Taking it to the hole is what Farrington does best, and the Governors never stopped pounding the middle while holding on for a 61-53 victory over Punahou on Saturday in a James Alegre Invitational preseason boys basketball tournament game at Radford.

"That’s the name of the game (driving the basketball)," Farrington coach Allan Silva said. "We had more energy earlier in the game, so we’ve got to get in shape, but we did play some smart defense at the end."

The Govs, who took a huge 25-4 lead to start the game, didn’t finish strong with their free throws, going 3-for-9 in the final three minutes, which allowed the Buffanblu to stay close.

"They’ll be shooting 100 free throws on Monday," said Silva, who corrected himself and added, "No, they’ll all be making 100 free throws on Monday."

All in all, it was a physical and well-played game. Punahou missed often in the early going from inside and out, while Farrington’s big boys were not missing much on drives.

"We had an off shooting night," Punahou point guard Jordan Tanuvasa said. "We made some adjustments and cut it to five after being down 22, so I’m really proud of our team’s effort."

Punahou’s press and traps caused some havoc and it helped in the comeback, but the Govs broke it enough and never lost the lead.

"We’re usually a really good shooting team," Buffanblu coach Darren Matsuda said. "I was happy with our looks, but things just weren’t dropping. Defensively, we were panicking when Farrington got the big lead and we were overplaying and not taking the right angles. We adjusted for that."

Farrington’s Jake Smith, a Kamehameha transfer, and Bryce Tatupu-Leopoldo both had 12 points for the Govs.

Punahou got 12 points from Jared Lum, while Chris Kobayashi, whose normally accurate shot was not working early, scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter.

With 1:40 left in the game, Jack-Eli Thompson-Tufono scored an inside bucket to cut the Buffanblu’s deficit to 56-51.

The lead was still five points, 58-53, with 40 seconds to go, and Punahou was forced to foul, leading to Kapono Kakalia’s two free throws to seal it for the Govs.

"I think Farrington is one of the four or five best teams in the state," Matsuda said. "They’re very fast and we knew it was going to be a good game."

Tatupu-Leopoldo credited the team’s guards (the starters are Ranan Mamiya and point guard Keola Kealoha).

"I was proud of the way they accepted the challenge and got over (Punahou’s) press," he said. "It’s a mental game. If you panic under pressure, things are not going to go your way."

In the end, it was Farrington’s ability to protect the ball more often than not that got them the win. Still, coach Silva thinks they have a long way to go to be excellent in that area.

Smith, who had six of his 12 points in the second quarter, knows the guard play will be the most important factor in the long run.

"Coach wants us to stay disciplined, stay in control, play our tempo and not theirs," he said.

Punahou’s Tanuvasa finished with nine points, and Kalai Santos scored eight, including two treys. Teammate Dayson Watanabe led the charge often on the fast break, had numerous steals and chipped in with seven points.

Tua Unutoa, a swingman, and Mamiya contributed eight points apiece to Farrington’s winning cause.

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Mililani 65, Saint Louis II 41
Leilehua 54, Hayward (Calif.) 41
‘Iolani 54, Moanalua 40
Radford 62, Honokaa 59