Punahou's Dayson Watanabe leaps past Maryknoll defenders for a basket. Jessica Oda | Special to SL

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011814_EA_BBKB_JO_PUN-MRYKNL_1-17-14_7.jpg - Jessica Oda | Special to SL

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MAKIKI — On his 17th birthday, Justin Kam felt like giving instead of receiving. The junior forward scored a game-high 25 points Friday night to lead Punahou to a 63-52 win over Maryknoll before a capacity crowd at Clarence T. C. Ching Gymnasium.

The Buffanblu, who are ranked No. 1 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, rebounded from their first loss of the season Wednesday to improve to 19-1 overall and 4-1 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I standings. The second-ranked Spartans fell to 17-3 and 4-1.

Kam scored 10 of his points in the opening quarter, including two of his three 3-pointers for the game, and added 13 second-half points. He finished one point shy of his season-high.

"We had a hard loss (to Iolani) Wednesday, so we had to come out with energy today," Kam said. "The team needed someone step up, so I tried to step up and kept trying to score."

Punahou also benefitted from the presence of senior post player Daniel Andrews, who did not play Wednesday after going down with a knee injury in warm-ups. Andrews scored 13 points and nine rebounds Friday.

"To be honest with you it was a roller coaster of a 48 hours," Buffanblu coach Darren Matsuda said. "We honestly thought Danny might be out for the year with a knee injury and it was kind of a game-time decision (Friday). He didn't practice yesterday, he said it was really sore, but we got his MRI back and it was clear. He really wanted to play and he really helped us today."

Andrews started against Maryknoll and had nine points by halftime. He fouled out with one minute and 38 seconds to play.

"Dan is a big part of our team and losing him is a big loss, but today he came out, played well and we just fed off of his energy," Kam said.

Punahou never trailed Friday, jumping out an early 8-2 lead after two early 3-pointers from Kam. An easy basket by Andrews off an assist from Dayson Watanabe a few minutes later gave the Buffanblu a 14-5 lead and forced Maryknoll to call its first timeout. Punahou took an 18-10 lead to start the second quarter, but the Spartans scored the first five points of the period to pull within 18-15.

Watanabe scored on three consecutive Buffanblu possessions, however, Maryknoll got back-to-back buckets from Josh Burnett and Kaleb Gilmore to make it 24-22. The Spartans closed out the second quarter on a 9-3 run to cut the Punahou lead to 33-30 at halftime.

Punahou held a 44-39 advantage after three quarters and quickly stretched it to a nine-point lead after five straight points by Kam.

"Justin didn't have a great game against Iolani and I think he came out in the beginning being aggressive," Matsuda said. "He's always been a role player, but he's not a role player anymore. He has a certain responsibility as a player as one of our leading scorers to come out and be aggressive and he did a great job of that tonight."

The Buffanblu led by as many as 12 following Kam's basket with 4:26 to play that made the score 53-41. The Spartans pulled within seven points with 1:52 remaining on a Tyson Kaloa outback, but Punahou scored on five of their final six possessions to ice it.

"The good thing about it is sports epitomizes life — you're going to have your roller-coaster rides up and down — and after we lost to Iolani we really talked to the kids about staying in the moment, persevering through the hard times and the difficult times, so it was a great life lesson for us, a great sports lesson and hopefully that helps us get stronger and become a better team," Matsuda said.

Gilmore scored a team-high 22 points and Burnett added 14 to lead Maryknoll, which hosts Mid-Pacific Wednesday.

Watanabe finished with 12 points for Punahou, which visits Saint Louis Wednesday.