Punahou's Jordan Tanuvasa puts up a jumper against McKinley. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou's Jordan Tanuvasa puts up a jumper against McKinley. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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KAILUA - Senior point guard Jordan Tanuvasa set the tone early, scoring early and often to help Punahou defeat McKinley, 55-46, Saturday night to capture the Pete Smith Basketball Classic championship at Kalaheo.

Tanuvasa, who scored the first five points of the game on a dribble drive and then a 3-pointer, scored a game-high 25 points, including five of his team's seven 3-pointers.

"I've been working on my shot," Tanuvasa said. "I'm never going to be complacent, keep working. Before today, I got a quick workout with my dad. My teammates were getting me involved, hats off to them."

"He came out aggressive," Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said of Tanuvasa. "I thought in the second half, he did a very good job. He and Dayson (Watanabe) are point guards, but they're scoring point guards. They have a tough job. They have to find that medium of getting everybody involved and being aggressive."

The Tigers, who missed the OIA tournament last season because they finished seventh in the East, was the giant slayer in the Classic until they ran into the Buffanblu. McKinley beat defending West champion Campbell, defending Big Island champion Konawaena and host Kalaheo, which was third in the OIA last year, to reach the Smith final.

Punahou was on its game defensively, denying McKinley open shots. Moreover, the Buffanblu committed only nine fouls. The Tigers went to the free-throw line only three times, converting all six shots. McKinley was 21 of 27 from the line in its win against McKinley on Tuesday. Punahou also shutdown Dan Villejo, who had three points on one of his team's six 3-pointers. He scored 27 against Campbell with five treys.

"Last week, we really worked on our defense," Matsuda said. "The first week, Farrington kind of exposed a lot of stuff, so I'm really proud of the guys. That''s a quick team, a very quick team. They're very good at moving the ball. We had to be very disciplined and stop them."

Punahou led most of the first half, but McKinley pulled to 18-17 on Jonah Howard's 3-pointer at 5:40 in the second quarter. But Justin Kam responded with a 3-pointer to cushion the Buffanblu lead. Tanuvasa then closed the first half with his third 3-pointer of the game that made it 31-26.

Punahou continued to maintain its edge in the second half. The closest the Tigers got was within 47-42 with 4:12 in the fourth quarter on Kyle Moraga's 3-pointer. But Punahou continued to pull away to secure its win.

Punahou will host its Invitational starting Friday, opening with Castle. The Buffanblu could run into Farrington or Kalaheo in the title game, as the two OIA East powers are in the opposite bracket.

"We have some great teams in the tournament," Tanuvasa said. "Hopefully, we can perform how we did in this one."