For five minutes, it was a heavyweight bout, titans clashing on the hardwood, two giants of Hawaii basketball toe to toe.

Then Punahou turned on the heat, using its patented 212 degrees/boiling point pressure defense to stifle Kahuku in a 64-37 runaway win in the final of the Snapple/HHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships on Friday night at Stan Sheriff Center.

Tamatoa Falatea scored 12 points off the bench, center Duke Clemens added 10 and Punahou shot 51 percent (23-for-45) from the field. Cole Mausolf, Cole Arceneaux and Hunter Hosoda added nine points each in a classic demonstration of balanced scoring.

Coach Darren Matsuda was soaked in water by game’s end.

“It feels great knowing they did what it took to get it done,” Matsuda said. “I think the ‘Iolani loss (during the ILH season) was the best thing that happened to us. We were playing pretty good, but we weren’t playing totally together.

“That changed our team.”

Punahou (29-4 overall including nonconference games) used wing pick-and-rolls and Golden State-style drive-and-kick passes to get high-percentage shots. It was virtually a clinic by the Buffanblu, who fell in the 2016 state title game to ‘Iolani and ’17 to Kahuku.

“Our team is one family,” Arceneaux said. “There’s no one individual who does everything. We do everything as a family.

“The last two (championship) games, we learned that we all have to lead the team. I told the guys, ‘We leave it out there, win or lose, you are my family.’ It’s amazing that we came through and trust each other.”

Punahou had escaped with a 50-48 win over Kahuku back on Dec. 20 at the St. Francis Holiday Hoops Classic. This time, there was no drama as the Buffanblu defense put the squeeze on the normally explosive Red Raiders, who finished the season 27-5 overall.

“The whole season we’ve been working on our press and our defense. Coach always tells us we’re the best team in the state and we have to back it up with defense,” said Zayne Chong, who scored 22 points in a semifinal win over Moanalua and had five assists with seven points against Kahuku.

It was Punahou’s 10th boys basketball title dating back to 1970, when Bud Scott was the coach. This is the second Buffanblu state championship under Darren Matsuda, whose 2012 team also won a crown.

It was a journey of highs, with Punahou ranked No. 1 for most of the regular season. And also lows with late-season losses and a defeat at the hands of rival Maryknoll in the ILH championship game. Unseeded, Punahou ousted McKinley 59-39, MIL champion Lahainaluna 60-50 and Moanalua 75-69 to reach the state final.

Tolu Smith, Kahuku’s 6-foot-10 senior, finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. Like his teammates, Smith had some early struggles as Punahou instantly double-teamed him each time he touched the ball. Twice, Hosoda swooped in from behind to pick the ball away.

The Red Raiders led once, at 4-2, on Marcus Damuni’s free throws. By the end of the first quarter, Kahuku already had seven turnovers and Punahou had a 15-5 lead as six different Buffanblu scored. It was ball movement at another level against Kahuku’s normally resilient man-to-man defense.

By halftime, Kahuku had turned the ball over 12 times and 3-point bombs by Arceneaux, Chong and 3-and-D specialist Falatea spurred Punahou to a 30-17 lead.

From there, Punahou continued to extend the lead to larger margins. The second half opened with a lob from Arceneaux to Mausolf for an alley-oop lay-in, and Clemens fed a cutting Kaulana Makaula for an easy deuce to open the lead to 17 points.

After Makaula fed Arceneaux with a behind-the-back pass on a 2-on-1 fast break, the lead was 19. Moments later, Clemens scored on Smith with a reverse layup and Mausolf hit a 3 to make it 45-23.

With five minutes left, Punahou spread the floor and played keepaway. The fatigued Red Raiders could do little but foul to get the ball back.