No. 2 Punahou didn’t need a prayer to beat sixth-ranked Saint Louis this time.

It was a good thing since Kala’i Santos, who made the "SportsCenter" Top 10 plays with his 70-foot game-winner against the Crusaders two weeks ago, was on a football recruiting trip.

Senior Justin Kam had a game-high 18 points and big man ‘Akahi Troske just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds as the Buffanblu ripped through the Crusaders 62-39 at Hemmeter Fieldhouse Saturday night.

Punahou (7-1) responded to its only loss of the season with a balanced effort against a Crusaders team that hasn’t recovered since Santos’ shot from near the 

3-point line on the opposite side of the court banked in at the buzzer to give the Buffanblu a one-point win.

Saint Louis (3-5) has lost five of six with that loss after starting ILH play 2-0.

"We’re trying to get these kids back to believing that we’re a good team," Saint Louis coach Keith Spencer said. "We’ve talked about (the last-second loss) a lot and how to handle it psychologically and right now, it’s not how we practice, but mentally how we’re applying that to the game."

The Crusaders kept it close for a quarter against the Buffanblu, who were coming off a 55-46 loss to a sub-.500 Maryknoll team on Tuesday.

Punahou balanced a strong low-post game led by Kam and Troske with strong shooting from the outside.

Kam hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter, including two in the opening three minutes as part of a 15-5 run to break away.

He added a putback with 51 seconds left in the quarter and then drained his final 3 with two seconds remaining to put the Buffanblu up 47-30 at the end of three.

From there, Punahou cruised to remain a game up on ‘Iolani in the conference.

"Before the Maryknoll game, I think we came out thinking that nobody could beat us," said Kam, who added five rebounds and two assists. "It brought us back down and made us realize that anybody can beat anybody on any day."

Four other Buffanblu made 3-pointers, including senior Micah Ma’a, who did a little bit of everything with seven points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Guard Dayson Watanabe added five points, six rebounds and five assists.

"We tried to point it in to our bigs against Saint Louis and (Troske) did really well," Kam said. "We practiced our post-entry passes during the week and that helped a lot."

Jimmy Nunuha led Saint Louis with 13 points and four rebounds but injured his right wrist on a layup midway through the third quarter that cut Punahou’s lead to 10.

He had it taped up and returned to the game but was 1-for-5 shooting the rest of the way.

"Jimmy’s OK. He’s a tough kid," Spencer said. "He’s from Nanakuli."

Punahou played without Santos and Ronley Lakalaka, who were both on recruiting trips in advance of National Letter of Intent signing day on Wednesday.

SAINT LOUIS–Ihaka Johnson 5, Jimmy Nunuha III 13, Colten Nascimento 5, Jace Smalley 4, Lance Sataraka 1, Jaymason Nunuha 0, Kevin Marks 6, Drew Kobayashi 0, Zach Choo 0, Keanu Souza 3, Chris Sykes 0, Jon Manalo 2, Noah Browne 0.

PUNAHOU–Jordan Tanuvasa 6, Justin Kam 18, Dayson Watanabe 5, Kanawai Noa 2, ‘Akahi Troske 12, Randon Oda 0, Micah Ma’a 7, Jared Lum 5, Christopher Kobayashi 5, Hunter Lee 0, Jack-Eli Tufono 2, Alexander Kidani 0, Cole Arceneaux 0.

3-point goals — Saint Louis 2 (Nascimento, Souza), Punahou 7 (Kam 3, Tanuvasa, C. Kobayashi, Ma’a).

ILH DIVISION I

No. 4 ‘Iolani 44, Kamehameha 38 

Robby Mann racked up a game-high 13 points for the Raiders as ‘Iolani used a 23-17 run in the fourth quarter to fend off the Warriors.

Fatu Sua-Godinet and Kobe Young scored nine points apiece for Kamehameha.

KAMEHAMEHA–Jayden Zarriello 5, Kamren Victorino-Kato 0, Saint Gelacio 5, Noah Gelacio 2, Kekaula Kaniho 4, Fatu Sua-Godinet 9, Kapu Mau 0, Kobe Young 9, Kumoku Noa 0, Pono Arias 2, Cade Pedro 2.

‘IOLANI–Helam Baldomero 0, Robby Mann 13, Zack Gelacio 2, Bryson Hamada 2, Shane Lay 0, Erik Yamada 9, John Lee 1, Pikai Winchester 8, Kamu Borden 1, Hugh Hogland 8.

3-point goals–Kamehameha 4 (S. Galacio, Sua-Godinet, Young, Zarriello). ‘Iolani 1 (Winchester).

No. 10 Maryknoll 49, Mid-Pacific 36

Justice Sueing Jr. scored 20 points and the Spartans pulled away in the second half against the Owls.

Daniel Florenco finished with nine points for Mid-Pacific, which trailed 18-17 at halftime.

MID-PACIFIC–Codey Mita 0, Nathaniel Ng 2, Lamar Carter 2, Isaiah Browning 0, Daniel Florenco 9, Travis Hayashi 0, Den Suehiro 1, Zion Shepherd 4, Ken Colombe 5, Andrew Kargol 8, Logan Hutchinson 0, Jacen Kimura 5.

MARYKNOLL–Isaiah Gelacio 0, Michael Miske 5, Jordyn Perez 1, Jaylen Cain 0, Darin Miyamoto 0, Calvin Koo 8, Hayato Kamata 6, Kainoa Ferreira 0, Justice Sueing Jr. 20, Saige Pulu 3, Kaulana Schmidt 0, Matt McGivern 0, Brian Washington 6.

3-point goals–Mid-Pacific 2 (Colombe, Kimura). Maryknoll 6 (Koo 2, Kamata 2, Sueing 2).

ILH DIVISION III

Le Jardin 64, Christian Academy 51 

Michael Gabrelcik and Dominic Venezia poured in 16 points apiece and Gerald Lawson added 15 to help the Bulldogs (3-6) bounce the Patriots (0-8).

Joshua Luna led Christian Academy with 22 points.

Full statistics were not reported.

St. Francis 59, Hanalani 47

The Saints improved to 5-4 in league play thanks in part to Janson Kupau’s 12-point effort.

The Royals (6-3) could not surpass Hanalani despite Jeff Shaake pouring in a game-high 23 points and draining four 3-pointers.

Full statistics were not reported.