Anaheim Tourney Gave Three Cheers To The Little Guys

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Meet the champion Honolulu Tarheels (from left) Kameron Ng, Zayne Chong, Payton Grant, Cole Mausolf, Laamea Frank, Ryan Van Cantfort, Micah Mitchell and Noah Bumanglag. Photo from Lisa Mitchell.

When the Honolulu Tarheels youth (10-and-under) basketball team arrived in Anaheim, Calif., recently for the 2010 Summer Jam Classic national tournament, they found themselves a novelty attraction.

Part of their appeal was their trendy uniforms, and part was “our stature,” said coach Kelly Grant, also the head boys coach at Kaimuki High School.

“We were extremely small compared to other teams there,” said Grant. “When we won our first game (47-17, over the Walnut Black Mambas), we were ahead 27-3, and people took notice.”

Indeed, soon the Tarheels were an attraction for their on-court play as they breezed to four straight wins to capture the tourney. Their run at the tournament also was highlighted by wins over Tustin Tabu (45-27) and the Anaheim Hills Titans (60-24).

“These guys really, really love basketball,” said Grant who was joined by fellow coach Leighton Mitchell. “It wasn’t hard for me to keep their attention. Because they are basketball savvy, we made it a point to teach them things I would teach my high school teams. With this group of kids, you just have to tell them something once and they’ve learned it. They knew how to execute, and everything jelled for us.”

What makes the accomplishment all the more unique is that while they may be all-star caliber, they are not technically an all-star team. The Tarheels are active in leagues on the Island and played close to 70 games together in 2009-10.

Even so, nothing draws a group closer together than six days on the road, as the Tarheels enjoyed. The Classic was held at the Americana Sports Center in Anaheim, considered the largest basketball facility in the United States, with 16 courts in play simultaneously under one roof.

“It’s one of the reasons we chose to go there,” said Grant. “It’s considered the biggest complex.

“They became real close on the trip,” he added, noting the team did a lot of activities, including a trip to Knotts Berry Farm and a team dinner at a Buca di Beppo. “We practiced a lot together. We started getting serious five months ago. We practiced twice a week - on Sundays and Mondays.”

The Tarheels - Noah Bumanglag (Paoa), Zayne Chong (Makiki), Laamea Frank (Moanalua), Payton Grant (Manoa), Cole Mausolf (Aina Haina), Micah Mitchell (Palolo Valley), Kameron Ng (Kaneohe), Ryan Van Cantfort (Hawaii Kai) - had tuned up for the tournament most recently by playing in a league mainly of 12 year-olds at Kilauea District Park.

“We were losing by 20 points a game at first, but by the end, we started beating teams,” said Grant. “I think we won four of our last six games (in Honolulu before leaving).”

Grant is in the midst of a highly successful stint at Kaimuki, where he led the Bulldogs to the 2007 state championship, in addition to OIA titles in 2006 and 2007. Despite coaching a much younger age group this time, he was able to still install a system not unlike what he runs at the varsity level because of the team’s collective basketball IQ.