With a little less than a month until the ILH season, the Punahou boys basketball team has already been tested.

After winning the late game of the James Alegre Basketball Invitational on Friday night, the Buffanblu rolled out of bed to take their SATs and made their way to Radford in time to beat Farrington 54-42 in the championship on Saturday.

"I’m pretty proud of our guys," Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said. "They had a pretty tough turnaround and I told them this was going to be a pretty big physical and mental challenge against what might be one of the best OIA teams."

Justin Kam led the way with 13 points for the Buffanblu, who took third place in this tournament last year on their way to the state semifinals. Daniel Andrews added 13 and Micah Ma’a 10 for Punahou on Saturday. Jacob McEnroe and Van Hugo scored nine points each for the Governors. Each team had nine players score a point in the preseason test.

One Buffanblu who certainly passed his early-season exam was 6-foot-8 junior Blake Wade. Wade fought through injured knees the past two years and missed Punahou’s 57-40 semifinal win over Mid-Pacific with an illness on Friday night. That left him with plenty of energy against the Governors.

Farrington took a 24-19 lead into halftime, but didn’t score until its seventh possession after the break to find itself down 33-31 with 3:06 left in the third quarter.

Wade then hit the front end of a 1-and-1 and completed post moves the next two times down the floor to run the margin to 38-31 with 36 seconds left in the quarter. The closest Farrington came after that is seven points, 46-39, with 3:46 left in the game.

"My teammates set me up for good opportunities and I took the opportunities to score," Wade said. "There is not much to say other than they set me up. The game situation didn’t open up for those post moves until then, and when they did I got them. I love the direction this team is going right now."

Wade spent his younger years as strictly an outside shooter and he still has that part of his game, but his play in the post energized the often-sleepy Buffanblu. His move inside happened with the outside help of former UH player Tes Whitlock. Farrington coach Allan Silva said his team gave up "at least 10 points" under the basket, and a lot of that was due to Wade’s energy.

"He’s just very energetic," Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said. "He has some unorthodox moves, but they are nice moves. He hustles and that’s what we love about him."

Both teams go into Moanalua’s OIA/ILH challenge beginning Wednesday, with Punahou opening against Kahuku and Farrington playing Kamehameha. Punahou plays Moanalua and Kalani in the tournament, while Farrington finishes up with Saint Louis and Maryknoll.