Punahou's Kupono Fey fights for a rebound with Kamehameha's Makoa Camanse-Stevens. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Dayson Watanabe sinks a 3 pointer in the second half Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kody Chai passes the ball to another Kamehameha player. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Punahou players celebrate after the game. Punahou plays Maryknoll on Friday. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Wed, Feb 13, 2013 @ Punahou

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Kamehameha

44

Punahou

48

F/OT	1	2	3	4	OT
Kamehameha (7-5, 14-8)	3	12	11	12	6	44
Punahou (8-4, 22-8)	5	9	18	6	10	48

N. Velasquez 12 pts  6/8 FTs

M. Camanse-Stevens 17 pts  3 3pm  4/5 FTs

With state tournament hopes on the line, host Punahou outlasted Kamehameha, 48-44, in an overtime nail-biter in a semifinal of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I tournament Wednesday night.

Nick Velasquez's 6-of-6 shooting from the free throw line in OT kept the Warriors chasing and fouling in desperation in the closing minute in trying to catch the Buffanblu, who secured one of the ILH's two Division I state berths. Maryknoll as the other berth by virtue of winning the regular-season title.

Punahou will meet Maryknoll for the tournament title Friday. If Maryknoll wins, it will receive the league's seeded berth to the Division I state tournament and draw a first-round bye. If Punahou wins, the two will engage again for the overall title and seeded berth Saturday. The teams split their regular season meetings.

"Looking forward to it," said Velasquez, who led the Buffanblu with 12 points. "Maryknoll's a great team. We're going to practice and be ready to play."

There was a sense of relief for the Buffanblu, who also needed Maryknoll to win (it did) its semifinal against 'Iolani across Wilder Avenue. Had 'Iolani beat Maryknoll, Punahou would've had win tournament title to clinich the state berth. The ILH has two D1 state berths.

"I knew this was going to be a war," Punahou coach Darren Masuda said. "Anytime you play Kamehameha, at least for the past 10 years, it's always a great game. Today lived up the billing. They fought. Too bad someone has to win and someone has to lose because it was a great game. A lot of heart from both teams."

For the Warriors, it was heartbreaking. Their defense kept them toe-to-toe with the Buffanblu all game long. Punahou led 38-34 with three minutes, 53 seconds left in regulation and the Warriors managed to keep the Buffanblu off the board and tied it with 48 seconds left on Kody Chai's outback after a mid-court steal by Austin Gerard.

"That was tough to swallow," Kamehameha coach Julian Nakanishi said. "We were right there to send it into OT. We didn't make a play on couple rebounds that we needed. Give Punahou credit. They made the plays when they needed to be made.

"I didn't make adjustments for their pick-and-roll plays and they had easy buckets off that. That's how it goes."

Makoa Camanse-Stevens led the Warriors with 17 points, including three of his team's seven 3-pointers.

Kanawai Noa and Kupuno Fey each added 10 points for Punahou. Fey also had six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Punahou had the last possession of regulation, calling time with 12 and then nine seconds left. But a shot by Daniel Andrews missed, as did Micah Ma'a's putback attempt as time ran out.

Punahou raced out to a 42-38 lead to open the OT. But Chai scored off one of his 10 rebounds in the game to make it 42-40.

The Warriors turned over the ball with 1:27 left and were forced to foul. Velasquez made both ends of his one-and-one with 40 seconds left, but Chai pulled Kamehameha to with two with 31 seconds left.

Jordan Tanuvasa was fouled with 28 seconds left and missed his one-and-one. But Kupono Fey got the rebound and passed to Velasquez, who was fouled and again converted his one-and-one shots with 21 seconds to make it 46-42.

Camanse-Stevens pulled Kamehameha to within two again, but Velasquez was fouled and made both his double-bonus free throws with 10 seconds left to seal it.

Scoring was hard to come by in the first half. Punahou took a 5-3 lead into the second quarter. But the Warriors popped in three 3s in the second quarter, two by Camase-Stevens to take a 15-14 lead in the break.

Punahou took a 32-26 lead just before the end of the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Dayson Watanabe.

The Buffanblu opened their lead to 36-28 early in the fourth, but the Warriors closed back to within two on successive 3-pointers by Camanse-Stevens and Noa Kinimaka. But Punahou would only score two points in the final six minutes and watched the Warriors eventually tie the game to force OT.