HILO, Hawai'i — Kamehameha limited Honoka'a to one field goal during a 20-minute stretch spanning from the end of the first period till early in the fourth yesterday and blitzed the Dragons, 50-27, in a playoff for a boys Division I state tournament berth.

A crowd of about 400 at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium watched the Warriors, who finished third in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu and are ranked No. 4 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media, improve to 11-4 in the regular and postseason.

They begin state tournament play in Wednesday's first round.

Honoka'a, the Big Island Interscholastic Federation's third-place team, ended its season at 12-4.

The Dragons led 6-4 after Kamu Lorenzo's layup with 1:18 remaining. But they managed only one point — on Keala Ho'okahi-Freitas' free throw with 5:12 left in the half — during a second quarter in which Kamehameha warmed up with 15 points to lead 19-7 at the break.

The Warriors put together an 11-0 run in the third quarter, including three 3-pointers by senior guard Kawika Lyons, and stretched the lead to 36-11 on Auwae DeRego's layup with 50 seconds left in the quarter.

Kamehameha opened the fourth period with a Lyons 3-pointer, a layup by Kamakoa Downey-Jovanovich and Jonathan Hew Len's 3-pointer to lead, 44-12.

"I told our guys we need to put pressure on the ball and rebound," said DeRego, a 6-foot-2 junior who played for Honoka'a as a freshman before transferring to Kamehameha last year. He had a game-high 12 rebounds. "Eight of those guys (the Dragons) are my cousins, and I felt their guards weren't used to our pressure. Our defensive pressure worked a lot today."

Warriors coach Jesse Nakanishi, who used mostly a 2-3 zone to limit Saint Louis to 27 points Thursday, mixed in a lot of tight man-to-man defense yesterday.

"I felt we needed more pressure stuff today, so we could create more turnovers and get easy baskets," Nakanishi said. "Being on the road, in a new gym, we tried to not rely on jump shots, although Kawika was 5 for 5 on 3s and really opened things up for us."

Lyons finished with a game-high 15 points.

Honoka'a first-year coach Eddie Rodrigues said his team started the game with its best defensive effort all season.

"We played really well for a quarter and a half, but then (the Warriors) hit some big shots, they stepped up," Rodrigues said. "On offense, we did our thing, but just nothing dropped."

KAMEHAMEHA (11-4) 4 15 17 14 — 50

HONOKA'A (12-4) 6 1 5 15 — 27

KAMEHAMEHA — Kauila Miller 2 0-0 4, Edmund Kamano Jr. 2 0-0 4, Jonathan Hew Len 1 0-0 3, Kawika Lyons 5 0-0 15, Chaz Bajet 0 0-0 0, Brandon Dumlao 0 0-0 0, Pi'i Minns 2 0-0 4, Auwae DeRego 2 0-2 4, Shawn Bode 1 0-0 2, Micah Christiansen 0 0-0 0, Blake Viena 4 0-0 8, Damien-Kelly Teramae-Kaehuaea 1 0-0 2, Kamakoa Downey-Jovanovich 2 0-2 4. Totals 22 0-4 50.

HONOKA'A — Keala Ho'okahi-Freitas 3 2-5 8, Justen Raquel 0 0-0 0, Kamahoi Cookman 0 0-0 0, Eddie Morales 0 0-0 0, Kamu Lorenzo 1 0-0 2, Christopher Gambill 0 0-0 0, Casey Souza 3 0-1 6, Kapanaia Carvalho 3 0-0 8, Kien Aveiro 1 1-2 3. Totals 11 3-8 27.

3-point goals: Kamehameha 6 (Lyons 5, Hew Len), Honoka'a 2 (Carvalho 2).

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.