Kamehameha players celebrate after defeating Punahou. Peter Caldwell | SL

Purchase image 1 of 5

Kamehameha's Alaka'i Freitas puts up a shot attempt against Punahou. Peter Caldwell | SL

Purchase image 2 of 5

Punahou's Danny Andrew puts up a shot in the interior against Kamehameha. Peter Caldwell | SL

Purchase image 3 of 5

Punahou's Blake Wade drives to the basket against Kamehameha. Peter Caldwell | SL

Purchase image 4 of 5

Kamehameha's Noa Kinimaka dribbles the ball up court against Punahou. Peter Caldwell | SL

Purchase image 5 of 5

Fri, Jan 24, 2014 @ Kamehameha

---

Punahou

45

Kamehameha

48

Final	1	2	3	4
Punahou (7-5, 22-5)	10	13	11	11	45
Kamehameha (6-6, 18-10)	8	12	19	9	48

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. Smith 17 pts  3 3pm  4/6 FTs

D. Watanabe 13 pts  2 3pm  1/2 FTs

K. Smith-Bejgrowicz 12 tot  6 off  6 def

D. Andrews 13 tot  1 off  12 def

N. Kinimaka 3 ast

M. Ma'a 3 ast

Two days after knocking off No. 3 'Iolani in overtime, Kamehameha held off and toppled No. 1 Punahou, 48-45 at Kekuhaupi'o Gymnasium on Friday night. Every win in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu is crucial and the Warriors won three straight games to improve to 4-3 after starting league play at 1-3. Punahou dropped to 5-2 and fell to third place in the ILH standings behind 'Iolani (5-2) after the Raiders beat the Buffanblu earlier Jan. 15 and Maryknoll sits in first place at 5-1. The Buffanblu handled the Warriors 61-43 earlier on Jan. 8 at Hemmeter Fieldhouse but since then, the Warriors are a totally different basketball team. 

"This is no different when I was in this league eight years ago. When the better teams took care of you in the first half, everybody came back if you were a good team. If you weren't a good team, you would get beat up in the second round. So it's a typical ILH year where we have great teams, great coaching and I told my players if you get a win, it's worth ten wins because they are golden in this league," said Kamehameha coach Greg Tacon, who previously coached at Punahou. 

"Definitely," said Noa Kinimaka, on the momentum that carried over from the 'Iolani game. "It's good too because the second round, we've seen their stuff before and our coaches did a great job scouting and our personnel sorted out and we were able to execute. We're buying into coach's system and we're getting more and more used to playing with each other, so our chemistry is coming and where to get shots and we've improved defensively and we take pride in that." 

After a jump ball and a deflection out of bounds, the Buffanblu received the ball on the baseline with 0:02 seconds left. Punahou's Dayson Watanabe had a chance to tie and send the game into overtime, but his 3-point shot from the left wing came up short and Kamehameha was able to preserve the victory. 

"We were relieved that Kam (Justin) fouled out. If he were to get the ball and shot it, he's a great shooter. Chris Kobayashi came into the game and he is another good 3-point shooter so we tried to keep the ball out of his hands," said Jaycob Smith. 

Kanawai Noa and Justin Kam hit consecutive 3-pointers and Noa had a layup down the middle to give Punahou an 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter.  Kinimaka answered with four straight points of his own and his pull up in transition put the Warriors up 44-42. Punahou's Justin Kam fouled out as he picked up his fifth foul with 1:02 remaining. Watanabe had a layup to make it 48-44 and Punahou called a full timeout with 49 seconds remaining. After a Kamehameha turnover, Watanabe got to the free throw line and hit 1-of-2 to make it 48-45. 

Kamehameha's Jaycob Smith was 3-of-4 from behind the 3-point line to score nine of his 17 points in the third quarter. Smith had a 3-pointer near the top of the key to put the Wariors up 25-23, giving them their first lead since the first quarter. Noa Kinimaka drove it and kicked it out to Smith for a 3-pointer from the right wing to put the Warriors up 39-34 after the third quarter. Kamehameha shot 41.7 percent (5-of-12) from behind the 3-point line and Smith accounted for three 3's while Kinimaka and Fatu Sua-Godinet each hit one. 

"Coach just told, just to let the ball come to me. Don't force it, let it come. For some reason, Punahou wasn't really guarding me so I caught the ball and shot it," remarked Smith. 

"He took one bad shot in the whole night and that was it---it wasn't in rhythm and it wasn't at the right time. But his maturation as a point guard in the past month is making us a better team and it's a guard's game and guards have to control everything. It's really hard to get the ball to the post and you have to have a dominant post to get the ball to. We do things a little bit different, we're a spread team and Punahou's a spread team too and we have to have a point guard who can understand the different concepts we're trying to do," said Tacon, on Smith. 

The Warriors outscored the Buffanblu in the third quarter, 19-11 and it was their defense that made a difference.

"We just picked up the tempo and slowed down theirs. They are so used to pushing the ball and we moved our 2-1-2 press a little back so we could slow down the tempo take a breather and run the offense," said Smith, on second half adjustments. 

"It was similar to the 'Iolani game where we made some adjustments at halftime. We really paid attention to our coaching and we really wanted it and we executed and came out with the win," said Kinimaka. 

In the second quarter, Punahou took a 10 point lead, 21-11 after Micah Ma'a found a cutting Daniel Andrews for a layup. The Warriors slowly chipped away at Punahou's lead and cut the deficit to 3 after Noa Kinimaka hit a 3-pointer near the top to trail 23-20 heading into halftime. 

The Warriors shot 30.7 percent (4-of-13) from the free throw line in the first half and still only trailed by three points. 

"Considering that we shot 32 percent in the first half and 31 from the free throw line against the most talented team in the state means we were competing on the defensive side and finding some timely baskets. I think that was a carry over from the 'Iolani game and we didn't have stretches that they ran away from us and they were capable of doing. It's about believing in what you're capable of doing and shooting with confidence like we did in the second half," said Tacon. 

Kayson Smith-Bejgrowicz, despite going 0-for-6 from the free throw line, reenergized his team by crashing the boards. He had 12 rebounds (six of them were offensive rebounds to keep the possession alive for the Warriors). 

"He's not going to get down on himself when he's not doing other things wrong because he's a solid citizen and he's such a good kid because he wants to please me and the other assistant coaches, his teammates. Even though he struggled at the line, he's going to find other ways to have success and he did it tonight and was phenomenal on the boards," said Tacon, on Smith-Bejgrowicz. 

In the first quarter, Punahou got two 3-pointers from Justin Kam and Dayson Watanabe to take a 8-4 lead. The Warriors fought back and Kamehameha's Alaka'i Freitas found Jaycob Smith who was cutting backdoor to make it 10-8 at the end of the first quarter. 

Punahou shot 29.4 percent (5-of-17) from 3-point range for the game. Dayson Watanabe led Punahou with 13 points, two 3's, Justin Kam added 10 points and two 3's before fouling out and Daniel Andrews grabbed 13 rebounds. 

"It gives us a lot of confidence going onto next week," said Smith.