No. 3 Mililani wary of quarterfinal game
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Mililani High School boys basketball team enjoyed a perfect (10-0) regular season in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's Western Division and has been ranked No. 3 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll for the past four weeks.
And if the Trojans are not careful, it all could end Friday.
Such is the danger — and thrill — of the OIA tournament, which starts tomorrow with first-round games at 'Aiea and Castle.
As Western Division champion, Mililani earned a first-round bye. But in Friday's quarterfinals, the Trojans will face the winner of tomorrow's Roosevelt-Pearl City game. And since the OIA is awarded only four berths in the state tournament, the season will end for Friday's quarterfinal losers.
"If there is a big game for us this year, this one is it," Mililani coach Mike Coito said. "I can't say which team I'd rather play, because they both have good coaching and are both dangerous."
Roosevelt (6-4) started the season 0-2 but then won six of its next seven games before losing the season finale to Kahuku last Saturday. The Rough Riders, however, already had locked up the No. 4 seed in the East regardless of Saturday's outcome.
Roosevelt is further strengthened by the return of junior guard Bryson Borges, who missed five games for personal reasons. Borges scored 12 points against Kahuku and averaged 10 points in the five games he played.
Meanwhile, Pearl City (6-4) already has shown it can be a threat to Mililani. The Trojans survived the regular-season meeting, 45-43.
"They went to a four-corner (offense) and were using the high post for screening," Coito said. "They would work the five-second count, then drive off the high post screen. It bothered us, because we got impatient and weren't taking our time when we had the ball."
No matter who Mililani plays Friday, it will have to overcome the absence of 6-foot-5 post player Trey Brown, who is nursing a bad ankle sprain. Brown, a reliable mid-range shooter and one of the Trojans' top rebounders, is averaging 8.2 points per game.
"He also helps us out on defense, because it's always good having a tall guy around," Coito said. "He does a lot of things for us."
Fortunately for the Trojans, depth is one of their strengths. Junior forward Simeon Tavares twice came off the bench this season to score 18 points, including last Tuesday when he scored 12 points in the fourth period to help Mililani hold off Leilehua, 69-60.
Of course, it also helps to have one of the state's top guards in senior Rashaun Broadus, who led the West in scoring with 16.4 points per game.
Still, Coito is fully aware of the perils involved in the tournament. In fact, it was the Trojans who eliminated East champion Castle, 45-43, in the 2000 quarterfinals. The year before that, previously unbeaten West champion Moanalua was bounced in the quarterfinals and, like Castle, saw its season end prematurely.
"It can happen, especially this year because there's a lot of dark-horse teams that maybe didn't put it together early in the season but are putting it together now," Coito said. "The pressure's on, and everybody's going to come with their best game."
Being a No. 1 seed, Coito added, can make it even tougher.
"Everybody is shooting for you all the time," he said. "All it takes is for somebody to have a big game, and you're knocked off."
• Missing Falcon: Robert D'Amato of Kalani averaged 12.6 points per game during the regular season. His name was left off the list of OIA East scoring leaders published yesterday.
