The Buffanblu improved to 4-1 in ILH play heading into Tuesday's 7 p.m. showdown at Kamehameha (4-1). Both teams are a half-game behind Academy of the Pacific, which is now 5-1 after a 49-35 upset loss to Maryknoll (3-3) yesterday.

'Iolani, which was missing starting center Gabriel Vega (volleyball trip), fell to 3-2.

Both teams actually played short-handed, with Punahou missing forwards Sean Gruebner and Micah Ma'a to the same volleyball trip and Steven Lakalaka to a UCLA campus visit for football. Forward Kupono Fey has been out with a broken finger suffered during another volleyball trip last month.

"Both teams were missing key guys," Buffanblu coach Darren Matsuda said.

But the most glaring absence may have been Vega, a 6-foot-7 senior who is the Raiders' leading scorer at 14.3 points per game.

With Vega out and his other post, 6-3 senior Duke Pauli, having to battle Punahou posts DeForest Buckner (6-8) and Malik Johnson (6-6), 'Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto went to a patient backcourt passing game that milked over a minute per possession in the first period.

"Our goal was to shorten the game," Shimamoto said. "We wanted to give Duke some rest, because we knew we would need him out there the whole game."

The strategy yielded zero point in the first period but it also limited the Buffanblu to two field goals, a 3-pointer by freshman Jordan Tanuvasa 30 seconds into the game and a layup by Taylor Henderson with 13 seconds remaining in the quarter.

Punahou started quicker in the second period, scoring the first five points and taking a 10-0 lead on Johnson's driving layup with 5:36 left in the half.

The Raiders finally got on the scoreboard with Joshua Hannum's layup 11 seconds later, and Hannum scored on a putback to close it to 10-7 with 2:44 remaining. Buckner answered with a putback 21 seconds later, but Pauli's free throw made it 12-8 with 1:08 remaining.

Bryan Matsukawa then drained a fadaway 3-pointer two seconds before the halftime buzzer to make it 15-8 at the break.

'Iolani chipped away and closed it to 26-23 by the end of the third period, and Pauli banked in a hook shot 19 seconds into the fourth to cut it to 26-25. But he failed to convert the three-point play, and a putback by Johnson 26 seconds later started the Buffanblu on a 13-1 run capped by a layup by Tanuvasa to make it 39-26 with three minutes left.

The Raiders could not get closer than eight points after that.

"They're very athletic, and with them banging on us all game I think it got to us after a while," Shimamoto said. "We just ran out of gas at the end."

Velasquez led Punahou with 11 points, Johnson added 10 points and Buckner finished with five points, eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal.