This may have been the funnest day of basketball ever. I've seen a lot of roundball in my life, covered the sport for decades at the high school level, spent years playing it at all kinds of youth levels. Drove miles and miles to play exhibition games on a regular basis. Reffed it, too.
But today? Today was special. Our 17U won two games (against Hawaiian Punch and Swoosh) to qualify for the championship game of the NJB Classic. We'll get to battle Lanakila again, tomorrow (Sunday), 10:00 am at Manoa gym. I'm not the only one looking forward to it.
The 17U boys played with heart and ferocity in this tournament. That's what I'll remember most. We'll see what they can bring tomorrow in one last chance to make their mark against one of the finest programs in the state — if not the very best. We gave them a serious run on Friday night in pool play. Getting another opportunity is priceless.
Our 12U will play in a semifinal at 11:00 am, and if we win that, it's on to the title game at 4:00 pm. They continue to play well despite a lot of inexperience and mental errors. They get by sometimes on sheer willpower. When everything else seems to be struggling, these kids can get a steal or a fastbreak to spark a big run against any opponent. That takes a lot of inner fortitude, gumption, whatever you want to call it. I call it heart.
They lost Jenna for the rest of the tourney when she and her family went on a very cool vacation to the mainland on Friday. Then today, Kyle was gone for the games with OTB and Kahului Falcons. But the kids persevered to win. Then they took on Kahuku, probably the best perimeter shooting team in the division. That's saying a lot since there are 16 teams in the age group — more than the 14U and 17U teams combined.
Kahuku led for a big chunk of the second half and we stayed close. We pressed them. They pressed us. Their sharpshooters were unbelievable, hitting catch-and-shoot 3-point bombs. A couple of those were from NBA range, and these kids are not giants. They were the one team we've seen all season that plays with as much fire and heart as our guys.
But in the end, despite free-throw violations, weak perimeter defense and at least a dozen missed opportunities on fastbreaks, we pulled out a 46-44 win. Kahuku's last-second 3-point try — a runner from the wing — curled in and out of the rim. It was a great game to watch; about 100 people or more were there at Palolo Gym, at least half from the North Shore. And EVERYBODY applauded after Tanielu hustled after a loose ball in the corner, fell over and into a bunch of plastic trash cans, and got up unhurt. They really loved his hustle.
I loved the way we played without giving up. I didn't love the mental errors, the rushing shots, stuff like that. But we WILL learn from great competition like this and get better. For me, that made it maybe the best basketball day ever. We're still getting better. We're playing good ball, getting better one game at a time. I love that kind of desire and teamwork.
We'll probably be shorthanded once again tomorrow. Kodee has a prior commitment (softball team) and Mackie has her other (girls basketball) practice and game. That will leave us 7 strong: Tanielu, Chris, Kyle, Jared, Micah, Paul and Walter. These are the guys who are at Makiki Park five, six, even seven days a week, week after week.
They're the guys who have shown the most love for the game, the most thrills in being teammates, joking all the time, challenging each other unceasingly. They love this game as much as I do, as much as many of the 17U and 15U do.
It's been a good day, but it's been an even better basketball season since spring and now summer. Would not trade it for the world!
Again, BIG MAHALOS go out to Roland & Dora Ogoshi for bringing ice-cold refreshments, to Kaelen's mom (JoAnn) for the musubis, to dads Daniel Pimentel, Cliff Smith and Roy Moraga for shooting game videos. The reality of all this basketball is that without our parents' support, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to keep going on, league after league, tournament after tournament. Folks like Auntie Dora go out of their way to make sure all our kids have rides to games. Auntie Char has made sure we keep raising funds to pay for everything, printing more Car Wash tickets, leading the cookie fundraiser in spring ...
The result? We have very cool, outstanding and occasionally funny kids who enjoy playing this sport together, simply competing as best they can. For Coach Larry, Coach Bo and me, there are fewer things more satisfying to see.
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