Closing the Book: No. 9 Punahou (17-12, 7-5 ILH)
> vs. Top 10: 10-12 (.455)
> Top 10 wins: KAIL, MOA, LEI, SLM, CATH, LJCD, SCI, DMS, MPI, MPI
> Top 10 losses: TRI, ROY, RIB, KS, KLH, TIMP, MS, KS, DMS, KS, MS, MPI
> Non-Top 10 losses: None
> Home: 7-4
> Away: 5-2
> Neutral: 6-5
> Playoffs: 0-1
The current state of Interscholastic League of Honolulu is hyper-competitive, even merciless.
Punahou. ‘Iolani. Neither of the storied programs made it to the state tourney even with three berths allotted to the state’s toughest league. Eventual repeat state champion Maryknoll and regular-season champion Kamehameha were deep and immensely talented. Damien, coming of a Division II state-title season, had talent, length, heart and resilience. There just wasn’t enough room at states for Mid-Pacific, Saint Louis, Punahou and ‘Iolani. Of the seven teams, six were ranked in the Star-Advertiser Boys Basketball Top 10.
Coach Darren Matsuda, who guided the Buffanblu to state championships in 2012 and '18, saw his squad win eight of 10 games during a stretch that crossed over from preseason to the ILH regular season. Only three teams statewide recorded more wins over Top 10 opponents than Punahou.
Of the teams that played at least games against Top-10 competition, only Maryknoll, Kamehameha and Damien had more wins. Only two of them had a better winning percentage. The Buffanblu followed an 8-4 regular season with a stunning 49-42 overtime loss to Mid-Pacific in the ILH playoffs. After beating MPI twice during regular-season play, their season was suddenly over on the first day of February.
Damien, a team Punahou split with in league play, went on to edge MPI for the third and final state-tourney berth in the ILH.
In all, it was a solid year with 17 wins, 10 of them over Top 10 teams. It began with the ruthless competition of the World Basketball Tour at Kalaheo with losses to national powerhouse Trinity International, a 61-59 loss to Royal and a loss to CIF power Ribet Academy.
“RIbet ended up winning a state championship. Sierra Canyon called us for scouting on them,” Matsuda said.
The Buffanblu bounced back at the Surfrider Holiday Classic with wins over Waiakea and host Kailua before losing to Kamehameha, 63-55.
“The Kailua tournament gave us a taste of where we were. More local teams, the kind of competition we will play,” Matsuda said.
At the James Alegre Classic, Punahou edged host Moanalua (55-51) and defeated Leilehua (60-49) before losing to OIA powerhouse Kalaheo (53-47).
“It was kind of what we expected. We would’ve liked to beat Kalaheo, but we knew we would struggle a little bit this year compared to the years before. We’re doing OK as far as our expectations, but we just had to play really good basketball to win,” Matsuda said.
Then came the road trip to Nevada, where the Buffanblu won three of five games in the Bishop Gorman tourney. That included a 50-48 win over Cathedral Prep.
The Buffanblu came home, rested and began play in their Punahou Invitational the day after Christmas. They routed Hamamatsu Tech and Thunder Mountain (Alaska), then outscored La Jolla Country Day (Calif.), 72-61. In the final, Punahou edged Science Hill (Tenn.), 65-59.
“We were pretty much peaking, that’s when we want to peak. All four of them, three were good teams. I was pretty happy with the way we were playing,” Matsuda said.
Punahou opened ILH regular-season play with wins over Saint Louis and Damien, both on the road. Then came losses to Maryknoll and Kamehameha.
“It was kind of expected, to be honest. This year was really tough as far as talent goes. When we beat Damien, we played well, but they didn’t have Bryce (Forbes). He’s a big difference-maker. Everybody was good, even Saint Louis. We could defend, but we had a tough time scoring this year,” Matsuda noted.
The Buffanblu endured the gauntlet and finished 7-5 in league play. That included close losses to Damien (49-47) and Kamehameha (49-43). The OT loss to Mid-Pacific ended the season.
“It was disappointing because we were winning. We controlled most of the game. We were up by seven with two minutes left, and we missed four or five one-and-ones. Mid-Pacific got hot,” Matsuda said.
Punahou will be in reload mode next season as nine seniors graduate. Among the returnees will be 6-foot-4 wing Ryder Hsiung, who hit six treys and scored 22 of his 24 points in the first half in a win over Saint Louis.
Coach Matsuda chatted about his players and the future.
This season was ________.
Matsuda: “Challenging. We lost a lot of guys we expected to be on the team. We weren’t as deep and talented as we usually are. We knew we had to play together to win.”
This season was the movie ________.
Matsuda: “Stand By Me. The senior class is really close. They’ve been together a long time, playing in club and at Punahou. They’re really good friends. At the end of the day, they’ll look back and enjoy the camaraderie and friendship the most even though we didn’t do everything we wanted to on the court.”
Review: Starters and key rotation/role players
Yoshi Kobayashi, 12 ppg, voted All-State Fab 15 honorable mention, 5-11, Sr.
Matsuda: “His strengths are he’s an all-around scorer. He can get to the basket. He can shoot outside. He improved, especially on defense.”
Ryder Hsiung, 10 ppg, voted All-State Fab 15 honorable mention, 6-4, Jr.
Matsuda: “I think Ryder’s an elite shooter. He doesn’t need a lot of looks. He got way better defensively. He worked really harder on his strength in the offseason. He’s going to get stronger.”
Jordan Deshawn Hepting, 7 ppg ILH play, 6-9, Sr.
Matsuda: ““Defensively, he really was a presence for us. He’s very disciplined and doesn’t get out of position a lot. He’s a good anchor, got a lot of rebounds for us. At the end, he developed his post scoring and we needed that. He became one of our weapons. He’s only 17. Really smart. He started school earlier. He’s supposed to be a junior. I wish we had one more year.”
Noah Kameehonua, 6 ppg, 5-10, Sr.
Matsuda: “Streaky scorer and has a certain toughness. He has a little Steven Lakalaka in him. He doesn’t back down. He was that kind of guy for us.”
Kanoa Kalahiki, 6 ppg ILH, 6-3, Sr.
Matsuda: “He was a surprise, a first-year varsity basketball player. He was a starting wide receiver and got hurt in the first or second game. He came back and brought us a lot of defensive toughness and a lot of rebounds, hustle points.”
Peyton Macapulay, 5-8, So.
Matsuda: “Really great leader, extremely quick. I think next year, he’s really going to take off. He’s going to be a captain and with that responsibility, you see these guys take off. I’m expecting huge things from him next year. He got hurt and missed most of preseason.”
Kai Nafarrete, 5-9, Sr.
Matsuda: “Strong leader. Very controlled with the ball. Closed games well. Smart.”
Alex Iosivas, 6-5, Sr.
Matsuda: “He was our backup center and did everything well. The strongest guy on our team, strength-wise.”
Did the rotation change?
Matsuda: “No, it was pretty constant for most of the year.”
What or who surprised you most?
Matsuda: “Jordan Kalahiki. We knew this year would be his opportunity, but actually he was a good leader, too. Our strongest leader. He really started embracing the role, knowing we needed him to do well for us to be successful. He stepped up from being a role player to a guy we needed inside.”
What were the most adverse challenges?
Matsuda: “Just trying to stay together, playing as a team. We needed to do that in every game.”
What was the peak? What was the low?
Matsuda: “We had a couple of peaks. Our senior night against Mid-Pacific, we played really well. After that we were really confident going into Maryknoll. We also peaked in the Punahou tournament. Our final game was a low. We had control that entire game and missed a lot of opportunities at the end. Hat’s off to MPI, they game planned well and played well, in particular Kamana Lapina. He hit some huge shots.”
What will you miss about this group?
Matsuda: “This group, I’ve been with them for a long time. We’ve travelled together over the summer a lot. The closeness of the group, I’m going to miss them, and the friendships we’ve made throughout the years.”
What are you anticipating for offseason and next season?
Matsuda: “Summer leagues are cancelled already, from what I hear.
You just don’t know right now. Once we can get back on the court, everyone’s going to feel so blessed. Individually, we want everyone to stay safe. If we get back in September, we’d ramp up pretty hard. I’d definitely petition for extra workout time since we’re not going to have a summer. A lot of the guys up until the shutdown were working out together, and they can’t do that now. They’re hungry and motivated, really training hard.
“We were going to travel to Vegas this summer. We were doing that the last few years, a good time for us to come together as a team. We can’t do that unless a miracle happens. Best thing is something happens drastically on a development in the anti-viral front.
The future
“We lose a lot. We lose nine seniors, but we have a pretty decent core coming back. It is what it is. Unfortunately, we know how the state tournament is set up. We needed to be in the top three and everyone’s good enough to be there. You’ve got to play pretty perfect, good offense, good defense and things have to go your way.”
The Buffanblu have talent and experience returning next season with Hsiung, Macapulay, Micah Matsumitsu. Alakai Troske (6-3, Jr.) is among the returnees who could be an x-factor.
“We have a really good incoming freshman class. Probably a couple of freshmen on the team next year. We have a pretty good JV class, too, but a strong future, definitely,” Matsuda said.
Roosevelt coach Steve Hathaway said that leading scorer Drake Watanabe would return to Punahou next school year. He averaged 20 points and nine rebounds per game for the Rough Riders as a sophomore. He played his freshman year at Punahou.
Comments