Randon Oda and the Buffanblu will look to bounce back Friday against the Spartans. Celine Troung | Special to SL

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Randon Oda and the Buffanblu will look to bounce back Friday against the Spartans. Celine Troung | Special to SL

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The amount of Buffanblu wins are aplenty, but win No. 20 will have to wait another week.

Punahou, the top-ranked team since the start of the ScoringLive/OC16 Boys Basketball Power Rankings, suffered their first loss of the season Wednesday night at the hands of the third ranked Iolani Raiders.

A telling sign that the win streak would not reach 20 was when Punahou’s No. 20, Danny Andrews, was nowhere to be seen amongst the startling lineups. ScoringLive reporter Brandon Ching wrote in his game story that Andrews suffered a knee-injury during pre-game warm ups.

In yesterday’s blog post, I had written in length that a key part of Wednesday’s matchup hinges on the battle between Andrews and Iolani center Kamu Borden. Andrews going down before the game made the battle in the paint non-existent and the Raiders were able to take advantage and come away with a win.

Without Andrews in the game, the Buffanblu were without an established post presence both offensively and defensively. The impact of Andrews' absence was evident in the disparity in how many 3-point attempts each team took. Punahou attempted 18 shot attempts from beyond arc while Iolani attempted only five from 3-point land, way down from their 23 attempts in their previous matchup against Maryknoll.

Now the question is who's No. 1? Most would assume that Punahou would get bumped a few spots, but they still have a chance to redeem themselves with No. 2 Maryknoll on the horizon. The Buffanblu still has one of the deepest teams in the state, not to mention a state title winning coach in Darren Matsuda. There's no reason to believe that this squad can't bounce back from this loss.

As I write this, it is still unknown of Andrews will be out for an extended amount of time. Whether or not if Andrews is able to return, this year's Buffanblu squad has dealt with adversity all year long. Notable examples are losing point guard Jordan Tanuvasa to injury before the season, and winning the Jim Alegre tournament in the preseason after an SAT morning. Experiences like these provide key growing experiences for a team with championship aspirations.

Should Andrews be out for an extended amount of time, look for Blake Wade to fill the void down low. In the times that I've seen Wade this year, he has provided quality minutes as a quality big man, bolstering the reserves' group effort. Wade is also no stranger to adversity, having had to sit out the past couple seasons with injuries of his own.

Punahou takes on Maryknoll tomorrow at the T.C. Ching gymnasium. Tip-off is slated for 6:30 p.m.