Their plan is to fight, scratch, work together, give 100 percent and never stop until the whistle blows, and it’s already worked for them before.
As far as intangibles are concerned, the Ka’u boys basketball team could bare a striking resemblance to the Trojans’ football team.
“Most of them are football players, but because I coach basketball, they play basketball, too,” coach Daryl Shibuya said. “They all come from the same place. They’re athletic. You’ll probably see them playing (a spring sport) as well.”
With the recent addition of eight-man football, the Trojans are on an equal playing field on the gridiron, but that’s hardly the case on the hardwood.
“For a small school, it’s always a challenge,” Shibuya said. “We’ve got a lot of young boys. We just want to have unity, bond and develop humans as players.”
In his first season as varsity coach in 2015, the Trojans earned a victory against Hilo, but that was one of the few highlights during a 1-11 season. Leading scorer Brian Gascon graduated, leaving Evan Manoha as the lone senior this season.
Like many of his teammates, Manoha is known for his work on the football field. He ran around and through Pahoa for 302 yards in a game in September, and he was the 2014 BIIF eight-man Defensive Player of the Year for the league champion Ka’u.
“He’ll play forward/center and he plays the same way he does in football,” Shibuya said.
In other words, Manoha’s not going to be deterred by obstacles.
“He competes, that’s his nature and that is what he is,” said Shibuya, who is an assistant on the football team. “As far as him working hard on defense, that’s an automatic.”
He could say the same thing about junior Kainalu Medeiros-Dancel, another football player who can play either guard or forward.
The other three returning players from last season are juniors Jacob Flores, Joven Padrigo, and Pete Decalio.
Flores is a slashing guard/forward who had his team’s high game at the Keaau-Waiakea tournament with 19 points against St. Joseph. Padrigo is one of the best ball-handlers on the team and an obvious fit at point guard, and Decalio could play there or at shooting guard.
In going 0-4 at the tournament, at least the Trojans showed a penchant for balance. Junior Richard Souza showed flashes, scoring 13 points in a second loss to the Cardinals and sophomore Janslae Badua tallied 11 against Pahoa.
“The main thing is they have effort and they played hard,” Shibuya said. “The younger guys got more playing time so they can develop as players.”
Considering the relative inexperience of the roster, the Trojans won’t worry about pick-and-rolls, or setting multiple ball screens or playing uptempo. They’ll just focus on hustle and playing as one, a formula that has also worked in football.
“They only way we are going to accomplish anything is as a team,” Shibuya said. “I stress that everyday. There are no superstars.”