Punahou pounds AOP

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Christopher McLaren of Punahou drove the baseline against Academy of the Pacific's Kona Makaula last night. The Buffanblu beat the Dolphins 53-40 at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

DeForest Buckner amassed 19 points and 23 rebounds as No. 6 Punahou handed No. 3 AOP its first loss in league play, 53-40, last night at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

A crowd of about 400 saw Punahou improve to 5-1 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (18-4 overall) with an all-out defensive effort. Malik Johnson led the way, using his 6-foot-6 frame to battle AOP's top scorer, Micah Dunhour, in the low post.

Dunhour finished with 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting, but he never got into a rhythm against the Buffanblu and their double-teaming, man-to-man defense. Johnson's relentless effort set the tone; he was still diving for loose balls with a minute left and Punahou ahead by 14.

The Dolphins dropped to 3-1 in ILH play (13-4 overall), despite leading for most of the first half in Punahou's gym.

"Like I told the boys, this is our house and nobody can come into our house and disrespect us, come in thinking they can beat us," said Buckner, who ended the first half with a rim-rocking slam dunk on a fast-break feed from Patrick O'Neill. That gave Punahou a 24-21 lead at intermission and got the Buffanblu crowd into the game.

Buckner, now listed at 6-8, dominated the third quarter as the visitors went cold from the field and the line. AOP was 0-for-5 at the charity stripe and Buckner grabbed 10 boards in the stanza.

Reserve guard Nicholas Velasquez added fuel to the fire by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers as Punahou went on a 16-6 run to start the second half. Buckner's free throws, plus a putback, opened the lead to 45-29 with 3:47 remaining. AOP got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.

In all, 14 of Buckner's caroms were on the offensive glass. Punahou won the battle on the boards 37-20 and limited the Dolphins to 40 percent shooting (17-for-43) from the field.

AOP finished just 5-for-17 from the foul line, a cold streak that Punahou knew well last week. The Buffanblu were 7-for-22 from the line in a loss to Kamehameha-Hawaii. That inspired players to have a meeting and a shooting workout at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday before class.

"We wanted to practice our free throws," Buckner said. "(Kamehameha-Hawaii) outhustled us and put everything on the line. Tonight, we wanted to make a statement that we can hustle."

Punahou shot better last night -- 14-for-27 -- and gained some confidence by beating an AOP squad that knocked off Kamehameha recently in a nonconference matchup. It all went back to that semifinal loss to Kamehameha-Hawaii in the St. Francis/Merv Lopes Classic.

"We learned a big lesson from that game. You have to stay in that mode and have consistent effort no matter what the score is," Buffanblu coach Darren Matsuda said.

Punahou tested AOP with a 1-2-2 zone early, but shelved it quickly.

"They made us pay, so we went to the man-to-man. We really had to fight," Matsuda said.

Officials called it tight early on, but gradually allowed more contact between the two tall teams in the second and third quarters. That seemed to benefit the more physical, scrappy squad -- Punahou.

"Officials are something we can't control," Matsuda said. "We just try to adjust."

If playing with a sense of urgency matters, Punahou appears to be ready now.

"It's really close this year, so you've got to really bring it every time," he said.

Velasquez, a sophomore, added 10 points. Johnson finished with five points, seven boards and four blocks.

Dunhour added six rebounds and three blocks to lead the Dolphins.