Move To DII Not Getting Waipahu Basketball Boys Down

Wednesday - December 15, 2010
By Jack Danilewicz
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The Waipahu boys basketball team may have been shifted to Division II this season, but it’s arguably of Division I caliber.

With that in mind, third-year head coach Carl Matsumoto made sure his team played a steady diet of heavyweights in their preseason. The lineup included games with Castle, Moanalua, Mililani, Maryknoll and Pearl City, among other DI outfits.

“This is a special group, so we scheduled a rigorous pre-season,” he said.“It shows the confidence I have in them. The kids weren’t at all pleased with being moved down to DII, but rules are rules. Our goal is to win the West (in DII). A lot of these boys were brought up as sophomores, and they took their licks then. They’ve also played summer leagues together since the eighth grade, and they’re the first group we’ve had that has consistently played together.”


Among the reasons they’ve been able to land such a noteworthy schedule is their commitment to playing pressure defense, according to Matsumoto.

“We’re all about defense here,“he said.“People want to play us because they know they’ll get four quarters of solid defense from us.We start with that as our main goal with the JV team. We expect the boys to know how to play man-to-man defense when they get to us. We teach offense when they come up to the varsity. Playing good defense is one of the main criteria for being a part of our program.”

The Marauders looked at season’s end last February as the classic team “that’s a year away” from bigger and better things. Indeed, a riveting so-called upset of Radford showed their progress at the end of that season, and they followed up that win with an upset win over OIA power-house Kalaheo.

The 2010-11 Marauders were to open their OIA White Conference schedule over the weekend against Nanakuli, with a key game against Aiea to follow on Monday. They host Anuenue Wednesday, with another home date against Waialua Friday.

Matsumoto is building around seniors Daeniel Cullen-Diomanpo, Duketoa Tili and Tatupu Tatupu this season.

“Daeniel really picked it up during the last half of the season last year,“Matsumoto said. “He was on fire against Radford and Kalaheo. He can create his own shot, and we like him academically. He has a shot to play college ball.


“(Tili) is our best defender,” he added. “Last year he guarded Aaron Fernandez (of Kalaheo) and held him to under 10 points. He’ll score, but his job is primarily to play defense and create for everyone else. Tatupu is very intelligent on the court. He’s a great all-around player.”

Chance Delima, Jonathan Lewis, Roger Mendoza, Richard Ugalde, Brice Dwiggins, Marc Moises, Jayvee Cadiente, Wesley Nagaseu, Christian Clarito, Roy Florenco, Eric Castro, Nathaniel Timoteo and Mykell Alston round out the team.

In addition to its collective talent level, Matsumoto likes his team’s willingness to buy into the program as a whole - namely the academic end. Unlike some years, Waipahu had no academic issues last season.

“We take our academics very seriously here,” he said. “It is what makes or breaks us, and last year it showed that we didn’t have any grade problems.”

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