The Leilehua Mules have played strong basketball of late, but came out flat against the top-ranked ‘Iolani Raiders this afternoon.
IOL leads 41-26 with 5:13 left in the third quarter. The lead was 31-16 in the second quarter before Nicholas Duran got hot for Leilehua. The Mules got within a single-digit margin, but their zone defense hasn’t been able to stop IOL center Hugh Hogland (6-8 junior). Nick Kennedy is showing nice versatility, too, hitting a corner 3 to help IOL stretch the lead back up to 15 points.
Leilehua C Koa Kauhi is having some trouble stopping Hogland. That’s interesting to me because Kauhi has been terrific defensively. He gave Saint Louis C Tristan Nichols a major challenge two nights ago in this tourney.
The Raiders have continued to press fullcourt. Their version of a 2-2-1 press is a bit different from Punahou’s. That’s going to be quite a matchup when the ILH regular season arrives in January.
IOL bench playing strong again. They’ve extended the lead to 20, 53-33, against a team that defeated Saint Louis (without Isaac Slade-Matautia) decisively two days ago. Third quarter ends 53-33.
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