Less than a week ago, Makoa Camanse-Stevens was helping lead the West to a 21-20 win against the East in the HUB Goodwill Senior Bowl.

Thursday night, he helped Kamehameha beat Leilehua, 47-35, in an opening-round game of the James Alegre Basketball Invitational at James Alegre Gymnasium.

The Warriors will play Pearl City in the 6 p.m. semifinal Friday, while the Mules will play McKinley in a 3 p.m. consolation-bracket game.

The 14th annual tournament is named for Radford's legendary basketball coach, Jim Alegre, who amassed more than 600 victories in his 34 seasons at the school.

The 6-foot-4 Camanse-Stevens, a quarterback in football, was a force on both sides of the court, scoring a game-high 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and blocking at least five shots.

"The torch has been passed to him and it's time for him to step it up," Kamehameha coach Julian Nakanishi said. "He's expected to lead this team."

He displayed the leadership the Warriors needed after a slow start against the Mules, who list only three players taller than 6 feet compared to Kamehameha's 10 of 12 players hovering from at least 6 feet balll.

The scrappy Mules held their own under the board to keep the game close. The game was scoreless for under half of the first period, as Kamehameha was 0 for 6 from the free throw line. But the Warriors took a 6-5 lead entering the second quarter.

Leilehua opened the second quarter with a 10-3 run to take a 15-9 lead with 2:32 left in the half. But the Warriors found their game the rest of the half, ending it with a 9-0 run to take an 18-15 lead into the break.

The Warriors began opening the margin in the third quarter. With a 21-18 lead, Camanse-Stevens drained two of his four 3-pointers within a 40-second span to make it 27-18. He opened the fourth quarter with another 3 to make it 32-24. The Mules would pull to 32-31 about two minutes into the quarter. But Kamehameha went on a 15-2 run to close out the Mules.

Kamehameha finished 6 of 6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter after a 1-for-11 start.

"First half was just opening-game jitters," Nakanishi said. "The whole game was kind of what we expected, guys getting on the court, figuring out where they have to be, what their roles are. It was erratic, it was ugly. But sometimes, you have get an ugly win."

Camanse-Stevens practiced basketball after his team's season ended, but reverted to football when the HUB teams had practices. After Friday's football game, he went back to the court the next day. And didn't miss a beat. He credits his blocked shots to his teammates.

"I give that to my teammates," he said. "While they're poking at the ball at the guy dribbling the whole time, then I come in. I have the was job."