Sabers Work Toward Perfecting Their Roles On The Court
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usHaving one of the state’s most prolific scorers in senior Michael Makinano, a pressing chore for the Campbell boys basketball team has been to develop his supporting cast.
Coach Glenn Flores considered his team well on its way already when Washington-transfer Eddie Gaines added more intrigue to the mix by joining the team over the semester break. “A late Christmas present,“Flores said of Gaines, a 6-5 forward from Tacoma, who made his debut for Campbell last week with 14 and 13 points, respectively, in a wins over Mililani and Radford. “His strength is that he played the two and three (guard/small forward spots) on the Mainland. In Hawaii, being that he’s 6-5, he’ll have to play underneath, and he’s fine with that. He told me he’ll play anywhere to help the team.”
For a team with collective talent, Gaines could figure big for the Sabers, who had won four straight games following an 0-2 start that included losses to league front-runner Leilehua and Kapolei. Part of their early struggles could be attributed to injuries. Forward Patrick Ward missed the first five games after a high ankle sprain Dec. 26, while guard Joe Atimua was sidelined last week by a sprained ankle.
“With Patrick out, it was a big adjustment,” Flores said. “We had some kids trying to do too much. If we play within ourselves, we can do it, and that’s how we’ve played the last three games.
“Those two losses (Leilehua and Kapolei) shocked us. The kids understand now the importance of role-playing and playing together. Now with Eddie (Gaines), and with the others coming back, we’ll be at full strength and people will start to notice us more.”
Flores was optimistic both Ward and Atimua would dress for Thursday’s all-important game with Waianae. Campbell won the first one between them 63-53 on Jan. 8, largely behind the output of Makinano, who connected on seven of his team-leading 13 three-pointers to finish with 31 points. (Makinano matched his season-high of 31 in an 87-70 win over Radford last Wednesday.) All told, the senior guard has led the team in scoring in each of their OIA games, en route to a 22.4-points-per-game average.
“Mike loves the game so much, he’d play all day if he could. When you put the ball in his hand, you’re confident he’s going to make the shot.When he’s on, he has the green light (to shoot).He can shoot it from the bleachers when he’s in the zone.”
As they head into the second round of Red West play, Flores also expects his rotation to include Terence Tafai (6.8 points per game), Zachary Manuel (5.6) and Nicholas Daniels (5.4). While Makinano has put up big numbers, scoring over 20 points in three of his first five games, teams can’t focus just on him. “The diversity of our attack has helped. Mike’s a great scorer, but teams can’t focus on just him.We have more people who can score this year.”
Defense has been the Sabers’forte in Flores’view, which is a good sign with the playoffs coming up.
“Defense is a big part of our scheme. We want to push the ball up the court, and we can’t do that unless we can pressure the ball (defensively). When our running game goes, we’re hard to beat.”
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