Kamehameha senior Dyrbe Enos said the plan was to make Orlando Christian beat his team from the outside.
Orlando Christian had no problems with that.
The Warriors from Florida hit four of their seven 3-pointers in the first quarter, and Isaac Cohen led all scorers with 18 points in a 64-42 victory over Kamehameha on Friday night in the first round of the ‘Iolani Classic.
Enos led Kamehameha, the defending Hawaii state high school champion, with 14 points.
"They’re a tall, athletic, fast, quick team, but we played with all of our heart," Enos said. "We were focusing on giving them the 3 and making them hit the 3 instead of an easy layup."
Orlando Christian, ranked No. 41 in ESPN’s preseason Fab 50 rankings, scored 12 of its 18 first-quarter points from behind the arc.
When it wasn’t drilling 3-pointers, it relied on the slashing game of Cohen, who had 12 of his game-high 18 points in the first half.
Kamehameha shot just 4-for-19 from the field in a sloppy first half.
"We didn’t battle like we wanted to battle," Kamehameha coach Julian Nakanishi said. "They hit a lot of shots, and to beat a team like that, you have to catch them on an off night and hit on all cylinders.
"That wasn’t the case tonight."
Cohen’s 3-pointer forced Kamehameha to take its first timeout trailing 15-5.
After the timeout, Taylor Taliulu drained a 3-pointer for Kamehameha to cut the lead to single digits, but a 14-5 run put Orlando Christian up 16.
Dmitri Thompson added his second 3-pointer of the half to give the Warriors from Florida a 33-14 lead at halftime.
The two schools, who share the "Warriors" nickname, played close to even in the second half, with Orlando Christian outscoring Kamehameha 31-28.
Noa Kinimaka nailed three 3-pointers to finish with nine points, but the Warriors committed 16 turnovers to only five for Orlando Christian.
"We did a lot more north-to-south dribbling than east-to-west," Nakanishi said. "It was a good learning experience for us."
Orlando Christian will play the winner of tonight’s game between De La Salle (Calif.) and Farrington in the 8 p.m. game on Monday.
Kamehameha, which played all 13 guys on its roster, will play the loser in a consolation game at 1:30 p.m. on Monday.
Orlando Christian also emptied its bench in the final minutes, allowing 6-foot-5 sophomore Adonys Henriquez to wow the crowd with a thunderous two-handed dunk for the Warriors’ final points.
The tournament continues today with five more opening-round games, beginning with host ‘Iolani against Kaimuki at 2 p.m.
