Moanalua had a little bit of a hole in its frontcourt, and Punahou’s Daniel Andrews gladly filled it.

Andrews scored 28 points on a variety of putbacks and Punahou beat host Moanalua 64-52 in the second game of the Na Menehune OIA/ILH Challenge. With the Buffanblu outclassed by Moanalua’s quickness in the frontcourt, Andrews’ play down low made the difference.

"The good thing about preseason is we get to see different teams like this," Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said. "We have to execute better against athletic teams like Moanalua. The little things matter the most and Daniel was doing the little things offensively when we needed them."

Na Menehune started the game without two of their best post players, Karson Cruz and Donald Lambert. Cruz showed symptoms of a concussion after falling on his head early in Wednesday night’s game, and Lambert broke his wrist during the HUB Goodwill Football Classic.

That left 5-foot-8 Jordan Williams against Andrews, a 6-1 senior. Williams did surprisingly well, holding Andrews scoreless in the first quarter and denying him a post move. Four of Andrews’ scores in the game came off putbacks and only two came off post moves.

"I thought we did well with him when we settled into our halfcourt defense and fronted the post," Moanalua coach Byron Mello said. "But we just got killed on the boards and it really wore us down when he is down there playing volleyball with it. He’s got long arms and he sticks with it."

The Buffanblu beat Moanalua’s guard-oriented squad in a 3-point shootout to begin the game, with Andrews kicking out to Justin Kam, Dayson Watanabe and Micah Ma’a for bombs in the first three minutes to take a 9-3 lead. Moanalua erased it by the end of the first quarter before turning it over six times in a row to turn Punahou’s lead from 13-12 to 24-17. Andrews had six points in that stretch and the closest Na Menehune could get the rest of the way was a six-point deficit at halftime. Watanabe contributed 16 points to Punahou’s cause and Jamaal Willis led Moanalua with 19. Antoine Hines added 16 for Na Menehune.

Andrews woke up after the first quarter and there was nothing Moanalua could do with him.

"I don’t know, I didn’t come out with the intensity I wanted to," Andrews said. "Luckily I was able to bounce back. I like to contribute a little bit of everything to the team, I don’t like to stay in one role."

Matsuda considers Andrews a guard who is growing into a fine post player and so far it is working. The Buffanblu are undefeated in the preseason with him protecting the rim and face Kalani today on the same floor. The Buffanblu host their own tournament next week, opening with Walnut Grove (Calif.).

"They are everything you expect Punahou to be," Mello said. "If they are not No. 1, I would really be surprised."

Moanalua takes on Kamehameha in the last game of the tournament today before competition ramps up in the ‘Iolani Classic next week.