What a difference a week made for Punahou.

The Buffanblu, who lost to Farrington last week at Radford, stormed to a 68-50 boys basketball victory over the Govs at Moanalua’s gym on Saturday.

This time, Punahou worked on keeping Farrington from driving to the hoop, something the Governors did with success in a 61-53 victory exactly a week earlier.

"That loss showed us a lot of our weaknesses," Punahou coach Darren Matsuda said. "So we worked a lot on that this week and our growth showed. Last week, our defense was spotty and so we took care of that."

It didn’t hurt for Punahou to have JB Kam back in the lineup for this latest matchup that was part of the OIA-ILH Challenge. He was sick last week.

Kam scored 25 points and really heated up in the second half, when he fired up 17, including four treys.

"Coach told us to bring the heat (this time)," Kam said. "So we did that from the start. We played really good defense and held a really good Farrington team to 50 points. We were aggressive."

Both teams are 5-1 in the preseason and are considered among the top teams in the state.

"It was a big difference (from last time)," Farrington coach Allan Silva said. "Punahou played an excellent game. They transitioned much better than us. We had no legs. I am going to start rotating more players in.

"The boys didn’t go inside, and that goes along with not having legs. Too many outside shots. They beat us by 18 points — that’s nine baskets."

The Govs had trouble breaking Punahou’s full-court press and traps, and Farrington didn’t help its cause by missing six shots from makeable range to start the second quarter.

Jake Smith, who had 24 points for Farrington, spearheaded a rally that helped turn a 21-12 first-quarter deficit to a one-point game, 23-22.

But Kam dropped in his six second-quarter points to give the Buffanblu a 31-25 halftime advantage.

Punahou’s lead fluctuated between nine and four points throughout the third quarter, which ended when Kam hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 46-40.

The ball-hawking of the Buffanblu’s Dayson Watanabe and Kanawai Noa led to fast-break baskets and two more 3-pointers from Kam as the lead bulged to 60-48. Punahou coasted in from there by — as it did for most of the night — limiting Farrington’s second chances with hard work on the glass.

Watanabe finished with 12 points for the Buffanblu, and Ranan Mamiya fired up 16 for the Govs.