This time, Kalaheo made it look easy.

Cheynne Lishman scored 17 points, Cliffton Pires added 14 and Kalaheo shut down No. 4 seed Kamehameha-Maui, 68-39, last night in the quarterfinals of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Boys Basketball Division I State Championships at McKinley High gym.

Kalaheo (14-3) plays top-seeded Punahou (12-1) in the semifinals tonight at 6 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"To get to the state semifinals, you can't ask for more than that," Kalaheo coach Chico Furtado said.

In a first-round game Tuesday, Kalaheo struggled past Honoka'a, 47-37.

No such problems last night as the Mustangs shot 22 of 50 from the field and held Kamehameha-Maui (9-3) to 14 of 51.

"I thought we came out with a little more focus," Furtado said. "When Cheynne can get off on the perimeter, it gives us a little more offensively. I thought we played great 'D' (against Honoka'a) and I think we played great 'D' tonight, but offensively is where we've struggled and tonight it was much, much better."

The Mustangs, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association runner-up, ended the first half with a 13-2 run to take a 31-12 lead.

Lishman and Pires each scored 10 points in the first half for Kalaheo, which was 12 of 22 from the field.

Kamehameha-Maui, the Maui Interscholastic League champion, was 5 of 24 from the field before halftime.

"We couldn't buy a bucket, we didn't get started, we didn't have any intensity," Kamehameha-Maui coach Lance Cagasan said. "Just a whole array of things. We can play a lot better basketball than that. We were fazing out there at the beginning."

Kalaheo's largest lead was 57-22 after two free throws by Koa Siliga with 4:27 remaining in the game.

Lishman finished 7 of 15 from the field, including 3 of 7 from 3-point range, in 19 minutes. Pires was 6 of 9 in 23 minutes.

"If we hit our shots it opens up our guards and big guys down low," Lishman said.

Kaleo'okalani Demello led the Warriors with 10 points.

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.