Faced with taking one of the biggest shots in King Kekaulike’s basketball history, the smallest guy on the court didn’t hesitate.

After Na Alii battled back from a 10-point third-quarter deficit to forge a tie against defending Division I state champion Kamehameha, point guard Jansen Agapay missed a runner, then found himself with the ball again an instant later and with no doubts what to do next.

"I was gonna shoot it," he said.

The 5-foot-3 junior knocked down a 3-pointer from the left corner with 45 seconds left to give King Kekaulike the lead for good in a 43-38 victory over the Warriors in the Division I first round of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA State Boys Basketball Championships Wednesday at Radford’s Jim Alegre Gymnasium.

Making its first appearance in a state tournament in the Maui school’s 17-year history, King Kekaulike knocked off the reigning champion to advance to a quarterfinal-round matchup with second-seeded Kahuku tonight at 7 at Radford.

"I’m really happy for these kids, the community," King Kekaulike coach Bill Naylor said. "This is the biggest win our school has ever had, ever."

Agapay scored nine of his 11 points in the second half and hit King Kekaulike’s lone 3-pointer of the game. But his moment in the spotlight might not have come if not for the hustle of junior forward Jordan Mauliola, who grabbed the offensive rebound off of Agapay’s miss and dished the ball back to him for the decisive shot.

"(Mauliola is) an amazing scrapper," Naylor said. "He’s just a great athlete, he creates so many things for us by tapping the ball somewhere, diving on the floor."

Kamehameha senior Dyrbe Enos scored a game-high 20 points, but he didn’t get many open looks and the Warriors went cold from long range for most of the game. The Warriors, who earned the Interscholastic League of Honolulu’s third and final state tournament berth last week, managed just one field goal after taking a 28-18 lead midway through the third quarter.

"We didn’t get stuff to drop all game," Kamehameha coach Julian Nakanishi said after the Warriors dropped into the consolation bracket. "We tried to stress getting to the hole and getting buckets that way and it just didn’t work out. Tonight they were the better team."

King Kekaulike found itself in catch-up mode after falling behind 11-2, but stayed within striking distance due primarily to the scoring of sophomore Chase Iwata Bartelme, who finished with a team-high 16 points, mostly on drives into the lane.

Na Alii chipped away, then tied the game at 35 with 3:14 left on two free throws by Mauliola. Kamehameha answered with a free throw and Iwata Bartelme gave King Kekaulike its first lead on a driving layup while being fouled with 1:34 left.

Enos then drew a foul and tied the game again 38-38 from the line. After Naylor called a timeout, Agapay drove from the corner and missed his shot. He drifted back into the corner, took the pass from Mauliola and drained the go-ahead bucket.

"The guy is 5-3 on a good day. He can’t see over the trees usually," Naylor said. "He’s hit big shots for us all year and none bigger than that."

Kamehameha missed on the other end and two free throws by Jacob Havron, who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, stretched the lead to five. The Warriors missed on four 3-point attempts in the final seconds and Na Alii celebrated the win.

"We’ve never been here before and setting history was the biggest thing we’ve ever accomplished," Iwata Bartelme said. "We had to put that behind us because we knew we were going to face some really good teams here. We knew this crowd wasn’t going to expect us to win, so we came out here and we had nothing to lose.

"This game’s behind us. We won, it’s amazing, but now we have to get set because (Kahuku is) a great team."

Academy of the Pacific 46, Pearl City 26

The Dolphins led by six at halftime, then opened the third quarter with an 11-0 run and rolled into the quarterfinals to face third-seeded Kamehameha-Hawaii today at 5 p.m. at Radford.

The Dolphins held the Chargers to two points in the third quarter and didn’t allow a second-half field goal until the 2:35 mark of the fourth quarter. By then, AOP had built a 44-24 lead and cruised to the win.

"We made some adjustments to what they were running and we made some big shots," AOP coach Wally Marciel said.

"We mixed it up with a couple zones we run and man, they’re a quick team, their offense was to penetrate and we packed it in a little bit."

AOP’s win was tempered by the loss of senior Artur Mkrtychyan in the third quarter. Mkrtychyan suffered a possible broken wrist when he came down hard after drawing a foul that resulted in an ejection.

"He gives us good minutes off the bench, he can play guard or forward for us and that’s a big loss," Marciel said. "An emotional loss too for the team. It’s sad to see something like that happen."

AOP, which hadn’t played since closing the ILH season on Feb. 7, was led by guard Kamana Keohohou’s 14 points.

"He’s been itching to shoot the ball," Marciel said. "He’s been bringing up the ball as a point guard all year and we moved him to a wing to see what he could do and it showed."

Marc Suniga led Pearl City with eight points.