Point guard is leaving BYUH to return to Japan
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
La'ie is losing a popular tourist attraction.
And it's not the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Yuta Tabuse, Brigham Young University-Hawai'i's star point guard, is moving back to Japan to play professional basketball.
In his first year with the Seasiders, the 5-foot-8 Yokohama native averaged 7.5 points and 6.3 assists per game. Three Seasiders finished the season averaging double-digits in scoring, thanks, in part, to Tabuse.
Tabuse, who is famous in Japan, made his decision at the end of the season. He leaves in a couple of weeks.
According to BYUH head coach Ken Wagner, Tabuse wanted to play for money instead of going to school.
But Wagner isn't worried about filling the void; he's nearly sealed the deal with another point guard from the Mainland. Junior Jeremy Frampton, who played in 21 of 24 games last season, will also fight for the starting position.
"I'm sure they'll battle it out," Wagner said.
Despite losing Tabuse — and freshman forward Shawn Broadnax, who will head back to San Leandro, Calif. — along with seniors Keli'i Naihe and Brian Skinner, Wagner feels confident about the returning core, which includes Pacific West Conference Player of the Year Alexus Foyle.
"Last year we had so many new players," Wagner said. "This (coming) year most of the people have already been in our program. It'll be much easier to get things going."
Returning to the roster is forward Walter Gates, who sat out last season for personal reasons. The 6-foot-7 junior started during the 1999-2000 season, when the Seasiders went 19-9 and earned a bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Gates will replace outgoing forward Naihe, who averaged 15.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game last season.
"He'll really help us," Wagner said. "He's extremely athletic and really quick. He's a good rebounder and offensively, he's coming into his own."
Also returning is 6-foot guard Spencer Lynn, 6-7 forward Micah Smith and 6-7 forward CJ Fellars, all of whom were on two-year missions. (Smith and Fellars red-shirted their first year at BYUH.)
MORE BASKETBALL
• HPU adds versatile guard: Albert Tecul Real, who attended the University of Hawai'i on a scholarship before transferring to a junior college in Florida, has signed a letter of intent to play for Hawai'i Pacific University.
The 6-foot-4 sophomore from Barcelona, Spain, can play the point or shooting guard positions for the Sea Warriors, who lost eight players (including the top two scorers) to graduation.
"He's diverse and can play both positions, and that's attractive for us because we need a guard to be able to handle the ball," said HPU head coach Russell Dung. "He'll help us out with the ball-handling chores."
Tecul Real, 20, left UH two years ago to play for Pensacola Junior College. But Dung said Tecul Real had always wanted to come back here.
