Punahou's Blake Wade attacks the basket against Farrington. Tyler Guieb | Special to SL

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Farrington's Jacob McEnroe gets set to put up a reverse layup against Punahou. Tyler Guieb | Special to SL

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Punahou's Justin Kam blocks a Farrington shot attempt. Tyler Guieb | Special to SL

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Punahou's Micah Ma'a goes up for a shot attempt against Farrington. Tyler Guieb | Special to SL

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Sat, Dec 7, 2013 @ Radford

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Farrington

42

Punahou

54

Final	1	2	3	4
Farrington (10-1, 26-5)	9	15	7	11	42
Punahou (7-5, 22-5)	10	9	21	14	54

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. Kam 13 pts  2 3pm  3/4 FTs

J. McEnroe 9 pts  1/4 FTs

D. Andrews 12 tot

V. Hugo 6 tot

D. Watanabe 3 ast

J. McEnroe 3 ast

Punahou rallied in the second half over Farrington, 54-42 to take the 15th Annual Jim Alegre Invitational title at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. These two teams met last year in the opening round of the Division I state tournament. This year it's a new season and both teams are still trying to find themselves during the preseason.

"The game itself was a big test for us. Farrington is one of the best teams to come out of the OIA this year and they got everything that you want: great tools and great coaching. So for us it was a big test and I'm glad we came out with a win," said Punahou coach Darren Matsuda.  

"It's a growing experience every single game. It's a great tournament and we finished with Punahou in this tournament, they are running on all cylinders right now," said Farrington coach Allan Silva.

Trailing 24-19 at halftime, the Buffanblu came out of the second half with a 8-0 run and outscored the Govs in the third quarter, 21-7.

"The past 24 hours were hectic for us, we had a late night game last night and had 12 guys waking up at 7 in the morning to take the SAT so I think our challenge was to rise to up to the challenge to play a tough team and the mental and physical challenges this game would present. I thought our kids did a good job especially in the second half," said Matsuda.

Punahou out rebounded Farrington 43-32 and Punahou's Daniel Andrews pulled down 12 rebounds to go with his 12 points.  

Punahou's Justin Kam led all scorers with 13 points, 8 rebounds and hit a three-pointer while Micah Ma'a added 10 points, 7 rebounds and two three-pointers.

Punahou jumped out to a 9-3 lead and Farrington called a timeout with 3:49 remaining in the quarter. Following the timeout, Jacob McEnroe made the layup as he was fouled and Manly Williams also converted another and-one play to tie the game up at 9. Jared Lum made 1-of-2 free throws to give the Buffanblu a 1-point lead after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Farrington took a five-point lead going into halftime. Center Mason Semisi scored all 7 of his points in the quarter and made a shot in the post as he was fouled. His free throw made it, 24-19.

"I got a lot of returnees in the rotation, I thought the second group better than our first group. I told the boys, I thought I should've left the second group in, because they had a different energy tonight. We have to go back to the drawing board and it's the little things we have to work on," said Silva.

In the third quarter, Punahou came out with a 6-0 run to start the quarter prompting coach Silva to call a time out. Micah Ma'a hit a three pointer and made a lay up. McEnroe answered with two fast break lay ups to cut the deficit to 31-28. Punahou's Blake Wade came off the bench and added 5 of his 7 points in the quarter. Farrington had some looks, but it did not fall for them.

"We just got to keep getting better, we missed too many easy shots inside, we're talking about 1 to 2 footers," said Silva

In the fourth quarter, the Buffanblu managed to pull away and a lay up by Daniel Andrews put them up by double digits, 42-31. The Govs tried to cut the deficit to 7 after a three pointer from Makana Correira, however a three pointer from Justin Kam put the Buffanblu up 10 and they never looked back.

"The good thing about the preseason is you see a lot of different teams that may end up in the state tournament. We're playing teams that will end up in the state tournament and I hope we end up there too. This year it's a wide open field and I feel Farrington is one of those teams that might be up at the top," said Matsuda.

The Governors were led by Van Hugo and Jacob McEnroe who scored 9 points each.

Punahou will take on Kahuku at 7 pm on December 11 while Farrington will play Kamehameha-Kapalama at 4 pm at Moanalua's OIA/ILH Challenge at Moanalua.