KEAAU – Patience is a virtue and a way of life for the Pahoa boys basketball team, which relies on disciplined shot selection and team defense.
Unlike other BIIF teams, the Daggers rarely have a deep bench and prefer to not risk picking up quick fouls with a press-defense transition game. That means they don’t get a lot of layups for easy buckets, and work hard for their points.
Their biggest strength, perhaps, is their adaptability, beating two contrasting teams that were more athletic and much taller to win the BIIF Division II championship last season, their second after their inaugural one in 2011.
The Daggers defeated Kohala, a bunch of athletic Cowboys, 75-62 for the BIIF title, handling a full-court press with precision dribbling to tag fouls on defenders.
Pahoa knocked off a much taller Hawaii Prep squad 36-26 in the BIIF semifinals, which doubled as a clinic in half-court sets, using a staunch help-side defense to limit possessions and momentum swings.
The Daggers graduated two starters in Tolby Saito and Torrell Thomas. They’re not exactly gone from the program. Both are on the coaching staff.
“Watching Tolby and Torrell plays last year was great, but having them as coaches and talking to the kids and motivating them is a chicken skin moment for me,” Pahoa coach Marc Saito said.
Pahoa returns three senior starters: guards Keinan Agonias, who scored 28 points against Kohala, and Joel Rosario Jr., and forward Kili Oliveira.
The blueprint hasn’t changed, just the team chemistry. The Daggers are still fine-tuning things, especially their ball-handling and rebounding. They worked on both issues at the Keaau-Waiakea tournament, where they defeated Ka’u 38-27 on Thursday and Kealakehe 60-39 on Friday.
“We’ll be pretty good,” Saito said. “We’re athletic and willing to work together. We don’t know how to play defense together yet. We need to improve our basketball IQ. We’re very inexperienced.
“We can tell the team to run a cross post or a pass screen, but they don’t see the opening. They don’t know how to read the defense yet.”
Oliveira will be an important part in Pahoa’s ball-control and time-possession game. It’s one way to limit turnovers and take quality shots. In limited minutes, Oliveira scored eight points against the Trojans, who finished 1-11 last season. Agonias had a game-high 14 points.
Sophomore point guard Janslae Badua buried three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points to lead Ka’u and junior Jacob Flores sank two treys and had 10 points.
“We’ll try to get the ball to Kili in the post. He’s the strongest guy on the island,” Saito said. “He’s balanced and super intelligent. He picks things up quickly. He’s only been playing ball for two seasons.”
Oliveira is also a capable ball-handler, able to dribble the ball, and force another team’s big to guard him near the perimeter, creating holes for the quicker Daggers, like Agonias.
“Keinan likes to play like a 2 guard, take 3-point shots and finish at the rim,” Saito said. “He needs to learn a pull-up jumper. With him and Kili on the wing, there should always be an opening, with backdoor cuts or wide-open shots.”
Vijay Julian, a junior, is in line to handle point-guard duties. That job requires discipline and passing the ball to the hot shooter. He could inject a bit of speed, too.
“He’s 5 feet 6 and he could fit in well on a Kohala team,” Saito said. “If you don’t look over your shoulder, he could lap you two times.”
Like Agonias, Rosario has a smooth stroke. He was usually the third or fourth option last season. Rosario will get a much bigger role, especially when defenses double Oliveira in the post or stay glued to Agonias.
“When Junior plays under control, he has amazing shooting range,” Saito said. “It’s from the all the games of H-O-R-S-E he played with Tolby. In practice, when he plays against the coaches, he’s unreal.”
Saito is also expecting contributions from freshman Lansen Aranaydo, and juniors Tyson Alconcel and Kealii Luis.
“Lansen is a freshman sparkplug and can run all day,” Saito said. “Luis will hustle all over the place. He doesn’t care about shooting. He’ll just work hard. Tyson is another tough guy. He doesn’t limit himself. He’ll do whatever it takes to help the team.”
The Daggers never have the deepest bunch or the most athletic lineup or a ton of height. But they always seem to do more with less. That was the case last season.
Saito is hoping for the same thing. He points to defense as a key. For the Daggers, they usually figure a way to defend anybody, especially when it comes to the postseason.
“We have to learn team defense and stay out of foul trouble,” he said. “Defense wins championships. At least, it gets you there. If we can run a patient offense, we’ll be good.”
