The Punahou boys basketball team celebrated coach Darren Matsuda's birthday in comeback fashion Wednesday night.

Punahou outscored Leilehua 27-14 in the fourth quarter to pick up a 68-63 win on the first day of the 17th annual James Alegre Invitational at Radford high school Wednesday night.

"We're real young this year so we're just really trying to find ourselves," said Matsuda, who turned 44. "It was one of those games where we really try to teach life moments about staying in the moment and trying to stay the course.

"I think that's what it's going to be this year for us. We need try to learn those lessons and hopefully get better and better so we're competing there at the end."

Four Buffanblu players finished in double figures to help fend off a dominant performance by Leilehua point guard Joseph Gouty, who scored a game-high 26 points. 

"Punahou is a really good team and it was an opportunity for us to get quality work against a quality opponent so it worked out for us," said first-year Leilehua coach Russ Fitzgerald. 

Senior guard Jared Lum had a solid all-around performance to help guide the Buffanblu team past the Mules. Lum had 11 points, six rebounds and six assists against one turnover. 

"He just does all the little things on the court and is a great leader for our kids," Matsuda said on Lum. "Jared has been on the team since a freshman and he has an opportunity this year to really lead the team and be the guy."

Chris Kobayashi led the Buffanblu in scoring with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field. The junior guard sunk his first three shot attempts and also had the go-ahead triple to give Punahou the lead for good, 52-51 with 5:34 remaining in regulation.

"He's one of the best we have," Lum said on Kobayashi. "We always try to get him open. He can knock down 3-pointers and that's huge for our offense. Whenever we go inside the paint, he's always there for the kick out pass." 

Cole Arceneaux finished with 11 points and Zayne Chong had 10 points off the bench to round out the Punahou players in double figures. Center Jack-Eli Thompson-Tufono scored the first six points for the Buffanblu and had six rebounds. 

The Buffanblu trailed 49-41 after three quarters, but was able to wear down the Mules with their defense in the final period of play to pick up their second win in three days. Leilehua committed six of their 18 total turnovers in the fourth quarter. 

"We pressured them the whole game," said Lum. "We just tired them out. We always trust each other and we played great team defense. It just worked out in the end." 

Punahou had a 12-man rotation while the Leilehua only used eight players in the contest. Fitzgerald said that his team was without some players due to missed practices, but took nothing away from the Buffanblu's victory.

"I thought their defense played well all night," he said. "I thought our fatigue was our biggest factor, but that's to take nothing away from Punahou. That's what good teams do; they have depth to run at you. They wear you down and when you wear down, they come with that second wave." 

The Buffanblu jumped out to an early 19-10 lead thanks to Kobayashi and Thompson-Tufonu, and held a five-point lead heading into the next period.

Punahou maintained its and took a 26-20 advantage midway through the second quarter on Lum's baseline drive

Leilehua then went on a 12-0 run to take a 32-26 lead with 1:49 left in the first half. The Mules would hold on to the lead until Kobayashi's go-ahead triple.

"We've been working on ball movement and selfless passing," said Fitzgerald. "If you watch a lot of those baskets we had, they weren't self-created. They were created off of a dribble, space or a drive. That's what we want to do. We want to be a team where the ball is shared and the open man takes the shot." 

Liam Fitzgerald added 12 points and a game-high five steals for the Mules. Leilehua reserve Trey Boatwright chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds and Nicholas Duran had nine points and five boards.