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Mules Basketball Team Set For Radford Preseason Tourney

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Dillion Pau’u is confronted by Phillip LeGrier and Bryann Hollis as he attempts to pass the ball during Leilehua basketball practice with assistant coach Russ Fitzgerald. Photo by Byron Lee.

The Leilehua boys basketball team won’t have to wait for the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red West season to face some of the best competition in the state.

Indeed, by the time of their opener with Campbell in early January, the Mules should be battle-tested by a demanding preseason slate.

“This will be a good chance for our guys to prove where they’re at,” coach Keith Spencer said of his team’s preseason schedule.

The Mules open preseason play at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Radford Pre-Season Tournament, where they’ll meet last year’s state tour-ney runner-up Punahou in a first-round matchup. Leilehua also will play teams still to be determined on Friday and Saturday. On the heels of the Radford tournament, Leilehua will take part in the prestigious Iolani Classic Dec. 18-22, with an appearance in the Merv Lopes’ Classic set for the end of the month.

Leilehua is hoping to build on a 6-6 season last year as well as a busy summer schedule that culminated with a trip to Las Vegas, where the Mules took part in the Main Event National Tournament. Early-season optimism is high even though Spencer doesn’t expect to have his full roster available until Dec. 10, as seven players, including five projected to play major minutes, are still involved with the Mules’ OIA championship football team, which was to play a state tournament game over the weekend.

With that in mind, Spencer expects Andrew Manley, Hoku Kama, Chase Acohido and Tavana Alailima to re-join the team Dec. 3. Teammate Art Laurel has been selected to play in the Goodwill All-Star football game and will likely join the Mules Dec. 10.

Although still without the bulk of his team, Spencer likes the extra game experience his under-classmen will earn.

“The others could earn a lot of playing time if they can play,” he said. “It will give us less than one month to prepare (for the OIA season), so getting them (football players) back into ‘basketball shape’will be our toughest task.”

Among the newcomers who could have an immediate impact is freshman point guard Dillion Pauu, who will back up Kama.

“When we started him in Las Vegas, he did excellent - he opened some eyes, especially mine,” he said of Pauu, whose older brother Dustin played for him. “He’ll play a lot. He has great vision and tremendous dribbling skills. He’s just a basketball player. I’ve followed him since he was in seventh grade. He grew up with our program.”

Depth in the back court can only bode well for a team that will be strong in the post. Laurel is a 6-foot-2 senior and a First Team All-West selection last year, while 6-2 senior forward Kolwin Dixon is a three-year varsity player.

“Right now, I’d say our inside game is our strength - you can’t teach size. Kolwin and Art on the bottom should be hard to stop. We’re hoping for big things from Kolwin. He did a nice job in Vegas, and he’s really worked hard with the weights and his conditioning. He’s an excellent rebounder - he has a knack for it.”

Spencer also praised the play of Samuel, who will likely begin the season at the off-guard spot opposite Kama. “He’s doing a fine job. He’s developed some confidence in his shooting, and he’s been displaying that every day in practice.”

Defense has always been a point of emphasis for the Mules, especially so in the preseason, according to Spencer. “It’s been mainly all defense so far. We always stress that defense wins championships, and we’ve been working a lot on our schemes.”

Including the Mules, there are seven teams in the Red West, all of whom figure to have the same goal in mind this season: Catch Mililani. The Trojans have gone undefeated in the West each of the past two seasons under Hiram Akina.

“You have to go with them (as the favorite),“Spencer said.“They’ve gone 10-0 the last two years - they do a great job. Radford and Campbell will also be good, so you have to look at all three.”

Leilehua opens its regular season Jan. 2 against Campbell.