Lahainaluna's Ryan Madera puts up a shot against Kalaheo. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 1 of 4

Lahainaluna's Cyrus Kama challenges a shot attempt by Kalaheo's Alec Macleod. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 2 of 4

Lahainaluna's Peni Taufa puts up a shot attempt over Kalaheo's Andrew Hernandez. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 3 of 4

Lahainaluna's Cyrus Kama goes up for a layup attempt against Kalaheo. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 4 of 4

Wed, Feb 19, 2014 @ McKinley

---

Kalaheo

27

Lahainaluna

57

Final	1	2	3	4
Kalaheo (11-3, 26-10)	8	4	8	7	27
Lahainaluna (10-6, 14-9)	10	17	10	20	57

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. Madera 16 pts  2/2 FTs

K. Smith 9 pts  1/2 FTs

P. Taufa 14 tot  6 off  8 def

Z. Marrotte 3 tot  1 off  2 def

M. Sidon 5 ast

K. Harrison 5 ast

Down went the champs.

A trio of players scored in double-figures, led by Cyrus Kama's double-double, to help Lahainaluna topple reigning Division I state champion Kalaheo, 57-27, in a first-round game of the Hawaiian Airlines/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Boys Basketball State Championships Wednesday night.

A small crowd of about 200 fans at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium witnessed the Lunas improve to 9-6 by dominating the Mustangs, who fell to 11-5. Lahainaluna, which finished second in the Maui Interscholastic League, will face the tournament top seed, Iolani, in a 7 p.m. quarterfinal Thursday.

"It was a great team win," said 6-foot-5 post Jose Ryan Madera, who scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the first half. "We knew coming in that we were bigger than them so we came and did really good and dominated with our bigs."

Kama, a 6-foot-4 forward, scored 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and 6-foot-4 forward Penisimani Taufa notched 14 rebounds with seven points.

"When our bigs play like they did tonight, we're a whole different team," Lahainaluna coach John Dudley said. "This is probably the best game that they've played as a trio. Usually we have one of them that does really well and the other two are a little behind, but tonight our coaches did an incredible job of scouting of what we wanted to do, what offenses we wanted to run and fortunately it worked out. It's a big win for our program."

The Lunas controlled the glass on both ends, recording 22 of their 44 rebounds on the offensive end. They scored 20 points in the paint and had 10 second-chance points. Meanwhile, Kalaheo was held to 13 rebounds for the game and leading scorer Kupaa Harrison finished with just three points and two rebounds, but did record six blocks and four assists — both team highs.

"All week we studied film on them and our coaches told us what they run, how they play, who their star players are — like Harrison — and we figured out how he plays and we executed tonight and we feel good about it," Kama said.

Lahainaluna outscored Kalaheo, 47-19, in the final three quarters and shot 46.9 percent from the field, while holding the Mustangs to just 31.3 percent shooting. They did not have a player score in double figures.

"We went out and played good team defense and we just came in with our gameplan and we did a good job of executing it," Madera said.

The Lunas held a slim 10-8 lead after the first quarter, but separated in the second when they outscored the Mustangs, 17-4. Madera had two three-point plays on a 12-2 run that gave his team a 27-12 lead at halftime. He scored 10 points in the second quarter.

"Sometimes we start off strong and then in the second half we come out and they'll have a run," Kama said. "Tonight it was we started off strong, we came out second half and first thing we hit a shot and from there I already knew that it was going to be a good game and we were going to finish up strong."

Lahainaluna stretched its lead to 42-20 early in the fourth quarter following a 9-0 run and scored the final 12 points of the game to end up winning by 30.

Kalaheo, the ninth-ranked team in the ScoringLive/OC16 Power Rankings, was led by nine apoints apiece from Kekai Smith and Alex MacLeod.

"We told our guys that what's happened in the past, happened in the past," Dudley said of drawing the defending state champs. "They've got a good program, but our guys have worked hard to and hopefully this is a signature win for us in our program and we can continue to build on it."

The Lunas now face their next test in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu-titlist Raiders, who had a bye Wednesday. The teams met in the preseason back on Dec. 5 — the first game of the season for both teams. Iolani won that matchup, 73-63.

"I'm pretty excited that we get another chance," Kama said. "They're a really good team and they're like a clone of us — strong inside and strong outside."

Tip off between Lahainaluna and Iolani will follow a 5 p.m. quarterfinal between fourth-seeded Konawaena and Campbell, which beat Leilehua Wednesday, 46-35.