Navigators Enjoy A Turnaround Season With 9-2 Standing

Wednesday - January 14, 2009
By Jack Danilewicz
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London Amorin of Island Pacific Academy puts his game face on as he goes up for the lay-up during a recent game. Photo by Byron Lee, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Last week after his team had seen its nine-game win streak come to an end, Island Pacific Academy head boys intermediate basketball coach Ben Murphy could sense the doom and gloom in the locker room.

But this passed quickly, with a little help from Murphy.

“The kids were kind of down. I said to them,‘If I told you at the beginning of the season we would be 9-1 heading into the ILH playoffs, would you be happy? It’s all about perspective. Nine and one is a big accomplishment.’”

It is perhaps easier for Murphy and the Navigators to deal with the ebb and flow that goes with playing in the competitive ILH conference in that they have experienced both ends of the athletic spectrum over the last 12 months. Last season, they went winless in eight games before breaking through in the recently completed regular season to go 9-0 before a loss to Hawaii Baptist Academy. (The Navigators were defeated in the semifinals of the conference tournament last Thursday, 43-32, to finish their season at 9-2.).


 

A win in that game would surely provide the exclamation point on IPA’s season, but advancement to the title game is impressive in its own right since the school is only in its third year of league play.

The Navigators also proved there’s strength in numbers, playing out their season with a 20-man roster. While it is nearly unheard of to carry such a big roster in basketball, Murphy and assistant coach Dale Dolejsi didn’t want to make cuts and figured out how to make it work.

“We only had 12 uniforms, so we had to make up a ‘dress roster’ for each game,” explained Murphy, who is a native of the basketball tradition-rich town of Pekin, Ill. “We were able to get all of the kids into a game. Wins are nice, but it’s about getting the kids to be part of a team. We thought we might have some problems with such a big roster. They might not dress or get into a game at all, but they all understood and they were always able to make practice.

“We only had eight or nine kids on our team last year, so I would have been happy with four or five

wins this year, but we won the first game and the kids gained some confidence, and it had a snowball effect. They really fed off of each other.

“It wasn’t coaching,” he added with a laugh. “We coached the same way last year. We had very little to do in a game with this team because they were able to make the adjustments on their own.”

The Navigators’ roster included Josiah Gabriel, Mitchell Garcia, Chase Kanekuni, Jonas Kurihara, Justin Rodriguez, Brian Spence, Alan Sun, Stephen Toth, Taylor Arney, Jason Brenner, Alex Pangelinan, Frank Perkins, Cody Schmitt, Kennedy Wilson, Matt Alsbergas, Royce Ilar, Jamison Kirk, Malcolm Okeke, Christian Yagi and Iokepa Lima.

IPA was faced with another daily challenge in that the school is still very new and therefore without its own gymnasium. The team practiced at either the Kapolei Recreation Center or a park in nearby Makakilo.


But they benefited from solid leadership among their starters, according to Murphy. IPA had only seventh- and eighth-graders on its 2007-08 team, but has its share of ninth-graders this time around.

“I think we came in with a lot more maturity this year,” Murphy said.“We had some kids who hadn’t played last year that came in ready to learn and grow as players. We simplified things more this year with our offense, and the kids were able to understand the plays more and how the game flowed.”

At practice recently, Murphy also saw his team’s leadership in action when one of the Navigators’ starters was helping a teammate move to the proper position.

“That was really great to see,” he said.“We’re far along in the season, and he was still taking the time to help out one of his team-mates to learn our offense.

“The team camaraderie is strong here. It was that way last year also. The kids are always out there trying.”

 

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