The only thing that could have spoiled Punahou’s senior night would have been if DeForest Buckner tore down the rim before his teammates could execute their ceremonial last shots.
Luckily, the goal withstood four thunderous dunks from the 6-foot-7 big man and the No. 1 Punahou boys basketball team beat University 54-39 at Hemmeter Fieldhouse to get their annual party started on the right note.
Buckner led all scorers with 15 points, followed by fellow senior Malik Johnson’s nine. All but 11 of Punahou’s points came from its senior class.
Punahou’s defense had the Junior Rainbows rattled from the outset, running out to a 7-0 lead and holding their counterparts without a field goal until 55 seconds remained in the first quarter. The defense was more than enough to carry an offense that took a while to get going.
“I thought our defense was really good in the first quarter,” Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said. “I think offensively we struggled a little bit, but part of that was their defense, too; they have a very good defense.”
University, which boasts an upset over Maryknoll and is finally getting healthy after a rash of injuries, composed itself after that, scoring on its first three possessions of the second quarter. After Makena Suan-Rothenberg provided all of University’s scoring in the first quarter, Gui Aires and Nalu O’Connor put in tough baskets and drew fouls each time but missed the free throws. Cameron Conant hit a free throw on University’s next possession to cut the deficit to two points.
Then Punahou’s depth began to wear them down.
“The tempo of their defense takes you out of running any type of set offense,” University head coach Walt Quitan said. “The better teams in the ILH seem to do that. They can put a lot of pressure with the depth they’ve got and we are not that deep of a team.”
Punahou took over by going on an 8-0 run capped by the first of Buckner’s four rim-rattlers. His last dunk came on the break with 24 seconds left when he took a pass from freshman Jordan Tanuvasa and soared over University’s helpless defenders. The only thing more impressive than that effort was the one he had a minute earlier, when he finished the break by taking off from the third block off another nifty pass in transition. Nine of Punahou’s 21 field goals came off assists, three of them from Tanuvasa.
¯¯¯¯¯
At Hemmeter Fieldhouse
| UNIVERSITY (3-4) |
5 |
13 |
10 |
11 |
— |
39 |
| PUNAHOU (6-1) |
12 |
14 |
16 |
12 |
— |
54 |
UNIVERSITY—Makena Suan-Rothenberg 12, Joshua Javier 0, Anthony Canencia 2, Chris Meyer 0, Ian Akamine 3, Peter Fee 4, RJ Realubit 0, Cameron Conant 4, Nalu O’Connor 6, Gui Aires 8, Ben Keller 0,
PUNAHOU—Sean Gruebner 6, Jordan Tanuvasa 6, Bryan Matsukawa 0, Mica Maa 0, Steven Lakalaka 0, Dayson Watanabe 0, Matt Taniguchi 7, Blake Lyon 0, Kaaha McAfee-Torco 2, Tylor Henderson 4, Jeffrey Yamashiro 0, Nick Velasquez 5, Malik Johnson 9, DeForest Buckner 15.
3-point goals— Punahou 3 (Velasquez, Taniguchi, Henderson). University 3 (O’Connor, Suan-Rothenberg, Akamine)
ILH DIVISION I BOYS
No. 2 Kamehameha 72, Damien 51
Dyrbe Enos scored 28 points, hitting four 3-pointers, lifting the Warriors over the Monarchs. Ashton Obrero had 11 for Damien.
At Kamehameha
| DAMIEN (2-5) |
11 |
11 |
12 |
17 |
— |
51 |
| KAMEHAMEHA (5-2) |
17 |
17 |
18 |
20 |
— |
72 |
DAMIEN—Aaron Myahira 0, Syles Choy 0, Alex Fant 0, Rusty Kauahikaua 5, Ocean Le 0, Kolton Jacobs 10, Dominique Arakaki 9, Ashton Obrero 11, Kapi‘ina King 3, Austin Gonzalez 3, James Roy 5, Jaylen Layco 5.
KAMEHAMEHA—Noa Kinimaka 3, JT Campbell 3, Mana‘o Salvani 0, Gavin Lagrange 6, Dyrbe Enos 28, Makoa Camanse-Stevens 9, Austin Gerard 10, Makana Harrison 4, Kamai Olowofoyeku 0, Noah Borden 0, Thor Latu 2, Smith-Bejgrowicz 2, Zerin Parker 5.
3-point goals—Damien 5 (Arakaki 3, Kauahikaua, Gonzalez). Kamehameha 8 (Enos 4, Gerard 2, Kinimaka, Camanse-Stevens).
Maryknoll 63, Saint Louis 50
Tobias Schramm scored 16 points and Isaiah Dowdell added 11 as the Spartans defeated the Crusaders, who got 18 from Kamalei Correa.
At McCabe Gym
| MARYKNOLL (4-3) |
12 |
15 |
11 |
25 |
— |
63 |
| SAINT LOUIS (1-6) |
6 |
9 |
13 |
22 |
— |
50 |
MARYKNOLL—Andrew Wu 0, Kaleb Gilmore 9, Kekoa Welsh 4, Brandon Floyd 0, John Mayer 1, Danny Danbara 5. Isaiah Dowdell 11, Tobias Powell 0, Joshua Burnett 6, Noah Wellbrock 0, Austin Gaskins 9, Wyatt Pedro 2, Tobias Schramm 16.
SAINT LOUIS—Ricky Ahlo-Pinera 0, Jimmy Nunuha 3, Kevin Marks 0, Jerrick Taboada 4, Acen Cabral 11, Nate Mantanona 4, Ihaka Johnson 0, Jaron Hall-Monis 8, J.V. Caires 2, Robert Sawinski 0, Kamalei Correa 18, Elu Aydon 0.
3-point goals—Maryknoll 1 (Danbara). Saint Louis 2 (Nunuha, Cabral).
ILH DIVISION II BOYS
‘Iolani II 49, Hawaii Baptist 33
The Raiders came back strong in the second half, outscoring the Eagles 34-16 to secure the win.
Brandon Kaiura had eight points to lead ‘Iolani’s offense.
At ‘Iolani
| HAWAII BAPTIST (5-2) |
8 |
9 |
4 |
12 |
— |
33 |
| ‘IOLANI II (4-1) |
11 |
4 |
15 |
19 |
— |
49 |
HAWAII BAPTIST—Caleb Miyasato 0, Michael Dang 0, Travis Teramae 10, BJ Hosaka 4, Kalei Hosaka 9, Evan Kaichi 0, Cailean Ching 0, Matthew Kishaba 1, Jordan Kauwe 7, Matthew Tommee 0, Bruce Kim 0, John Hirokawa 2, Bryson Hirokawa 0, David Efhan 0.
‘IOLANI II—Trey Muraoka 4, Nick Yim 0, Shane Killeen 0, Brandon Kaiura 8, Brey Kobashigawa 6, Schuyler Shigemura 3, Taylor Lau 6, Alden Wong 4, Travis Cundiff 0, Scott Tan 4, David Ling 3, Adrian Kwok 3, Austin Gima 2, Troy Young 6, Drew Ichikawa 0.
3-point goals—Hawaii Baptist 2 (K. Hosaka, Kishaba). ‘Iolani 5 (Lau 2, Kaiura, Kobashigawa, Ling).
Hanalani 62, Punahou II 58
Kainoa Souza-Chaves and Christian Peterson scored 14 points each to lead the Royals past the Buffanblu.
Travis Matsuzaki scored 17 points to lead Punahou II.
At Hanalani
| PUNAHOU II (4-2) |
9 |
11 |
16 |
22 |
— |
58 |
| HANALANI (5-1) |
11 |
15 |
17 |
19 |
— |
62 |
PUNAHOU II—Jaren McCartney 9, Ben Ota 5, Daniel H. 7, Taylor McClafferty 4, Alex Shin 3, Travis Matsuzaki 17, Taylor Barfield 5, Zach Grief 8.
HANALANI—Lucas Leaman 10, Michael Milton 11, John Brady 2, Mark Milton 9, Kainoa Souza-Chaves 14, Christian Peterson 14, Duane Teem 2.
3-point goals—Punahou 4 (McCartney, Ota, Shin, Barfield). Hanalani 4 (Souza-Chaves 2, Mi. Milton, Ma. Milton).
Kamehameha II 57, HMA 34
TJ Balderas scored 11 points to lead the Warriors past the Knights.
At Kamehameha
| HMA (3-6) |
10 |
7 |
7 |
10 |
— |
34 |
| KS II (6-1) |
17 |
9 |
10 |
21 |
— |
57 |
HAWAIIAN MISSION—Jared Siok 8, J.T. Landenberger 0, Brady Clark 6, Marcus Uechi 0, Ryan Kim 3, Lucas Earles 3, Nesi Bechard 8, Israel Olsen 0, Hong Lei 0, Shaun Pajardo 1, J.J. Reynolds 5.
KAMEHAMEHA II—TJ Balderas 11, Brandon Akiona 6, Trent Park 7, Trevor Aikau 0, Jimmy Gallagher 8, Blayze Liilii 0, Nephi Stevens 7, Tristan Kaonohi 2, Jerom Ching 2, Jayson Murakami 0, Cameron Simao 6, Kody Chai 8.
3-point goals—HMA 1 (Kim). Kamehameha 3 (Balderas, Gallagher, Stevens).
