It wasn't a pretty victory last night for Kalaheo, and Mustangs coach Chico Furtado felt his team didn't play up to par against the Honoka'a Dragons in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines/HHSAA Boys Basketball Division I State Championships.

But the Mustangs are moving on after a 47-37 victory at McKinley High.

"We didn't play well and hand it to Honoka'a, they came out aggressive and played hard," Furtado said. "We couldn't get into a rhythm ... a rhythm with the way the game was being officiated."

Tyler Caswell, a 6-foot-6 senior center, scored eight points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Cheynne Lishman and Koa Siliga each added seven points.

Kalaheo, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association runner-up, will play No. 4 seed Kamehameha-Maui tonight at 6 in the quarterfinals.

"I know nothing about them, but we're going to have to play better than this," Furtado said. "We almost got taken out by a team we beat by almost 40 in the preseason. We beat (Honoka'a), 65-27, in the preseason."

Kalaheo (13-3) extended its lead after Caswell headed to the bench with his third foul with 4:24 left in the third period. He re-entered at the beginning of the fourth.

"Three of those fouls were useless," Furtado said. "Come on, let's face it, he's got position, he's holding his ground, not leaving his feet. Three of those fouls were not fouls as far as I'm concerned. It was nothing he was doing wrong."

The Mustangs' largest lead was 31-19 with 50 seconds left in the third quarter after a steal and layup by Siliga.

"My other teammates stepped up for me," Caswell said.

Honoka'a (14-3), the Big Island Interscholastic Federation runner-up, scored eight in a row, including two 3-pointers by Komakana Fernandez, to get within 31-27 just 30 seconds into the fourth.

The Dragons trailed 38-33 with 2:56 remaining, but missed four consecutive free throws and a couple of layups.

Kalaheo's final seven points came from the free-throw line.

"Our defense, I thought we played well enough to win. But just too many second-chance points in the fourth quarter," said Honoka'a coach Cheyenne Meyer.

Kalaheo finished 17 of 35 from the field, including 4 of 4 from 3-point range. Honoka'a was 13 of 54, including 4 of 13 on 3-pointers. Fernandez was 4 of 6 on 3-pointers and finished with 16 points.

Both teams struggled from the line. The Mustangs were 9 of 21, while the Dragons were 7 of 15.

The Dragons shot 4 of 26 from the field in the first half, while the Mustangs were 8 of 15.

Kalaheo's Taylor Jay hit a running 3-pointer from the left wing as time expired to give the Mustangs a 20-12 lead at halftime.

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.