Punahou shrugs off AOP’s challenge

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The Punahou boys basketball team lost momentum, gave up the lead and looked to be in some trouble late against Academy of the Pacific on Saturday night.

Then Punahou, the "gorilla" of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, pounded its chest and finished off the Dolphins.

Nick Velasquez scored 13 points, reserve Dayson Watanabe added 11 and Punahou finished the game on a 6-1 run to beat AOP 47-43 in the final of the AOP Classic at Farrington.

"I’m really proud of the kids’ resolve to finish that game," said Punahou coach Darren Matsuda. "They fought, we fought, we just happened to be on top today."

AOP went on a 12-0 run to take a 42-41 lead with 4:35 remaining. Watanabe, a Buffanblu freshman, hit a pair of free throws to give the Buffanblu the lead, and Velasquez scored on a putback and added two free throws with 28 seconds remaining for the final margin.

"We played the big gorilla tonight," said AOP coach Walter Marciel. "Punahou is a big school, we’re a small school. Our boys want to prove we belong in the league (ILH) and we want to play with the big guys. In the second half, we showed Punahou we’re going to be here this year and put up a fight every single time."

Punahou, which substituted 5-for-5 midway through the first three periods, got 22 points from its bench.

"Especially in the preseason we’re going to play pretty much everybody," Matsuda said. "It’s early, so we’re trying to determine roles and see who can play for us in the regular season. I feel our team is really deep, we’re together and we can play all 15 guys, I feel."

Watanabe hit three 3-pointers in the first half as Punahou, ranked No. 2 in the Star-Advertiser’s Top 10 poll, took a 29-21 advantage.

"I knew I had to give our team a boost a little bit," he said.

Punahou (3-0) took its largest lead of the game at 41-30 with 1:22 remaining in the third period. No. 5 AOP then reeled off 12 in a row to take the lead.

"We didn’t play our tough defense in the first half at all," Marciel said. "We let Punahou do what they wanted to do. Second half, we came down hard. I could see it in my players’ eyes they were ready to play."

From there, the Buffanblu’s defense smothered the Dolphins.

"We all pulled together as a team and we made it happen," Velasquez said.

Wilson Macleod scored 11 points for AOP (5-1).