By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
Oak Hill Academy received 40 points from Lamont Jones to defeat Montrose Christian 74-62 in double overtime in the championship game of the ‘Iolani Classic on Monday.
Jones had eight of his tournament-high total in the second overtime to lift the Warriors past the team from Rockville, Md. The tournament title was the fifth for Oak Hill Academy.
Mouphtaou Yarou had 23 points to lead Montrose Christian. Jones, who made eight 3-pointers in the finals, was named the tournament’s most valuable player while LeFlore’s Demarcus Cousins was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
Cousins had 19 points in the third place game, although his LeFlore team fell to Fairfax 55-51. Solomon Hill had 15 points to pace the Lions.
In the fifth place game, DeMatha received 23 points from Josh Selby to defeat Whitney Young 73-66. Putnam City edged ‘Iolani 82-74 with Kyle Hardrick dropping in 23 points and Dominique Raney added 20 points.
Saturday
A pair of schools from neighboring states will play Monday at the 25th Annual ‘Iolani Classic when Oak Hill Academy and Montrose Christian clash for the tournament championship.
Separated by about 350 miles down interstate 81, Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Va., and Montrose Christian of Rockville, Md., will meet on the same court nearly 5,000 miles away from their homes after both teams won their semifinal games on Saturday. Oak Hill Academy edged LeFlore 68-66 in one semifinal while Montrose held down Fairfax center Renardo Sidney to score a 45-36 win in the other.
LeFlore received an outstanding effort from center DeMarcus Cousins as he poured in 39 points, but Oak Hill went on a 25-12 run in the second half to build a 13-point lead at 59-46. LeFlore got back into the game and closed the gap to two points at 66-64, but the Warriors held on for the win.
Keith Gallon led Oak Hill Academy with 17 points while Momo Jones, who had two crucial free throws in the final seconds, added 15 points.
Montrose Christian, meanwhile, limited Sidney to just 12 points and turned a 19-19 halftime score into a 30-20 lead in the third period. Mouph Yarou had 12 points and Terrence Ross notched 11 in the Mustang win.
In other championship bracket games, DeMatha whipped ‘Iolani 73-51 behind Naji Hibbert’s 21 points while Whitney Young defeated Putnam City 44-41. DeMatha and Whitney Young will meet in the fifth place game while ‘Iolani and Putnam City will play for seventh place on Monday.
Friday - Quarterfinals
The host Iolani Raiders made a game of it for a half, but the powerful Oak Hill Academy Warriors pulled away in the second half for a convincing 80-44 win in the second round of the Iolani Classic on Friday.
The Raiders played tough against Oak Hill, the No. 3 team in the country, and trailed by just eight points at halftime, 34-26. Howerver in the third quarter, Warrior big man Tiny Gallon began to have his way with the smaller Iolani lineup.
Standing 6-9, Gallon is seven inches taller than the tallest player in the Iolani lineup. He used that mismatch to his advantage to score eight points and grab nine rebounds in the third quarter when Oak Hill outscored the Raiders 20-8.
Doron Lamb also helped out with 23 points on the night as the Warriors went on a 26-10 run in the fourth quarter to lengthen the lead.
The Oak Hill-Iolani matchup was one of four quarterfinal games played Friday at Iolani. In the others, LeFlore, Fairfax and Montrose Christian all advanced with wins.
LeFlore overcame a big third-quarter deficit with a 33-10 rally in the fourth quarter to upend the DeMatha Stags 70-58. All-American candidate Demarcus Cousins had a tremendous outing, pumping in 34 points to lead all scorers. Justin Black led DeMatha with 19 points.
Fairfax slowly pulled away from Putnam City. Holding just a five-point lead after 24 minutes of play, the Lions limited the Pirates to just four points in the fourth quarter en route to a 46-29 victory. Renardo Sidney topped all scorers with 18 points while teammate Lance Bailey added 10. Garen Wright was the top scorer for Putnam City with eight points.
The Montrose Mustangs also reached the semifinals with a 59-46 win over Whitney Young. The Mustangs were never in trouble after the first quarter thanks to the combo of Mouphtaou Yarou and Terrence Ross. Yarou tossed in 17 points while Ross added 15. Ahmad Starks of the Dolphins led all scorers with 21 points.
In consolation bracket games, Mid-Pacific edged McKinley 37-35, Tsinghua of China whipped Leilehua 54-23, Moanalua beat Maryknoll 48-44 in overtime and Kamehameha topped Kaimuki 60-57.
The championship round continues Saturday with DeMatha meeting Iolani and Whitney Young taking on Putnam City. Oak Hill takes on LeFlore in one semifinal matchup while Fairfax and Montrose meet in the other.
The championship game is set for Monday and 8 p.m.
Thursday's Games
The host Iolani (Honolulu, Hawaii) Raiders didn’t do themselves any favors when school officials put together the bracket for the Iolani Classic this year, but then again they didn’t have a whole lot of choices.
Although the Raiders won their first game of the tournament on Wednesday, 57-34 over McKinley (Honolulu), they now face one of the best programs in the country in Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) in today’s quarterfinal matchup.
Oak Hill Academy, ranked third in the country in MaxPreps' preseason rankings, is just one of the nationally ranked teams playing in this week’s 25th annual Iolani Classic. Others include No. 8 DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.), No. 10 Whitney Young (Chicago, Ill.), No. 11 Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.), No. 18 Fairfax (Los Angeles, Calif.), and No. 23 LeFlore (Mobile, Ala.).
The tournament also features some of the nation’s top talent, including DeMarcus Cousins, 6-foot-10 center from LeFlore, Xavier Henry, 6-6 forward from Putnam City (Oklahoma City, Okla.), and Renardo Sidney, 6-11 center from Fairfax. All were named among Krider’s top 25 national boys players to watch this year.
So how big is the Iolani Classic? Consider that tournament sponsor Nike created a shoe especially for this year’s 25th anniversary of the tournament. Some of the great players who have participated in the tournament over the years include NBA players Jerry Stackhouse, Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith, and Kevin Durant.
There are likely a number of NBA stars in the making at Iolani this week, perhaps no one more likely than Sidney, who led Fairfax to a 68-40 win over Kamehameha (Honolulu) in the first round. Sidney had 20 points in the game and showed his versatility with a pair of 3-point buckets early in the game. Sidney has not signed with a college yet, but is considering several, including UCLA and Southern California.
While Fairfax ran away from its Hawaiian opponent, Putnam City was unable to pull away from Kaimuki in a 50-40 win. Garen Wright had 17 points and Kyle Hardrick had 15 for the Oklahoma team that is not expected to have star shooting guard Henry back until Jan. Henry was injured in a car wreck last month.
Whitney Young, which features the son of NBA great Michael Jordan, Marcus, had a balanced scoring attack in a 59-35 win over Moanalua. Jordan, Ahmad Starks, James Reynolds and Anthony Johnson all had seven points each.
Meanwhile Oak Hill Academy cruised against Mid-Pacific, winning 78-44 with 17 points from Doron Lamb and 15 from Keith Gallon.
Oak Hill will take on Iolani, the tournament host. Pablo Warner led Iolani against McKinley with 12 points. The match-up with Oak Hill should be an interesting one since the Warriors have 12 players as tall as Iolani’s tallest player, 6-foot-2 forward Nick Christman. Oak Hill tops out with Baye Moussa Keita at 6-11 and Chris Brown at 6-10.
In other first round games, Montrose routed Maryknoll 81-30 with Mouphtaou Yarou scoring 18 for the winners. LeFlore had an even easier time with Leilehua, winning 92-27 on 19 points by Cousins. DeMatha also ran away from Tsinghua, a team from China, 84-30.
In today’s quarterfinal match-ups, Iolani meets Oak Hill Academy, LeFlore plays DeMatha, Putnam City takes on Fairfax and Montrose plays Whitney Young.
In the girls’ half of the tournament that concluded on Dec. 13, Long Beach Poly knocked off the nation’s No. 1 team, Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco, 51-36 for the championship. Oregon City defeated Farrington of Hawaii for third place, 41-22, while Westlake (Ga.) defeated Punahou 51-48 for the consolation.
