KEAAU — It’s a new era for Konawaena boys basketball coach Donny Awa, whose team is built around speed and youth, after graduation wiped out all of his starters.
His son Brandon Awa, Jonah Bredeson and Pookela Hanato-Smith were mainstays for the Wildcats, the two-time Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division I champion.
They all grew up together playing ball for his Stingray club team. They all graduated. Awa and Bredeson were both All-BIIF first team picks while Hanato-Smith was honorable mention.
In their place are a bunch of youngsters, including freshmen starters Austin Ewing and Maitland Haole Akau, and sophomore Austin Aukai. Senior forward Kevin Medeiros and junior Cameron Howes round out the lineup.
That youth showed at inopportune times at the Waiakea/Keaau preseason tournament, where Pahoa prevailed over Konawaena 55-54 on Wednesday at the Cougars Gym.
The Wildcats led 46-43 after the third quarter, and 52-43 with under four minutes left. But they couldn’t contain Tolby Saito, who scored 10 of Pahoa’s last 11 points.
Konawaena had more harmful turnovers in the fourth quarter, 6-3, and finished with 17 giveaways, one more than the Daggers.
Saito scored 28 points on 9 of 12 shooting, including 3 of 5 from 3-point land. The Dagger senior guard pinned fouls on the Wildcats and made 8 of 12 free throws, including 3 of 6 in the fourth quarter.
Pahoa didn’t play with its usual offensive flow, often stagnant with its passing and cutting, and was drilled on the boards by the smaller youngsters, a reason Konawaena had more shots, 44-36.
Still, the Division II Daggers have experience with all five starters back: Saito, Kili Oliveira, who had 11 points, Keinan Agonias, Joel Rosario and Torrell Thomas. That made a difference as well as Saito’s late stretch scoring spree.
The Wildcats shared the ball much better, with tons of dribble-drive kickouts. But they hit just 39 percent (17 of 44) on field goals. The Daggers converted 47 percent (17 of 36) from the floor.
Medeiros scored 19 points while Ewing and Howes had nine points each to lead Konawaena, which went scoreless in the last four minutes.
Meanwhile, Ewing displayed his point guard vision with three assists. He would have doubled that total if not for a few clunkers by his teammates.
Experience is always a helpful weapon.
The veteran Daggers knew how to draw fouls. They went 18 of 26 on free throws. The youthful Wildcats made only 10 of 18 free throws, but Awa likes his deep bench among other things.
“We’ve got 10 on the varsity and there’s not much drop-off between the first five and the second five,” he said. “We’re more balanced. We don’t have a lot of size. We’ll have to play fast this year.
“Brandon, Jonah and Pookela played together for a long time, but for our freshmen group (Ewing, Akau and Paka Cacoolidas) it’s the same thing.”
Medeiros is the tallest starter at 5 feet 11. Last year, he was a sharp-shooting 3-ball gunner as the sixth man. To stretch the offense he’ll be needed to attack the rim. He did so against the Daggers, but went 4 of 8 on free throws.
“He gives us leadership. He works really hard at practice,” Awa said. “He’s not really vocal, but he leads by example.”
Ewing is a lot like Saito in the sense that both play under control and see the court very well. Both are unselfish, too, often passing up a pretty good shot to a teammate who has a better one.
The Wildcat freshman is about 5-8, but looks like he’ll grow much taller. His uncle and coach gets him for four years to maybe continue the school’s BIIF title run.
“He’s long and athletic. He’s played point guard forever,” Awa said. “It’s like being a quarterback. You can’t teach how to be a point guard, either you’re one or you’re not.
“I think we’ve got as much of a chance as anybody to win the BIIF title. Everybody lost a lot of talent. The only schools that didn’t were the D-II schools. We don’t have that one big guy to clean house on the boards. We just have to work hard. They key for us is uptempo. We’ve got to play fast.”
The nice thing for Awa is that will be the same strategy every year as his Wildcats grow older and get better and better.