Punahou guard, Dayson Watanabe puts up a layup, against Iolani. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Justin Kam had a game high 18 points against the Iolani Raiders. Evan Asato | SL

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Tue, Feb 3, 2015 @ Punahou

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Iolani

32

Punahou

40

Final	1	2	3	4
Iolani (8-4, 18-8)	5	9	6	12	32
Punahou (11-1, 24-5)	8	10	11	11	40

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

J. Kam 18 pts  1 3pm  9/10 FTs

E. Yamada 14 pts  8/8 FTs

A. Troske 10 tot  2 off  8 def

B. Hamada 6 tot  1 off  5 def

D. Watanabe 2 ast

E. Yamada 2 ast

MAKIKI – After a one-year absence, Punahou is back in the state tournament.

A senior night crowd of about 500 was on hand to witness the Buffanblu defeat fourth-ranked Iolani, 40-32 at the Hemmeter Fieldhouse Tuesday. Punahou (7-1) locked up the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's regular-season title and one of the league's two state berths in the process.

"It means a lot. We missed out on states last year. It feels good to be back," said Punahou coach Darren Matsuda, whose team is ranked No. 3 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings. "Just to get out of the ILH is a really tough task. That (postseason) tournament is going to be brutal for that last seed. We're happy that we don't have to at least worry about that last state berth."

One key factor in the game was that Iolani (6-3) was without 6-foot-8 center Hugh Hogland for most of the night. After two missed shots and a turnover in the first couple of minutes of the first quarter, Hogland checked out of the game and never returned.

"He wasn't feeling well," Iolani coach Dean Shimamoto said when asked about Hogland's condition.

Punahou saw this and exploited it for the entire duration of the game. With 6-foot-4 Kamu Borden having to move from the four position to the five, Punahou forward JB Kam was able to have his second 18-point game in as many games.

Kam often found himself against smaller defenders, and was hacked multiple times as a result. He scored nine of his game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter, all of which came on free throws.

"We pounded it inside, took advantage of our mismatches and we (drew) a lot of fouls. Our post play was great and we just played inside out," explained Kam. 

Iolani was whistled for eight more fouls than the Buffanblu (19 to 11). The Raiders saw Pikai Winchester foul out of the game, and also had three other players finish with four fouls.

Besides Kam, Punahou center Akahi Troske also flourished with Hogland on the bench. Although he only finished with two points, Troske was a force on the defensive end with 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.

"It hurt a lot," Shimamoto said on Hogland's absence. "He makes a difference on both ends; defensively he protects the paint (and) offensively we count on him for some buckets in the post and maybe some offensive boards. That hurt definitely, but I'm proud of our guys. They just kept fighting."

Iolani's Erik Yamada had a season-high 14 points in the loss.

It was a rough shooting night for both teams as both teams shot under 40-percent from the field. Punahou only converted on 11 of its 33 shot attempts while Iolani was 10-for-37 from the field. 

The difference came from beyond the arc, where Punahou was able to knock down five triples. On the other hand, Iolani failed to convert on any of its eight attempts from 3-point range.

"It was just kind of an ugly game, a lot of free throws. I thought we could have finished a little better, maybe knocked down one of our outside opportunities. But in a game like this, it's a couple baskets here or there that can make all the difference. Credit to (Punahou), they grinded it out," said Shimamoto.

Although the 40 points scored was a season-low for the Buffanblu, Matsuda was pleased with his team's performance in a game that had a slower tempo than usual.

"We played a real conservative game today. It was more of a half court game. A lot more conservative than we usually do, but I like the way that we were disciplined," said Matsuda.

Punahou wraps up the regular season at Mid-Pacific (2-7) while Iolani returns home to face Maryknoll (4-4). Both games will be played next Tuesday.