OIA hoops bound for frenzied finish

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

The O'ahu Interscholastic Association did not wait until March to start its basketball madness.

The OIA tournament begins today at two sites, with perennial power Kalaheo trying to keep alive hopes for a 14th straight state tournament berth and Kahuku trying to keep alive a six-game win streak after starting the season 0-4.

If the 12-team tournament turns out to be as exciting as the regular season was, then it should be madness indeed.

"This year has been crazy, I've never seen it like this before," said Roosevelt coach John Chung, in his 17th season at Roosevelt. "We had five overtime games, including the last four. And it wasn't just us. This is the most overtimes I've seen in a regular season."

Kalaheo, which has won eight of the past nine OIA championships and 10 of the past 12, went 7-3 and finished fourth in the Eastern Division. The Mustangs need to beat Kapolei (6-4) today and Radford (10-0) tomorrow to earn one of the league's four state tournament berths.

Kalaheo has qualified for the state tournament in each of coach Pete Smith's 17 previous seasons (1984-87, 1990-02).

"This is the youngest, most inexperienced team we've had," said Smith, who has only two seniors and one starter back from last year. "But lately we've played really well in spots, and we have the potential to play like that all the time. We've hit a great stride in the past two weeks."

Smith said his players shouldn't be weighted down by history.

"Our kids are aware of the tradition we have, but we're looking at this tournament as sudden-death for everybody," Smith said. "Right now, everybody is 0-0, and you have to take it one game at a time, or your season's over."

That is true even of Radford, the OIA's only unbeaten team. As spotless as the Rams' record is, a loss tomorrow will send them packing.

"We won (the West), but just about all our games were tight until the middle of the fourth quarter," Radford coach Kai Enos said. "It just so happened we pulled it out. I just hope it continues."

With all the teams so evenly matched, Enos said home-court advantage could prove crucial.

"It should help us," Enos said. "I know I'd rather play in our gym than somebody else's, especially Kalaheo's. They have a good coaching staff that has been there so many times already, I would never write them off."

But first the Mustangs must get past Kapolei, a program with no seniors and in only its second year of varsity competition.

"We always had high expectations, but we've already reached our goals of having a winning season and making the playoffs," Hurricanes coach Darren Camello said. "The rest is just gravy and experience."

For senior-laden teams like Mililani, Kaimuki and Roosevelt, it may be more stressful. Mililani (7-3) was the OIA runner-up last year, but the Trojans face the East's hottest team in Kahuku.

Kaimuki has a first-round bye, but faces a tough quarterfinal game tomorrow against the winner of tonight's game between Moanalua (6-4) and Pearl City (8-2). Kaimuki, however, got a boost with the recent return of forward Junior Maiava, a key reserve on last year's team that took third in the state. Maiava was ineligible until two weeks ago.