Saint Louis junior guard Lucas Gonsalves — 0 for 9 from the free-throw line this Interscholastic League of Honolulu season entering last night's game — swished two foul shots with two seconds remaining to lift the Crusaders past Mid-Pacific, 54-53, at Blaisdell Arena.

The Crusaders, ranked No. 7 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media, improved to 7-6 in the regular and poststeason and will travel to No. 4 Kamehameha (9-4) at 7 p.m. tomorrow with third place and a shot at a Division I state tournament berth on the line.

The winner of that game will play the Big Island Interscholastic Federation's third-place team at 3 p.m. Saturday at Hilo's Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium for the 12th and final available state berth.

Mid-Pacific's season, highlighted by a 66-48 victory over then-No. 1 Punahou on Jan. 26, ended at 4-9.

Kellar Ellsworth's free throw with 51 seconds left gave the Owls a 53-50 lead last night, but Saint Louis cut it to 53-52 after two free throws by Micah McClinton 19 seconds later.

After the Owls missed two free throws with 19 seconds remaining, the Crusaders worked the ball inside and missed two shots and had one blocked. But the ball was tipped out to Gonsalves, who drove the left baseline and leaned in from 10 feet out while shooting, colliding with an MPI defender who was called for a blocking foul.

After a timeout, Gonsalves swished the first free throw, then he made the second one after another timeout. A desperation shot by the Owls from past halfcourt bounced off the backboard.

"Lucas was 0 for 9 in free throws this season, but I give him credit because he's been diligent about working on it at practice," Saint Louis coach Delbert Tengan said. "He hit those two shots clean; there was no doubt about it."

The Crusaders finished 8 of 9 from the line as a team.

Poor free-throw shooting cost Mid-Pacific, which finished 12 of 22 from the charity stripe, including 5 of 12 in the fourth period with three misses in the final minute alone.

"That's plagued us a little bit this year, having to make free throws in order to finish games," Owls coach John O'Connell said. "But I'm so proud of our effort tonight. The boys executed the way we asked them to in the second half, and we put ourselves in position to win at the end."

After an early 10-4 deficit, Saint Louis rallied to take a 13-12 lead entering the second quarter and then built a 31-22 halftime lead.

MPI cut it to 41-36 after three periods and opened the fourth quarter with a 15-4 run to lead 51-45 with 3:40 remaining.

MID-PACIFIC (4-9) 12 10 14 17 — 53

SAINT LOUIS (7-6) 13 18 10 13 — 54

MID-PACIFIC — Sampson Won 3, Ryan Kurihara 9, Jaime Rivera 0, Marcus Holyfield 11, Kellar Ellsworth 13, Devon Takenaka 17, Cameron Roberts 0, Sililo Pale 0. Totals 18 12-22 53.

SAINT LOUIS — Lucas Gonsalves 14, Micah McClinton 12, Corey Lau 3, Dean Viena 0, Kyle Gonzaga 0, Cole Shidaki 14, Marcus Umu 2, Michael Tuiloma 4, Jamison Miller 2, Moses Samia 3. Totals 21 8-9 54.

3-point goals: Mid-Pacific 5 (Kurihara 3, Holyfield, Takenaka). Saint Louis 4 (Gonsalves 2, Lau, Shidaki).

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.