Early Morning Holiday Training For Determined Sabers
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usAt 6 a.m. New Year’s Eve, while most of Oahu’s residents were still asleep in the midst of an extended holiday weekend, the Campbell High basketball team was hard at work in the school gymnasium, preparing for its upcoming Oahu Interscholastic Association Western Conference battles.
Sabers coach Bobby Samson wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Good teams will practice on holidays - we asked the kids, ‘how good do you want to be?‘“Samson said, “but the decision was theirs. It was their choice. We were in at 6 a.m. Christmas Day as well, and everybody was there.”
Expectations have been high for the Sabers since the moment last season ended. Indeed, should Campbell make a third consecutive appearance in the state tournament next month, it would be a first for the school. The Sabers have made the Final Four of the OIA’s post-season each of the past two seasons, finishing third and fourth, respectively, and Campbell’s recent pre-season schedule, in which they compiled an 8-7 mark, can only be rated as among the toughest in the state. Samson, however, isn’t one to dwell on the win-loss ledger.
“I never talk about winning. It’s all about being a little bit better than you were the day before. The wins take care of themselves. It’s always a good idea to play a tough schedule, and it doesn’t get much tougher than the Iolani Classic. (Playing a tough schedule) makes the kids realize how hard we have to work. We still have a long way to go.”
Campbell’s schedule will get no easier in the West, with six consecutive road games at the front end of their slate. The silver lining is that they will be heavy in home games late in the season.
“I’ve never seen a schedule like that,” Samson laughed, “but I’ve been at Maryknoll (as the girls coach) the past seven years and we don’t even have a gym, so I’m used to it.”
The Sabers were in full stride when they opened their West schedule last week, overwhelming Kapolei 85-46. Their offensive output was more than any other OIA team opening its season that night. If anything, the win over the Hurricanes underscored the balance Campbell will need should they make yet another strong post-season run. Mike Makinano tallied a game-high 35 points in that game, while Walter Daniels (14), Jayden Delizo (10) and Joseph Atimua (8) all had strong games. Ten different Sabers in all scored for Campbell.
“They’re coming together as a unit - they’re all understanding their roles a lot better,“said Samson, whose team was to play Waianae over the weekend. “Everybody knows Mike’s our ‘go-to-guy,’ and he’s a lot more dangerous now (with a strong supporting cast around him).”
A shift in philosophy this season has seen the Sabers move to more of an up-tempo style, in contrast to the half-court approach that fit last year’s personnel. Samson has been pleased with the results so far.
“We’ve been scoring a lot of points - enough points to win games. We’re averaging close to 60 points (per game), so now it’s a matter of cutting down on errors.We’re pushing the ball a lot.”
Turnovers have been the Sabers’ Achilles-heel to date, largely out of their commitment to play at a faster pace.
“Our run game and philosophy to push the ball play into it ,“Samson admitted.“We need to take care of the ball better. We can’t be giving up extra chances. Cutting down on our turnovers will be a key for us. It’s one thing to miss a shot, but when you don’t even get a chance to shoot (on a possession) that’s not good. We’re working on it.”
Campbell has an open date this Thursday and returns to action at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Mililani. Coming up are Radford Jan. 16 and Kapolei Jan. 18, a game that will kick off the West’s second round.
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