Hawaii Prep boys basketball coach Dave Huntington is eager to put last season behind him. At the same time, his players are eager to defend their Division II state title.

Ka Makani made their first — and what they hope isn't their last — appearance on Oahu with a 48-36 win over Mount Pleasant (San Jose, Calif.) in Friday's opening round of the 16-team Punahou Boys Basketball Invitational.

Leading the way for HPA was Nicolas Palleschi, who scored a game-high 18 points — including 13 in the second half. Palleschi is one of five seniors on Huntington's squad, which must replace four starters from last year's state-title winning team.

"We're a relatively new team," said Palleschi, a 6-foot-2 forward. "We lost almost all our starters — we only have one returning — but we're starting to jell, I think."

Among the crop of last year's seniors that Ka Makani lost to graduation is David Ovbagbedia, who had a double-double (12 points and 11 rebounds) in the 42-33 win over Kalani in the state championship game and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the state tournament.

Palleschi, who was named to the All-Tournament Team along with Ovbagbedia and point guard Justas Gecas, said he and his teammates are fully aware of the target on their collective backs as the reigning state champs.

"For sure, definitely," Palleschi said. "Everyone wants us, especially back on the Big Island, but here (on Oahu) as well. Teams are going to give us their best and we have to meet them up, but I think it definitely works for us, too, because we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard — like almost perfection — and I think that's really helped us so far."

Huntington, on the other hand, isn't worried about the past or expectations put upon his team by others.

"At this time of the year … we've just go to get better and we're not worried about scoring reports or anything like that," Huntington said. "We've got to develop some principles and stick to them and we're getting there."

HPA's next test will come in the form of top-ranked Punahou in an 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal Saturday.