Fourth-seeded Konawaena's defense was too much for Pearl City in a 44-33 quarterfinal win Thursday night in the Hawaiian Airlines Division I boys' basketball state tournament at McKinley.

The Wildcats, hoping to catch up with the success of their girls' program, advance to the semifinals against top-seeded Maryknoll, 7 p.m. Friday at the Blaisdell Arena. This only the second time Konawaena has made the semifinals; it last did it in 2008, when it lost to Punahou, 61-35.

Keenan Gaspar led Konawaena's balanced offensive attack with 12 points. Brenton Shopshire had nine and Nick Mims added eight.

The Chargers, who beat Moanalua in overtime in Wednesday's opening round, got 11 points apiece from Tyson Hickox and Sonny Glisson. A tell tale of Pearl City's woes was that each did all his scoring in one half. Hickox was shutout in the second half, while Glisson was scoreless in the first.

"My big boy (6-foot-8 Shopshire) was taking him off the dribble," Konawaena coach Donald Awa said. "When he was on him, No. 12 (Hickox) kept getting him off the dribble. We had to make some switches. We talked about doubling down on him right away."

Shopshire also led with 10 rebounds.

Konawaena scored four field goals, including one 3-pointer, after turnovers.

The Wildcats stormed out to a 12-0 lead and didn't see the Chargers answer until a little past the halfway mark of the first quarter when Hickox drained a 3-pointer. Konawaena took a 13-5 lead into the second quarter.

Konawaena opened its lead to 15-5 one minute into the second quarter then went into a four-minute drought. But Pearl City could only pull to with in 15-11 before the Wildcats found the basket again.

"We go about eight deep, so we don't have to worry so much about legs," Awa said. "Defense is something you can always count on. You can't mess up on defense. It's all about working hard."

It was 23-15 at the half.

The Chargers labored from the field to start the third. Their first field goal of the second half came on a outback by Daicorri Briscoe off an offensive rebound from a missed free throw with 5:40 on the clock.

Fouls also hampered the Chargers. Isaac Amorin drew his fourth with 1:23 in the third quarter and he would foul out with 3:19 left in the game. Shortly after, Reymart Rosario fouled out.

The Chargers would pull to within 34-29 with 3:25 left on Glisson's 3-pointer, but the Wildcats would again pull away.