Watch out, ILH, Moanalua already has accepted the challenge.

Na Menehune prepped for their own tournament, next week’s Na Menehune Basketball Classic dubbed the OIA/ILH Challenge, with a resounding 42-34 win over Kamehameha to take the championship of the James Alegre Classic at Radford on Saturday. Moanalua beat defending state champion Punahou in the semifinals.

"We did a lot of practice for this," senior guard Kahanu Pu‘ulei-Auld said. "It lets us know where we stand, but we have a lot more work to do before next week."

Moanalua next plays ‘Iolani on Thursday at home and finishes the tournament with a clash against Maryknoll on Saturday, with a rematch against Kamehameha in between. Na Menehune also have a win over the ILH’s Saint Louis in the preseason.

Moanalua forced the Warriors into 10 turnovers and just four points in the decisive third quarter. Sophomore Eliet Donley led all scorers with 12 points but sealed it with a pair of nifty assists with just under four minutes left to run the margin from five points to nine. He added a pair of free throws, his only points of the second half, to put Moanalua up 42-31 with 1:09 left. Jamaal Willis and Pu‘ulei-Auld each added eight points for Na Menehune and Makana Harrison led the Warriors with 10 points before fouling out.

Both teams were without key players, as Jon-Michael Sharsh missed the game for Moanalua because of a football commitment and Makoa Camanse-Stevens sat out with an injured ankle. Moanalua’s bench outscored Kamehameha 8-3 in the first half but only 9-7 in the game.

"We still should have more than enough to hang," Kamehameha coach Julian Nakanishi said about being without Camanse-Stevens. "It shows how raw we are age-wise and guys not knowing the system right now. It will get better with time."

Moanalua will go straight into the ‘Iolani Classic after the OIA/ILH Challenge, leaving it battle-tested and more confident than last year, when it had a young squad that went 6-4 in the preseason. Na Menehune are 5-0 so far this year.

"What I am extremely pleased about is the competition level," Moanalua coach Greg Tacon said. "The intensity we had to have to be able to play teams like this. Playing these ILH teams is terrific, it can only help us."