuda said. “But we had a meeting with the seniors the next day, and we said we’re not going to give up, we’re going to keep fighting.

“So we put our grind together, and just started working. We changed a lot of what we do — we had to move the ball better, we had to defend a lot better than we were before … It was a team effort, you can’t make up 18 points with just one player.

“And Tanoa was still a huge part of it, too. His IQ is unbelievable, and he was telling players what to do, and how to do it. So he was a very big part of this, even though he couldn’t be on the court.”