Football Players Beefing Up Bulldogs’ Basketball Power

Wednesday - November 17, 2010
By Jack Danilewicz
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The month of February has been good to Kaimuki basketball in recent years for good reason: It’s always the plan.

“We’ll peak a little later than most teams - that’s my guess,” said head coach Kelly Grant, who has led the Bulldogs to a pair of OIA championships as well as a state title in 2007. “We want to be good at a lot of things, and we really, really want to be good at some things. To play (defense) the way we would like, we’ll have to spend a lot of time on it.”

A big reason why hopes are high for the Bulldogs is that they’ll bring back a veteran team with nine or 10 seniors.

Another is the team’s potential to be solid on the defensive end, according to Grant.


Kaimuki’s best offense was its defense in June and July when it had a strong showing in its own summer league, and Grant is eying the same opportunistic play this winter. “Our defense will have to generate a lot of opportunities for us,” said Grant, whose team was 7-8 in OIA games in 2009-10. “That’s what happened during the summer. I’m going back to a lot of things I’ve done in the past as far as defensive schemes.

“We won’t be playing as much zone as in the past,” he added. “We’ll press more and play more man-toman.”

Leading the way in the strong lineup of returnees is senior Tevin Nishiyama. A three-year player, he’ll also be a captain. “He puts in a lot of time in the off-season and goes to a lot of clinics,” Grant said. “He’s improved his ball-handling. He was our point guard last year, even though he was one of our better shooters. We’re looking for him to be a combo guard this year (point guard and shooting guard).”

Grant is expecting the development of junior Nick Motellang to help create more opportunities for both. Like Nishiyama, he can play both guard spots. Now a junior, Motellang is finishing up his football season with Kaimuki along with Mason Kualii-Moe, who is projected to play both the guard and small forward spots on the basketball court.

“He’s very athletic,” Grant said of Kualii-Moe. “He’s able to go to the basket, and he has great jumping ability. He’s very instinctive. His playing a ton of minutes last year can only help him.”

Grant also noted the development of Chester Sua, who will join the team after football. “He really improved this summer,” he said of Sua, who will go to Washington State on a football scholarship. “He’s very explosive. He played tons of minutes last year.”


The Bulldogs’ public unveiling is this Saturday, when they host University High in a preseason game. They also play McKinley Nov. 26, Mid-Pacific Nov. 27 and Mililani Nov. 29 as part of the McKinley Preseason Tournament.

One twist in the OIA East Red this year will see the league’s games divided by a two-week period in which teams will play non-league games or in tournaments.

Kaimuki will make its annual appearance in the Iolani Classic during this period, highlighted by a first-round game against Mason County (Kentucky) Dec. 14.

The Bulldogs open their Red East slate Dec. 7 on the road versus Kailua.

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