The defending Division I champions lost to Baldwin on Friday and then began their showdown against Lahainaluna slowly on Saturday before rallying in the fourth quarter to pull out a 47-41 win.

"Missed layups, free throws, I don't know,'' Warriors coach Lance Cagasan said to The Maui News. "Last night and tonight it seems like we come to play in the fourth quarter. I don't know what it is. We have got a lot of improving to do. It is early in the season and like I told them, 'If we are vulnerable, it is going to be in the first round.' ''

Both teams made this one look hard.

The Warriors shot 15-for-42 (35.7 percent) from the floor and had 24 turnovers. The Lunas (2-1) weren't any better, shooting 16-for-50 (34.0 percent) and committing 18 turnovers.

Kamehameha was 17-for-31 from the free-throw line, while Lahainaluna was 9-for-19.

"I have confidence that we will get better as we get to the latter part of the season, but we are struggling a little bit with our free throws, with our layups,'' Cagasan said. "We are getting steals, we are creating turnovers, but we are also making turnovers.''

The Warriors were led by Kaiea Medeiros' 13 points, while Bryan Pali added 11 and Louis Turberville had 10.

Erwin DeCoite, the MIL Division I Player of the Year last season, was limited to two points on 2-of-6 shooting at the free-throw line.

"We are asking Erwin to step back and be the passer,'' Cagasan said. "Do the dirty work. He wants to score, but he did what he had to do and it helped us through the game. Evan Garces also came up big off the bench and that is what we need to do. We need to re-establish this team identity thing.''

The game was close until the final minutes after both teams teams traded big first-half surges.

Kamehameha led 8-4 at the end of the first quarter, but Lahainaluna promptly went on an 11-0 run that included two

3-pointers by Paul Salvador to start the second quarter. In the process, Kamehameha went scoreless for the first 5 minutes, 28 seconds of the period before Kaleo DeMello hit a pair of free throws to lift the Lunas in front 15-10 with 2:32 remaining before halftime.

Those foul shots sparked a 10-0 run by the Warriors in which DeMello scored all six of his points, leading to a 19-16 halftime lead for Kamehameha.

In the second half, the game was tied six times, the final one at 37-37 when Lahainaluna's Nutti Pousima made one of two free throws with 3:08 to play. The second half also had five lead changes.

Kamehameha finally grabbed control in the late going. Turberville made a free throw to give the Warriors the lead for good, 38-37, with 2:12 to play.

Turberville then got out on a fast break and was fouled after a layup to push the lead to 41-37 with 1:10 to go. Salvador, coming off a 32-point effort in a win over Maui High on Thursday, made a free throw to make the score 41-38 with 1:04 left.

The Warriors made four of six free throws in the final minute, wrapped around a steal by DeCoite that led to a breakaway layup for Jeffrey Oka, to finally put the game away.

The Lunas got 15 points from Pousima and 11 from Salvador, but no one else had more than six.

"We just need to make better decisions with the ball,'' said Lahainaluna coach Eric Balinbin. "Kamehameha did a good job of putting some pressure and we just didn't handle it very well.''

These two teams will meet two more times – Division I will use a three-round schedule this season.

"Those will definitely be battles,'' Balinbin said.

LAHAINALUNA (41)

Ty Carter 0 0-0 0, Tyson Mizuno 2 0-0 5, Paul Salvador 6 1-2 11, Rhon Rarogal 0 0-0 0, Jason Cabading 0 0-0 0, Dillon Soldwisch 2 1-2 6, Nutti Pousima 5 5-9 15, Dexter Recites 0 0-0 0, John Craig 1 0-0 2, Jayson Manning 0 2-6 2, Jake Manning 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 9-19 41.

KAMEHAMEHA-MAUI (47)

Kaleo DeMello 3 0-2 6, Jeffrey Oka 1 0-1 2, Louis Turberville 2 6-8 10, Evan Garces 0 3-4 3, Kaiea Medeiros 6 1-4 13, Erwin DeCoite 0 2-6 2, Bryan Pali 3 5-6 11, Kamalu Kaina 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 17-31 47.

Lahainaluna 4 12 12 13—41

KS-Maui 8 11 11 17—47

3-Point Goals–Lahainaluna 4 (Salvador 2, Mizuno,Soldwisch); Kamehameha Maui 0. Total fouls–Lahainaluna 20, Kamehameha Maui 15. Fouled out–none.

KING KEKAULIKE BOYS 60, MAUI 53

At King Kekaulike's gym, Na Ali'i had three players score in double figures and earned their first win.

Garrett Gunter was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and scored 16 points for King Kekaulike (1-2). Jared Ornong scored 15 points and Josh Engoring added 10.

Darius Quedding scored 11 points for Maui (0-3).

SEABURY HALL BOYS 68, ST. ANTHONY 55

At Erdman Athletic Center, Kasen Dudley hit two 3-pointers and scored a game-high 19 points for Seabury Hall.

The Spartans (2-0) overcame four 3-pointers by Garrett Gonsalves, who finished with 18 points for St. Anthony (1-3).

Garrett Wiseman and Michael Palmer scored 17 points apiece for Seabury.

MAUI GIRLS 71, KING KEKAULIKE 46

Ariel Gaoiran scored all 29 of her points in the first three quarters, helping the Maui girls basketball team defeat King Kekaulike 71-46 on Saturday in a Maui Interscholastic League game at Na Ali'i's gym.

Gaoiran had four 3-pointers, and went 9-for-12 from the foul line. She scored 14 points in the third quarter as the Sabers (2-1) turned a 34-27 halftime advantage into a 62-33 lead entering the final period.

Shakiyla Heslip scored 11 points for Maui.

King Kekaulike (1-3) got 26 points from Mykel Love.

SEABURY HALL GIRLS 47, ST. ANTHONY 14

At Erdman Athletic Center, Yacine Meyer scored 23 points to pace Seabury Hall.

Sierra Jacob added 13 as the Spartans improved to 2-0.

Mahialani Chang and Nicole Brown scored six points apiece for St. Anthony (1-3).

LAHAINALUNA GIRLS 57, KAMEHAMEHA-MAUI 33

At the Kamehameha-Maui gym, Milika Taufa scored a game-high 17 points for Lahainaluna. Rachael Rickard and Maiki Viela each scored eight points for the Lunas (3-0).

Natasha Kealoha scored 14 points for Kamehameha-Maui, which fell to 0-3.

The Maui News sports desk contributed to this report.