Kalaheo's Kupa'a Harrison puts up a shot against Walnut Grove. Evan Asato | SL

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121913_SL-BBKB-EA_B2_KALH-WG_12-19-13_7.jpg - Evan Asato | SL

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MAKIKI — Another game, another learning experience. That's the way Alika Smith views this preseason for his Kalaheo boys basketball team.

Led by a 29-point effort by Kupaa Harrison, the Mustangs rallied from an early deficit to beat Walnut Grove in a quarterfinal game of the Punahou Boys Basketball Invitational Thursday. An early-evening crowd of about 150 fans at the Buffanblu's Hemmeter Fieldhouse witnessed the reigning Division I state champions overcome 29 points from Walnut Grove's Jaden Cohee. The Gators are visiting from Langley, British Columbia.

It was Kalaheo's first game since suffering a heartbreaking, one-point loss on a last-second 3-pointer to Konawaena in the title game of the Pete Smith Classic Saturday.

"We had a couple of good practices and we came back hard today and we knew it was going to be a tough opponent," said Smith, the head coach of the Mustangs and son of the late Pete Smith. "Anytime you lose the way we lost — missing free throws and not covering — you want to get back on the court and prove that you can do those things."

Kalaheo did just that Thursday, making 23 of its 35 free-throw opportunities, including 21 of 31 in the second half.

"It was a lot better than a couple other times that we had earlier this year, but we've been working on it and hopefully we can continue to get better at it," Smith said of his team's free-throwing shooting.

After falling behind early, 8-0, Kalaheo seized command with a 22-2 run over the next eight minutes or so. Harrison scored half of the Mustangs' points during the run, which was capped by his consecutive buckets that made the score 22-10 about three minute into the second quarter. The Gators closed out the quarter on a 6-2 run to trail at halftime, 29-21.

Smith called a quick 30-second timeout when his team trailed 6-0 no more than three minutes into the game.

"We were just throwing the ball all over the place and not getting back on defense," Smith said. "First off, off the tip we had our matchups and one of our guys loses him and he makes a layup right off the tip, so we couldn't have those things. We tried to regroup real fast and run our stuff and get back to what our gameplan was."

Kalaheo took its largest lead at 46-31 late in the third quarter on a pair of Harrison free throws. Harrison was whistled for three first-half fouls and picked up his fourth at the 5:31 mark in the fourth quarter but did not foul out.

Cohen scored 18 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, but the Gators couldn't get enough defensive stops and the Mustangs made enough free throws down the stretch to hang on. Harrison was 11 of 12 from the free-throw line.

"He's an unbelieveable kid," Smith said of Harrison, the lone returning starter from last season. "He knows the game, he's smart, but he's our team leader and we rely on him a lot and he's come through. He's just one of those special players."

The win improved the young Mustangs to 12-1 in the preseason.

"Every game that we play, I think they're learning, but at the end of the day we're speeding along these younger kids quicker than usual," Smith said. "You're going to get those lapses in the games where they turn the ball over or make bad decisions, but in the long run it's going to help us."

Kalaheo will play in an 8 p.m. semifinal Friday against tournament-host Punahou, which defeated Pearl City, 47-33, in the late quarterfinal Thursday.