Punahou's Nick Velasquez drives to the basket past a King Kekaulike defender. Ryan Sakamoto | Special to SL

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022113__DSC5852.jpg - Ryan Sakamoto | Special to SL

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Defending state champion Punahou toppled third-seed King Kekaulike, 56-32, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Division I Boys Basketball State Championships.

In the first quarter, Punahou scored all 10 points in the paint, mostly dump offs from guards to Kupono Fey and Daniel Andrews. It was a tightly contested first quarter with Punahou leading 10-8.

"The effort wasn't there last night what it should have been, but tonight there was effort. Our coach did a good job scouting these guys so we had an idea of what they were going to run. The guards had more opportunities and made good passes," said Andrews.

"That was our strategy and our guards are good play-makers and make good decisions and I like to play to the strength of our team," said Punahou head coach Darren Matsuda.

Second quarter, the Na Ali'i tied the game up at 10 after a layup from Jacob Havron. Punahou turned up the defensive pressure and used a 9-0 run to go up by 10, 22-12 after a Kanawai Noa made a fastbreak layup off a steal.

"I really felt we gave more energy today than yesterday. We wanted to concentrate on defense and we did a nice job. That's what we try to do. Today we wanted to put a lot of ball pressure and Kekaulike is very disciplined and run their sets really well so we had to apply ball pressure so we don't get carved up," said Coach Matsuda.

Daniel Andrews threw down a dunk in transition to go up 24-16. Kekaulike trimmed the deficit to 5, 24-19 after Havron made the layup as he was fouled.

Punahou took an 8-point lead going into halftime.

In the third quarter, Punahou's Nick Velasquez erupted on offense and scored 11 of 19 points in quarter. Although he was bothered by an ankle injury, he didn't show it tonight.

"My ankle felt a little tight today, I sprained it on Sunday. I'm glad it loosened up in the end. It was a collection of all us and we played hard and played in the moment," said Velasquez.

Fourth quarter, Punahou went up by as much as 24 and was never threatened. Coach Matsuda was able to empty his bench and give his reserves playing time.

Punahou plays in a difficult bracket and was tested early, but moves on to play 2 seed Kalaheo.

"This is great because we have a young team and so every game is important for us because we can grow every game," said Matsuda.

"This is where we want to be and we'll see how we do tomorrow," said Andrews.