For three quarters, it seemed ‘Iolani’s Cinderella story would turn into reality.

Then, the Kamehameha Warriors turned up the heat, melting away all of the Raiders’ state-tourney hopes. Dyrbe Enos poured in 21 points and got plenty of help in the fourth quarter as the Warriors rallied for a 54-40 win at ‘Iolani.

The win sealed a state-tournament berth for No. 5 Kamehameha (20-8), which ousted Maryknoll on Tuesday before knocking out perennial state qualifier ‘Iolani in the third-place tourney.

“It was contagious. We made big plays in the second half. Taylor (Taliulu) hit a 3, we get another turnover, hit another big shot,” said Enos, a senior guard. “Everybody wanted it tonight. This was one of the hardest games of our season.”

Now the Warriors get to defend their state title.

“We’ve gotten some game experience under our belt. Our strength is our guards, and the uptempo game is our game,” coach Julian Nakanishi said. “We had to keep attacking and not foul in our traps. That was the key.”

Duke Pauli had 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks, and Gabriel Vega had 10 points, all in the first half, to lead No. 6 ‘Iolani (14-11). Both faced constant double teams in the post all game long, combining for four points in the second half. Vega had just one field-goal attempt after the break.

“Just like our guards are our strength, those two are theirs. We wanted to see if we could get the ball out of their hands,” Nakanishi said.

Austin O’Leary hit three treys for the Raiders, who shot 28 percent from the arc (6-for-21) and 27 percent overall (11-for-41).

“We were getting points all kinds of ways, and the shots Dyrbe hit were tough,” Raiders coach Dean Shimamoto said. “We had opportunities to finish that we didn’t complete. Kamehameha’s a good team. They hit big shots.”

Enos, who drove into traffic against the 6-foot-7 Vega and the 6-3 Pauli constantly, scored 10 second-quarter points to keep his team in the game. By the fourth quarter, his teammates began to shoulder the offensive load.

The Raiders had a near-capacity crowd rooting hard after three quarters with a 38-33 lead. From there, Kamehameha’s constant on-ball pressure unleashed a 9-0 run that gave the visitors the lead for the first time.

Makoa Camanse-Stevens drove for a bucket to cut the lead to one, and Noah Borden sliced through the middle for a tough bucket and a 39-38 lead with 6:05 remaining.

Taliulu followed with a trey from the left corner as Kamehameha’s crowd, band and cheerleaders went into a frenzy for the rest of the contest. Pauli hit a putback to bring the Raiders to within 42-40 with 4 minutes left, but Enos answered with a 3 from the corner. After reserve post Kamal Olowofoyeku came up with two steals that led to points for J.T. Campbell and Enos, Kamehameha had a 49-40 lead with 1:16 to go.

‘Iolani shot 1-for-11 in the final quarter, including 0-for-6 from the arc. Enos hit four more foul shots — 6-for-6 in the fourth — as the Warriors won going away.

In all, they outscored ‘Iolani 21-2 in the final quarter. Olowofoyeku, Austin Gerard (two steals) and Borden (three steals) were especially effective on the defensive end in Kamehameha’s swarming man-to-man traps.

“Austin is our best on-ball defender and Kamal had great steals along the sideline,” Nakanishi said. “This is new territory for a lot of our guys.”

Kamehameha shot 40 percent from the arc (6-for-15) and had 16 turnovers against ‘Iolani’s tight man defense. The Warriors shot 46 percent overall (18-for-39), but were just 60 percent from the foul line (12-for-20). ‘Iolani hit 12 of 13 tries from the free-throw line (92 percent) and outrebounded the Warriors 24-22.