NAPILI — In a battle between the two teams that have made the Maui Interscholastic League Division II boys basketball race their own property over the last couple years, the old guard bested the new on Thursday night at the Bozich Center.

Seabury Hall pulled away from a determined, but extremely young Maui Prep team for a 74-27 win, but this one was about so much more than the final score.

The Spartans won 11 straight MIL D-II crowns, a run that ended in 2022 when Na Pueo rolled to the MIL and state championships.

Seabury Hall was the young team last season, but did advance to the state tournament as the MIL runner-up.

“I take it year by year, you know, last year they had a tough team and they lost a lot of their guys, obviously,” Seabury Hall coach Scott Prather said. “You know, but they came out and they fought hard with a lot of pride and worked hard for their coach and I give them credit for hanging in there for as long as they did.”

Now, the young shoe is being worn by the Pueo, who have just three players back from the state champions, one of whom is the lone senior Emerson Flores.

Thursday’s result left the Spartans at 3-0 and Na Pueo at 1-2 in MIL play.

“We have a really young team, so it gets frustrating sometimes, but this loss motivates me to push the team more,” Flores said.

Seabury Hall led 17-15 at the end of the first quarter, but quickly scored the first 12 points of the second quarter to take control.

A free throw by Leo McKuin pushed the lead to 30-15 with 3:11 left in the second quarter. A steal and layup by Dylan Stolley upped the lead to 33-17 with 2:10 to go and a follow shot by Zack Devane made it 37-19 with 1:30 left.

The Spartans turned on the 30-point mercy-rule running clock when Ethan Palmer scored inside with 2:22 left in the third quarter to make it 53-23.

“I feel like we came a long way since our last loss against (Haleakala) Waldorf,” Flores said. “We’re coming together as a team and it’s looking better.”

MPA head coach Zach Bailey missed the game due to personal reasons, but plans to be back on the bench soon.

Assistant coach Jim Ellia stood in as head coach on Thursday for the home team.

“We decided to play at their pace, which we should have been playing a lot slower,” Ellia said. “We have a lot of young guys, we don’t have a lot of in-game experience. They don’t have that kind of pressure when their backs are against the wall, so genuinely we have to slow down and play at our pace.

“We’re going to get back at it tomorrow and fix some things.”

The teams play again tonight, at Seabury.

Flores and sophomores Kai Shively and Kai Godwin are the only returnees from the state championship roster.

“Leadership is tough to lead freshmen and sophomores, so I think they’re challenged with it,” Ellia said of his leaders. “It’s something we’re going to have to learn and progress throughout the season, but it’s nothing but uphill from here.”

Bromo Dorn had 14 points for the Spartans, while Ethan Palmer led the way with 15. Every player dressed for Seabury Hall got playing time.

“I mean, it’s just another game — we didn’t come in here with any animosity, we just wanted to win another game,” Dorn said. “We came in here, there was definitely a lot of fire in the first quarter, but we just ran away with it at the end.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

SEABURY HALL (3-0)

Bryce Churchill 5, Ethan Palmer 15, Kobe Garcia 8, Leo McKuin 1, Dylan Stolley 6, Zack Devane 6, Bromo Dorn 14, Keahi Sjostrand 9, Sebastian Peterson 10.

MAUI PREP (1-2)

Emerson Flores 9, Amadeo Dreschal 0, Kai Godwin 0, Kai Shively 10, Ezra OIffergeld 0, Flynn Williams 8, Cameron Henry 0, Reef Lombardi 0.

Seabury Hall 17 22 20 15–74

Maui Prep 15 6 4 2–27

*****

MIL Standings

BOYS

DIVISION I

W L Pct. GB

Kamehameha Maui 4 1 .800 —

Lahainaluna 4 2 .667 1⁄2

Baldwin 3 2 .600 1

Maui High 2 4 .333 2 1⁄2

King Kekaulike 1 5 .167 3 1⁄2

DIVISION II

W L Pct. GB

Lanai 4 0 1.000 —

Seabury Hall 3 0 1.000 1⁄2

Molokai 2 2 .500 2

Maui Prep 1 2 .333 2 1⁄2

Haleakala Waldorf 1 3 .250 3

Hana 0 4 .000 4

Thursday’s Result

Seabury Hall 74, Maui Prep 27

Today’s Games

Baldwin at King Kekaulike, 5:30 p.m.

Maui High at Kamehameha Maui, 5:30 p.m.

Maui Prep at Seabury Hall, 6 p.m.