'Sky's' the limit for Mustangs

Kalaheo basketball coach Pete Smith got a phone call last summer from his sister in California, Pollyanne, who played on the Mustangs’ first OIA girls’ hoops championship team in 1976:

Kalaheo coach Pete Smith, right, welcomed the addition of his nephew — point guard Sky Wilson, who transferred from a California high school. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"How’d you like to have a point guard?" Pollyanne asked.

And that’s how Skyler ("they call me Sky") Wilson, coach Smith’s nephew, started his trip to the Hawaiian Airlines Boys State Basketball Championships this week on O‘ahu.

Somehow, it seems fair that Kalaheo should get a great transfer. Two years ago the Mustangs lost one of the best players ever born and raised in Hawai‘i when Julian Sensley was given a scholarship to finish his high school career at a Connecticut prep school.

The Mustangs nearly won a state championship with Sensley in 1999, and Kalaheo fans felt cheated out of a title in 2000 after he left. Now they are seeded No. 1 in 2001 with Wilson.

Smith, who is taking Kalaheo to states for the 17th time, thinks this may be the most athletic team he has had.

It starts with his nephew. "I didn’t go hijack him," Smith stresses. "They (Sky and his parents) weren’t happy with the situation" at Indio, Calif., where Wilson grew up. A new coach had moved him to power forward, for which he would be ill-suited at the next level (he is 6 feet, 175 pounds), and basketball is not very successful or taken very seriously at Indio, Wilson says.

So coach Smith, good brother that he is, agreed to provide a home for Sky in Kailua for his senior year of high school.

Smith had seen his nephew play two years ago. "I knew he had good handles and I knew his stats ... but once he got here ... " A smile crosses the coach’s face and his eyes brighten.

"He’s got the whole package, you could say," Smith says. "He can score when he needs to score, he can penetrate and find the open guy. He plays great defense. He creates his own shots and creates shots for other people. And he always puts winning first before individual things."

With Wilson leading the Mustangs’ offense and defense, Kalaheo romped to its 13th O‘ahu Interscholastic Association championship with a 13-0 record, following an 11-1 preseason, and was rewarded with the No. 1 seed in this week’s state tournament.

The Mustangs get a first-round bye and will play the winner of tomorrow’s Punahou vs. Kahuku game on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at McKinley High. The tournament moves to Stan Sheriff Center on Friday and the championship game will be Saturday night.

"I’m having the most fun, especially when we win," says Wilson, whose intense game face softens quickly into a friendly smile once the final whistle blows.

"I’ve never been in big games like this before. It’s special for me. And being around people who love to play the game no matter whether they get playing time or not. It’s fun to be around guys like that," Wilson says.

Wilson won the OIA East scoring championship with a 17-points per game average, leading an offense that averaged 78 points a game and a defense that allowed less than 45 points a game.

One player, no matter how good, doesn’t do that alone. "Everything we do is team, but Ikaika (Alama Francis) is a big factor," Smith said. "He can change shots and is our best rebounder."

The Mustangs shuddered collectively last Thursday when Alama Francis, a 6-6 all-state volleyball player, went down in the first half with a large, bloody gash on the back of his head. "He suffered a mild concussion . . . had a few stitches," Smith said. "He’s all right. He’ll practice with us (today)."

D.C. Daniels, first-team all-state last year, is on the receiving end of a lot of Wilson’s passes and has scored 13.4 points per game.

Power forward C.J. Kaimiola, "defensive specialist" Shaydon Marumoto, 3-point shooter Nate Ijima, Keoki Duarte and Justin Pedrina all play important roles for the Mustangs and Wilson does his best to find them, too.

Kalaheo’s 1985 team, with Duane Bradley, Randy and Ronald Gomes, Peter Ranta, Kalani Bush and Kalani Ball, is considered one of the great offensive teams in Hawai‘i high school basketball. But, Smith says, "We have more offensive weapons now than we had then."

Is this team his best? "We’ll have to wait and see if it’s the best team," Smith smiles.

That’s what this week is about.

NOTES: Sky Wilson’s parents came to O‘ahu to see the OIA and state championships. "I didn’t realize how much I missed them," he said. ... Lest you get the idea that Wilson is some kind of basketball hobo, consider this: His cumulative grade-point average is 3.8. "I got Bs in chemistry and some other hard stuff," he says. ... Pete Smith’s son, Alika, a former All-Western Athletic Conference player at Hawai‘i and now an assistant coach for his dad, "took Skyler under his wing," Pete Smith says. "Skyler never had a big brother and Alika has become his big brother. They get along great." ... "He helps me with everything — from things in life to things on the basketball court," Wilson says. ... Wilson has made comfortable adjustments to just about everything in Hawai‘i, except one. Indio is in the desert about 30 minutes from Palm Springs. Has he taken to the ocean yet? Surfed? "Oh, no," Wilson blurted. "I only go knee deep in the ocean. I stick to the basketball courts."

Hawaiian Airlines Boys Basketball Championships

Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association 45th annual tournament

WEDNESDAY

First Round

At McKinley High School
Waiakea vs. St. Louis, 6 p.m.
Punahou vs. Kahuku, 7:30 p.m.

At McCabe Gym, Chaminade-St. Louis campus
Kapa‘a vs. Leilehua, 6 p.m.
Mililani vs. Baldwin, 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY

Quarterfinals
(Seeds in parentheses)

At McKinley High School
Maui (4) vs. winner of Waiakea-St. Louis, 6 p.m.
Kalaheo (1) vs. winner of Punahou-Kahuku, 7:30 p.m.

At McCabe Gym, Chaminade-St. Louis campus
Honoka‘a (3) vs. winner of Mililani-Baldwin, 6 p.m.
‘Iolani (2) vs. winner of Kapa‘a-Leilehua, 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY

At Stan Sheriff Center
Consolation (losers out)

Losers of Punahou-McKinley and Waiakea-St. Louis, noon
Losers of Kapa‘a-Leilehua and Mililani-Baldwin, 1:45 p.m.
Losers of Kalaheo-Punahou or Kahuku and Maui-Waiakea or St. Louis, 3:30 p.m.
Losers of ‘Iolani-Kapa‘a or Leilehua and Honoka‘a-Mililani or Baldwin, 5:15 p.m.

Semifinals

Winners of Kalaheo-Punahou or Kahuku and Maui-Waiakea or St. Louis, 7 p.m.
Winners of ‘Iolani-Kapa‘a or Leilehua and Honoka‘a-Mililani or Baldwin, 8:30 p.m.

SATURDAY

At Stan Sheriff Center

Consolation final: Friday’s noon and 1:45 p.m. winners,. 3:15 p.m.
Fifth-place game: Friday’s 3:30 and 5:15 p.m. winners, 4:45 p.m.
Third-place game: Friday’s semifinal losers, 6:15 p.m.
Championship: Friday’s semifinal winners, 8 p.m.

Admission: $7 adults, $5 students grades kindergarten-12

Parking: Free but limited at McKinley and St. Louis-Chaminade. $3 at Stan Sheriff Center.

Results, updated schedule on the web: www.sportsHIgh.com or www.hhsaa.org

TV: Semifinals Friday and championship Saturday live on KFVE (channel 5)

Radio: Semifinals Friday and championship Saturday live on KGU (AM 760); Kapa‘a games on KUAI (AM 720); Honoka‘a and Waiakea games on KHLO (AM 850); Maui and Baldwin games on KMVI (AM 550).

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