Boys basketball

Two-time reigning ILH champion Maryknoll, the No. 1-ranked team in the state in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10, is the top overall seed in the Snapple/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships beginning on Monday. The Spartans (13-1) won both the ILH regular season and postseason tournament and have advanced to the state tournament in consecutive years for just the second time since they made it five in a row from 1984-88. OIA champion Moanalua is seeded second after making the semifinals […]

Trailing by as many as 14 in the second half against perennial powerhouse ‘Iolani in Division I boys basketball, the St. Francis Saints were a shot or two away from making the state tournament. St. Francis cut the deficit to two in the final four minutes and had three shots to either tie or take the lead. Then they had four different 3-point looks on the same offensive possession to cut the lead to one in the final minute. None […]

The peak is much closer tonight for the Farrington Governors. A 56-43 win over Kaiser on Wednesday night makes Farrington an OIA champion for the first time since 2015, when the Govs won the Division I title. They were designated D-II this season, but that didn’t stop them from beating four Top 10 teams during the regular season. Farrington (15-9) saw their seven-game win streak to start the year end at Kaiser on Jan. 23. The Cougars’ sophomore sensations, Kenji […]

The Maryknoll players were all in super-high spirits soon after their ILH championship-clinching 55-42 home victory over Punahou on Monday night. Intense coach Kelly Grant was seen relaxing — imagine that? — in a chair while the Spartans used a ladder to do the net-cutting. Two titles in a row. That doesn’t happen very often at the private Catholic school. Actually, it hasn’t been done since coach Tony Sellitto did the trick in the early 1980s. Sellitto, fittingly, was in […]

They work on it every day. Everett Torres-Kahapea never takes a shot he never met. This time, it was a drive from the wing to the baseline, looking for that perfect bank shot off the glass. Hundreds, thousands of repetitions came to fruition on Monday night as Torres-Kahapea drove away from the screen-side defense, lifted up outside the right block and softly kissed the glass from 10 feet out for the go-ahead basket as No. 8 Kailua edged No. 9 […]

The term “elimination” has taken on a different meaning for the St. Francis Saints. Last month, the school announced that it would close down from grades seven to 12 next academic year. That means each elimination game, like the one St. Francis won last Thursday against Mid-Pacific, could mean not just the end of the season. It could be the end of the program, and the Saints seem to have taken that to heart. St. Francis improved to 2-0 with […]

On a night when Kahuku rained in eight 3-pointers and Moanalua missed all six of its attempts, fate would seem to favor the Red Raiders. Instead, it was Moanalua’s fastbreak and tough defense that turned momentum around in a 66-58 win over Kahuku on Monday night in the OIA semifinals at McKinley Student Council Gym. Geremy Robinson was a big part of that defensive spark with four steals to go with a game-high 25 points. The sophomore struggled at times […]

The Maryknoll Spartans reign at No. 1 for a fifth straight week in the Star-Advertiser Boys Basketball Top 10 today. Meanwhile, the Kalani Falcons (15-8) stepped into the poll for the first time this season after an overtime loss to Kapolei in the OIA quarterfinals. Maryknoll (26-2) has already clinched a state-tournament berth and will meet No. 2 Punahou tonight in the ILH tournament final. Punahou (25-4) needs a win over regular-season winner Maryknoll to force a league championship game. […]