HONOLULU — Thus far, the Punahou boys basketball team has played up to its stiff competition in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.
The Buffanblu get their biggest test at 6 p.m. Thursday against two-time defending state champion Saint Louis, the other team atop the league standings at this early stage with a matching 3-0 record.
With a patient and opportunistic offense and attentive defense, Punahou solved their biggest threat on Tuesday night, Kamehameha’s 6-foot-9 forward Kainoa Wade, in a 53-38 victory at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.
Punahou forward James Taras led the way with 18 points, including some timely buckets after the Warriors had cut a double-digit lead to four midway in the fourth quarter.
“Wade’s an outstanding shot-blocker, so you gotta be smart with him,” noted Punahou coach Darren Matsuda. “Last time we played them last year in this gym, he kind of had a block party. We talked about being patient, being smart, picking your spots with him and trying to freeze him a little bit and attack him that way. James did an outstanding job with that.”
Taras, a 6-foot-5 senior, noted his team was coming off of a matchup against Iolani and the Raiders’ sizable front line of Mana Lau Kong, Luke Tobin and Jackson Dempster. (The Buffanblu won that one by 20.)
“I think most people were used to having that big presence inside," Taras said. "I think for the most part we did a pretty good job of not letting him affect our shooting so much, and trusting that we could shoot over him.”
Now the Buffanblu bigs must contend with the reigning state player of the year, Saint Louis’ bruising forward Pupu Sepulona. Dan Hale's Crusaders have defeated Iolani, Kamehameha and Mid-Pacific.
“Actually, I train with him every Sunday, me him and Luke Tobin go at it,” said Taras, whose top-arc 3-pointer pushed Tuesday’s lead back to double digits and helped seal the win. “So, we all have a lot of experience guarding each other. I’m really looking forward to it; hopefully I get the matchup.”
Ayndra Uperesa-Thomas scored 11 while Dillon Kellner added eight for Punahou on Tuesday.
The winner of the 10-game ILH regular season receives the league’s first automatic state berth. From there, teams will battle it out in the ILH tournament for the second and last spot.
“We hit a couple shots to get the lead to four, and then Punahou went bang-bang with the two 3s and that was kind of it for tonight,” Kamehameha coach Larry Park said. “But that’s this league; it’s execution in those key moments.”
Wade, a junior who is committed to play men’s volleyball for Hawaii and his father, head coach Charlie Wade, scored 11 in Tuesday’s loss, mostly on a series of mid-range shots.
Park said Wade missed a couple of weekends in December for volleyball, but otherwise has been with the group all season.
“He’s really skilled, because of his size he gets labeled a post, but he can catch the ball and can score it from 3-point line, from inside,” Park said. “So, it’s kind of that skill that’s a tough matchup for guys at times.”
He's complemented by dangerous outside shooters in Xander Aquino and Nahiku Nahale-a, who combined for 16 points and three 3-pointers.
"They can make it about 4 feet off the 3," Matsuda said. "It’s very tough to guard. So, we had to try to be real disciplined, try to catch them in transition and try to stay on their shooters."
Kamehameha (1-2) travels to Maryknoll (1-2) on Thursday night amid a brutal stretch of the season – five straight road games. The Warriors close with four in a row at Kekuhaupio Gym.
Punahou last won it all in 2018 under Matsuda, while Kamehameha's most recent state title came in 2011 under Jesse Nakanishi. The ILH has won the last five HHSAA Division I state titles in boys basketball.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.
