CLOSING THE BOOK: Kaiser's rise to No. 5 statewide

Photo courtesy of Coach Kenneth Powell

Closing the Book: Kaiser (23-9, 8-3 OIA East)

> vs. Top 10: 5-8 (.385)

> Top 10 wins: KAH, STL, KS, KAIL, KAH

> Top 10 losses: MS, GAR, TSI, MPI, KLH, MOA, LEI, KAH

> Non-Top 10 losses: ROOS

> Home: 9-2

> Away: 9-4

> Neutral: 5-3

> Playoffs: 3-1

> HHSAA: 0-1

Only two teams statewide had more overall wins than the Kaiser Cougars.

Maryknoll (26) and Kamehameha (31) played for the state championship. Kaiser finished fifth in the Oahu Interscholastic Association and lost in the opening round of the state tournament. A surprise? 

More like a wash. The Cougars’ top two scorers were juniors Mario Drummer and Kenji Toyama. Senior post Cyrus Singelman also had a solid season despite injuries that kept him off the court, and sometimes, he played through them. 

Second-year head coach Kenneth Powell saw his team learn and grow. 

“Like a carnival ride. Up and down, but fun,” he said. 

The Cougars began the preseason with three wins in four games, beating Campbell (46-40), losing to eventual state champion Maryknoll (49-35), and defeating Saint Louis II (57-36) and Waipahu (73-26). 

“At that point we’re feeling good. Playing great defensive ball. Offense is inconsistent. We’re doing what we’re supposed to do,” Powell said. 

Then, something new: a trip to the Friendly Isle. 

“We got there and played that night. Lahainaluna, we knew nothing about. We knew they would be a good team from the years before, but not much else. We’re geared up. We knew what we were walking into with Molokai, same thing with Kahuku,” Powell said. 

Kaiser won all three games, beating Lahainaluna 56-33, host Molokai 53-34 and Kahuku 56-50. 

“You’re not coaching that like a regular-season game. Molokai might have been the first tournament where we had all 15 players. Maryknoll, we didn’t have Cyrus. Saint Louis, missed a couple kids. Obviously, you are trying to win the game. Coming off of that, you’re feeling real good about things. They don’t have everybody, they don’t show anything,” Powell said. 

Four days after the Molokai tournament, Kaiser leaped into the ‘Iolani Classic. After a blowout loss to Washington state powerhouse Garfield, the Cougars stunned Kamehameha. Kaiser was without big man Singelman. Kamehameha was without eventual All-State player of the year Christmas Togiai and center Bailey Lee, who were at a glee concert in Kona. 

“Cyrus had finals that morning. Christmas, he’s a different beast, a different animal, but they’re still very formidable. Without Cyrus, that’s a big rebounding issue for us,” Powell said. “The win was nice. The kids were pumped about that.” 

Then came a blowout loss to Tsinghua (China) and a 72-71 double-overtime loss to Mid-Pacific. 

“It was good. We’re still trying to figure out things, we still had in and out of the rotation, but still good. The China game we would’ve liked that game back. All in all, a nice preseason,” Powell said. 

Kaiser went 12-4 in preseason, was ranked No. 5 in the Star-Advertiser Top 10. The Cougars established an identity.

“We expect a lot of our games low scoring, keep teams in the 40s if they get there. Our offense all year was very inconsistent putting the ball in the hoop. You can control things defensively,” Powell said. 

A week after the ‘Iolani Classic, Kaiser lost its regular-season opener against Kalaheo, 61-42, but won the next six games. That included a 43-39 win at Kailua. 

“That was physical, fouls flying around and there’s something about that court that feels different,” Powell said. “Given what our records were at that point, it was nice to get in there and get the win. Tough to play there.”

At 6-1 in the OIA East, the Cougars then lost to Moanalua, 63-49, and won at Farrington, 69-42. They hit the road for a game at Roosevelt, a team fighting for the top seed in Division II. Roosevelt won, 63-53. 

“The loss to Roosevelt was hard. I don’t know what it is, but it’s hard to win on the road anywhere. When you’re outside your gym, things aren’t the same. Even last year, we had that really bad loss at Kaimuki out of the blue. Playing on the road is just different,” Powell said. 

Two days later, Kaiser hosted a hot Kahuku squad and prevailed, 41-40 to close the East schedule. 

“I don’t think anything changed. At that point of the season what is there to really change about what you’re doing? It’s the last game of the (regular) season. You don’t take one bad loss and change everything when you’ve got some of the wins and tough losses you’ve got. By the time they got back from (Roosevelt), they were already in good spirits about it. It was just another day at the office following that.”

Kahuku was ranked No. 3 and rolling with a nine-game win streak prior to the Kaiser matchup. 

“For that game, it was trying to make them beat us from the outside, which bit us in the butt in the state tournament. That night, their guards didn’t have it, so we were content packing it in and letting them take their chances from the outside. Make sure they get their one opportunity and we get the rebound,” Powell said. “But they’ve got two really good guards, those young kids. Even though they had an off night, they were just inches from makes. I was nervous. If these start to fall, we’ll have to change things on the fly, but it worked out for that game.”

Despite the win over Kahuku, the loss to Roosevelt bumped the Cougars out of the Top 10. 

Kaiser opened the OIA playoffs with a 59-38 home win over scrappy Pearl City. One day later, the Cougars lost at Leilehua, 40-39 in the quarterfinal round. 

“They were shooting 1-and-1 at the line with no time left (and made it),” Powell said. “It’s not changing anything. After that, it’s nice to have a next game one or two days later and get that taste out of your mouth. But the way we lost that game, the way it ended, I feel like having almost a week between games helped us balance ourselves. The next practice, I don’t think we did anything x’s and o’s. we just enjoyed each other’s company, did some shooting, some laughter and we got back at it a couple days later to get in through the back door. You’ve got to find a way to put it out of sight, out of mind.”

Five days later, Kaiser went to Radford and sealed a state-tournament berth with a 55-27 victory. A 39-33 win over Kapolei two days later gave the Cougars fifth place in the OIA. 

“We’re in. it’s what you set out to do, you qualify and enjoy it. Then we’ve got a big problem, the Red Raiders at their gym,” Powell said. 

Because half of the state-tourney field is from the OIA, a Kaiser-Kahuku pairing was inevitable for the league’s runner-up and fifth-place entrants. Playing at home in the opening round, Kahuku got the better of Kaiser with a 56-37 win. 

“We tried our best as coaches. It’s hard to beat the same team multiple times in the same year. I don’t think two wins prior would have any bearing on the next game coming up,” Powell said. “Everybody worked hard and did what they were supposed to do. Unfortunately, the inconsistencies on offense showed. Kahuku was efficient on their court and we just couldn’t recover."

Kaiser went 5-8 against Top 10 opponents with wins over Kahuku (twice), Saint Louis, Kamehameha and Kailua. 

Coach Powell chatted about the season and his players. 

This season was ________. 

Powell: “Like a carnival ride. Up and down, but fun.” 

This season was the movie ________. 

Powell: “Forrest Gump. Because it was full of ups and downs throughout, but the players remained positively optimistic the whole time.” 

Review: Starters and key rotation/role players

Mario Drummer, 12 ppg, 6-2, Jr.

Powell: “His strengths are still his ability to get to the rim. On any position player. If a guard is on him, he can post. If a big is on him, the can take him. He’s big, but he can adjust. Nothing surprises me about him anymore. His willingness to guard the other team’s best player is something different this year. He never shied away from it, but this year, he asked for it. I’d like him to be more aggressive. For a given school, he sort of is a generational player, so I would like to see him be more aggressive, be a little more selfish with wanting to take shots and finish at the rim, not worry about not sharing the ball as much.” 

Kenji Toyama, 10 ppg, 5-6, Jr.

Powell: “The skill set is there, the ability to shoot. Mentally, he’s stepped into another kind of tier where he doesn’t get as frustrated with the little things. he learned  to let it go when he can’t control. He’ll just breathe, take control and we’re ready to go. I didn’t have to take him out to sit for a minute and collect his thoughts. He’s able to do that within the game now. He’s 100 mph all the time, and if a team goes down and scores, he wants to come right back in 10 seconds, and we can’t always play that way. So him improving his outlook on the length of the game, and that comes with maturing as a player in the fire.” 

Cyrus Singelman, 10 ppg, 6-3, Sr. 

Powell: “Everybody looked at him as a hot-headed kid, but it’s often mistaken because of his passion and emotion for the game. He did a really nice job this year being more aware of that and how it’s coming off, the vibe it’s giving teammates and other players. He was asked to do a lot, especially rebounding, being the big guy inside. His maturity this year took off. He was his same consistent double-digit points and rebounds. He wanted to be out there. I think he sprained his ankle in practice before Kalani. We’d just gotten Mario back, and he only played because Cy was out. Cy was supposed to be out for awhile. Pretty gnarly sprain. He got some major rehabbing with the trainer and he had that pain tolerance. He was out there and I had to tell him to sit out of practice because he wanted to do everything. I feel for him because there’s no volleyball. Essentially, your high school career is done.” 

Dylan Hickcox, 6-0, Sr.

Powell: “Dylan was fairly consistent. A real team-oriented guy because I asked him, he was good enough to be a starter. Every team needs a guy, a sixth man who could be inserted as starter, but works better for the team as a sixth man. Everybody wants to be in the first five, but this guy was wiling to do the role. On senior night, i asked him if he wanted to start, and he said no. He was the spark off the bench. He’s really good at finding his way into the lane, getting those little dump shots inside, finishing at the rim. His lankiness helped on that, too.” 

Dane Tsue, 5-7, Sr.

Powell: “He’s the guy since sophomore year through senior year, just injuries derailed what his overall potential was. That allowed Kenji to take flight the way he did. Dane was the perfect counter person for Kenji. Dane was the one who would get the ball and just bring the ball up and force everyone to run a set. His wisdom, calmness, collectiveness was a big part of our rotation.” 

Dre Falls, 5-7, Sr.

Powell: “Everything he does for us doesn’t show up in the statistics. Limiting the other team’s scorers. He was our No. 1 guy at guarding the other team’s best player. He’s just a guy who runs the baseline in our 1-3-1, so you need somebody who doesn’t mind going 3-point corner to 3-point corner. If I don’t have a player who can do that, we can’t run it. It was a get-after-it guy. Has a lot of speed.” 

Did the rotation change?

Powell: “Nothing major.” 

What or who surprised you most? 

Powell: “All of them, the collective defensive effort this year. We had a few games, Mid-Pac, triple OT, but Kalaheo the game was in the 20s at halftime. Moanalua, the last four minutes is what blew up. But in every other game, we did a fabulous job defensively, how locked in everyone stayed. We went into OT with Kauai and only gave up one basket. Their ability to lock down to get stops, to get to OT, when it matters most and they have to dig in, the defense because the identity of this team. We pushed a lot and it surprised me that we got there.” 

What were the most adverse challenges? 

Powell: “Managing the in and out of who we had available and who we didn’t throughout from preseason. Different times of the year, Mario was out, Cy was out, Dre was out. Just trying to keep the cohesiveness and keep a consistent rotation. Adjusting without them because they’re all major, key players.” 

What was the peak? What was the low? 

Powell: “I guess the peak would be how we bounced back and beat Kahuku on senior night. The environment from both communities being there, and what was on the line, there was a lot on the line for Kahuku to get the 1 seed and to avoid being in Kalaheo’s spot and going to Kapolei. That was a high point for us. The low point might have been the Roosevelt loss only because we were still in the mix for a first-round bye, and that pretty much sealed it.” 

What will you miss about this group? 

Powell: “Their love and cohesiveness wanting to be together, a group of characters having a good time, throwing in a practice while we’re at it, throwing in a game while we’re at it.” 

What are you anticipating for offseason and next season? 

Powell: “We had plans, outside league, summer league, take a group to Vegas at the end of summer. With all this, we’re putting together a workout regimen and it’s on them to do it. When things settle down and we can get together again, we’ll be at it. Knowing these kids, they’re finding a place to work out just like kids everywhere.”

Returning next season

Powell: “Mario, Kenji, Rylan Kwock. Rylan got some minutes and he’ll be a big contributor. Kamakana Mahiko was a sophomore. You just want to get their feet wet and next year, you hope they can take off with it. Got a couple of kids coming up from JV we’re looking forward, too. The nice thing is, last year we had seven or eight kids that played football, so we didn’t have anything to do in the fall. This year, it’s just a few so a large number of the kids will be together in the fall and we can hammer some things out.”