Kamren Victorino-Kato drives to the hoop against Kailua's Christian Mejia. Victorino-Kato scored 25 points in the Warriors' win. Pete Caldwell | SL

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KAILUA—Kamehameha-Kapalama shot 11-for-14 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to pull away from tournament host Kailua, 50-38, to win the 5th Annual Surfriders Holiday Classic at Harry Murai Gymnasium on Saturday night.

It was a grind-it-out matchup for both squads, but ultimately it was the Warriors who pulled away for good toward the end.

"That's how it should be. Kailua is a very talented team. For us to compete against them, we wanted to get out and get going, but it's hard because they do a good job on the boards and knocked down jumpers and couldn't get out in transition. I'm very pleased with the way we played the first two nights and then win a grinder because this one was a grinder," said Kamehameha coach Greg Tacon.

Kamren Victorino-Kato was the source of offense as he scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the second half and shot 8-for-9 from the charity stripe to lead the Warriors. The next highest scorer on the team was Christmas Togiai with six points.

"A lot of times we set some on ball screens. He refused the screen because he knew what was going on and he finished. We needed him tonight because we had a hard time knocking down shots early," said Tacon.

"My teammates put me in the position to succeed and get me in the right spots," said Victorino-Kato, who also had four steals.

Kamehameha maintained a four point lead throughout the fourth. Everett Torres-Kahapea was fouled on a 3-point attempt, but only made 2 of 3 free throws to bring the Surfriders within two, 38-36 with 3:38 remaining.

Christian Mejia, who grabbed six rebounds, committed his fourth foul with 3:51 remaining and picked up his fifth foul at the 1:52 mark and was ejected for arguing the call.

"That's what preseason is all about. This tournament showed that we can play with some of these guys (Iolani and Kamehameha). We have to be able to hold our composure and make plays at the end," said Kailua coach Walter Marciel.

Victorino-Kato sank the foul and technical free throws to give the Warriors a four-point swing to make it, 45-36 and Kailua was never able to recover. The Warriors shot 9-for-10 from the free throw line in the final 2 minutes and 45 seconds of the game and shot 12-for-18 (66.6 percent) overall.

"This is a positive. We have three returnees and this was a big game and Kailua pushed us to our limits," said Victorino-Kato.

"The last four minutes did not go our way and it showed on the score afterwards," said Marciel.

The Surfriders raced out to an 8-0 lead, forcing Kamehameha to call a timeout at the 3:41 mark and would take a 10-6 after the first quarter.

The Warriors went up to reclaim the lead, 11-10 after Victorino-Kato's jumper. Torres-Kahapea, who led the team with 13 points, was hot behind the arc, hitting two of his three first half 3's to give Kailua a 20-16 lead at halftime.

"I'm pleased where we're at. Our biggest thing to work on is communication with each other. If we can get that down, we can be a pretty good ball club," said Marciel.

Kailua held the lead for most of the third quarter and went up by as much as six, but the Warriors chipped away to bring it within one and eventually took the lead. Victorino-Kato had a running 3-pointer before the buzzer to tie the game at 32 heading into the fourth quarter.