Josh Ko scored a game-high 15 points and Derick Morgan added 14 points last night as visiting Kalaheo held off Kaimuki, 55-44, in O'ahu Interscholastic Association boys basketball action.

The Mustangs improved to 2-0 in the OIA Eastern Division, while the Bulldogs fell to 1-1.

Kalaheo will compete for the league's White Conference (Division II) championship, but this year's integrated schedule has the White and Red (DI) teams like Kaimuki facing each other during the regular season.

"The whole East is tough, but the four teams in the White (Kalaheo, McKinley, Farrington and Kaiser) can beat anybody in the Red," said Brandon Young, Kaimuki's first-year coach.

Kalaheo, which dominated OIA basketball with 15 league titles between 1984 and 2004, had already defeated Division I opponents Kamehameha, Kahuku (twice), Mid-Pacific and Kealakehe during the nonleague season.

The Mustangs started strong again last night, taking a 20-11 lead after Derick Morgan's three-point play with 3.6 seconds remaining in the first period. But Jordan Palik drained a running, double-pump 25-footer at the buzzer to start the Bulldogs on a 15-0 run capped by Tim Tolenoa's reverse to make it 26-20 with 5:26 left in the half.

Silila Tucker finally broke the string with a 3-pointer as Kalaheo finished the quarter with a 9-2 run to lead 29-28 at the break.

"At halftime, Coach (Alika Smith) just told us to stay calm, run our plays and play defense," Ko said.

The Mustangs pushed the lead to 41-36 entering the fourth period and 47-38 after Jordyn Reindollar's putback with 6:45 remaining. Kaimuki closed it to 47-44 on Tolenoa's putback with 3:23 left, but Shem Sukumaran scored on a putback with 1:35 remaining and Ko sank four straight free throws in the final 43 seconds as Kalaheo closed out the game with an 8-0 run.

"We were up, 20-11, then they went on a 15-0 run and at that point we could have gone downhill," Smith said. "But in the second half we got better at finding the open man. Jordyn came up big on the offensive boards, and that's the kind of effort we need. Derick came through with some big baskets, Silila Tucker hit a couple key shots ... it helps when guys step up like that."

Dio Taulung led the Bulldogs with 11 points.

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