In a Division I boys basketball state quarterfinal game that lived up to its championship hype from the opening tip to the final buzzer, Kaimuki held off Saint Louis, 53-51, last night before a screaming crowd of about 1,200 at Radford's James Alegre Gym.

The O'ahu Interscholastic Association champion and No. 2-seeded Bulldogs, ranked No. 4 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media, improved to 12-5 in the regular and postseason and will face Big Island Interscholastic Federation champ and No. 3 seed Kamehameha-Hawai'i (16-2) in tonight's semifinals.

Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. at Stan Sheriff Center, and the game will be televised live statewide on OC-16.

Saint Louis (13-4) had three chances to tie last night's game in the final seconds, but was denied each time. First, the Crusaders missed a short fall-in banker from the left side and grabbed the rebound, but stepped on the baseline with 2.9 seconds remaining.

They got the ball back, however, when Kaimuki was called for traveling on the ensuing inbounds play.

Saint Louis forward Scott Smith then grabbed a lob pass in the lane and was fouled with 1.1 seconds left. He missed the first of two free throws and missed the second one on purpose, and a teammate grabbed the rebound.

But the putback attempt clipped the bottom of the backboard on the way up as the buzzer sounded.

"We definitely had our chances at the end, we can't complain about that," said Crusaders coach Delbert Tengan, whose team finished third in the fiercely competitive Interscholastic League of Honolulu and is ranked No. 3 in The Advertiser poll. "They made the plays when they had to, and we didn't make our plays at the end, and that's what it came down to. It was a great game, but somebody's gotta lose."

As expected, the matchup was tight, intense and back-and-forth from beginning to end. Neither team led by more than four points in the first half, which ended with Kaimuki up, 22-18, after Brandon Madamba's 3-pointer with one second left.

Saint Louis tied it three times, the last at 30-30, in the third period before the Bulldogs went up for good at 33-30 on Keone Reyes' 3-pointer with 3:02 remaining in the quarter.

Kaimuki built the lead to 49-40 after Beau Albrechtson's layup with 2:58 left in the game, but the Crusaders scrambled back and cut it to 51-49 after a 6-0 run capped by Jamison Miller's layup with 1:02 remaining.

Albrechtson, a 6-foot-4 senior forward who finished with a game-high 22 points on 11-for-11 shooting, gave the Bulldogs a 53-49 lead on a layup with 51 seconds left after catching a halfcourt pass from Madamba.

Miller then cut it to 53-51 on a putback with 34 seconds remaining, and Saint Louis got the ball back after a missed free throw with 22 seconds left.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.