Kamehameha showed last night that its busy schedule has not resulted in weary legs just yet, as the Warriors held off Campbell, 67-53, in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines Boys Basketball State Championships.

Kamehameha, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's third-place team and defending state champ, improved to 14-4 and will face No. 2 seed and O'ahu Interscholastic Association champion Moanalua (15-1) in tonight's 7 o'clock quarterfinal at McKinley's Student Council Gym.

The game will be televised live statewide on OC16.

The Warriors have played an NBA-like schedule the past two weeks, with six games in 12 days. That included a 75-60 play-in victory at Honoka'a on Monday to qualify for the state tournament.

"But these kids are 15, 16, 17 years old ... they should be able to run every day," said Kamehameha coach Jesse Nakanishi. "I don't use (the busy schedule) as an excuse, and (the players) shouldn't, either."

Last night at McKinley, OIA fourth-place finisher Campbell (11-5) took a 3-2 lead, but the Warriors responded with a 12-0 run started by Dyrbe Enos' 3-pointer and ending on Frank Ho's 3 to make it 14-3.

Kamehameha led, 20-10, after the first period and 36-23 by halftime. After Micah Christenson's 3-pointer made it 48-29 with 5:03 remaining in the third quarter, Campbell rallied to close it to 51-42 entering the fourth. But Brandon Orpillia opened the final period with a 3-pointer and the Sabers could not get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

"They're just a good team, a good program," Sabers coach Wyatt Tau said. "They had to play on Monday, but I told our guys that regardless of that, (the Warriors) are going to come to play. They've been here before, they won it last year, they know how to get there."

Junior forward Christenson led Kamehameha with a game-high 23 points and 12 rebounds and also made five assists.

Charlton Tang added 17 points and Enos 12 points for the Warriors. Kristian Manuel led Campbell with 17 points and Fouina Haskins added 13 points.

Kamehameha point guard Chaz Bajet, who had missed the past month with a cartilage injury in his left knee, was back in the starting lineup and contributed four points, two assists and one steal in 12 minutes.

Nakanishi said Bajet brings senior leadership that goes far beyond statistics.

"We were lacking that a little bit — we could use some of his experience, aggressiveness, urgency," Nakanishi said.

CAMPBELL (11-5) 10 13 19 11 — 53

KS-O'AHU (14-4) 20 16 15 16 — 67

CAMPBELL—Kristian Manuel 17, Fouina Haskins 13, Christian Storment 7, Allan Otanes 0, Mason Mau 2, Christian Jay Ramos 2, Clayton Darity 0, Christopher Crawford 6, Carter Kauwenaole 0, Maika Ulufale 6. Totals 20 12-19 53.

KAMEHAMEHA—Shane Matayoshi 4, Micah Christensen 23, Chaz Bajet 4, Charlton Tang 17, Dyrbe Enos 12, Christopher Bright 0, Frank Ho 3, Branden Orpillia 4, Brent Auyong 0, Davis Achong 0, Shane Yoshida 0. Totals 23 16-22 67.

3-point goals — Campbell 1 (Manuel). Kamehameha 5 (Enos 2, Christensen, Ho, Orpillia).

PUNAHOU 59, KS-MAUI 45

Kamehameha-Maui's "shooter's chance" fizzled out in the third period last night, as the Buffanblu pulled away from the Warriors in first-round action at McKinley.

ILH runner-up Punahou improved to 12-3 and will face No. 3 seed and Big Island Interscholastic Federation champ Hilo (11-4) in today's 5 p.m. quarterfinal at McKinley.

That game also will be televised live statewide.

Kamehameha-Maui, the Maui Interscholastic League runner-up, fell to 9-6 and into the consolation bracket.

The Warriors shot the ball well in the first half and trailed 24-20 after Blake Lau's 3-pointer from the corner a minute into the third quarter. But Punahou answered with consecutive bank shots by DeForest Buckner and Malik Johnson, followed by Sean McFadden's putback to make it 30-20.

By the end of the period, it was 39-26 after Matt Feldman's baseline jumper with three seconds remaining.

"I thought we did a decent job defending the post in the first half, but Punahou has two big boys (Buckner and Johnson) who can play," said Kamehameha-Maui coach Chad Kalehuawehe. "They owned the boards at times and took us out of our game plan. We stopped running plays and doing what we're good at."

The Buffanblu stretched the lead to 52-30 midway through the fourth quarter, and the Warriors could not get closer than the final score.

"I was more concerned about how we were playing (than Kamehameha-Maui's shooting)," Punahou coach Alika Smith said. "(The Warriors) were playing a matchup zone, they were mixing it up, but we missed some chip shots. I told our guys nothing would come easy, and they found that out first-hand. We executed better in the second half."

Buckner led the Buffanblu with 12 points and a game-high 17 rebounds and five blocked shots. Henry Cassiday and JK Duncan each added 10 points.

Duncan's production included two 3-pointers.

"He had a great game coming off the bench," Smith said.

Kekoa Turbeville scored a game-high 19 points for Kamehameha-Maui.

KS-MAUI (9-6) 6 10 10 19 — 45

PUNAHOU (12-3) 11 11 17 20 — 59

KAMEHAMEHA-MAUI—Blake Lau 8, Tyler Hilsabeck 7, Kekoa Turbeville 19, Terani Richmond 6, Jayden Hedge 0, Kawika Kong 0, Kamalei Medeiros 2, Hinano DeLima 3, Brandon Gurat 0. Totals 16 7-16 45.

PUNAHOU—Henry Cassiday 10, Sean McGadden 2, Matthew Feldman 6, Malik Johnson 8, DeForest Buckner 12, Patrick O'Neill 0, Kevin Mukai 0, Bryan Matsukawa 3, Noah Hammond 0, James Dowsett 5, Dylan Hudson 1, James Duncan 10, Kyle Tuumalo 1, Kaiwi Crabb 1. Totals 24 7-15 59.

3-point goals — KS-Maui 6 (Lau 2, Hilsabeck 2, Turbeville, Richmond). Punahou 4 (Duncan 2, Matsukawa, Dowsett).

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