Mustangs Off To Good Start On Courts With Go-To Guys

Wednesday - December 13, 2006
By Jack Danilewicz
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Chico Furtado
Chico Furtado

When it comes to teams that are difficult to counter, the Kalaheo boys basketball team may rate at the top of the list this season, if the early pre-season is any indication.

Indeed, the Mustangs, who took a 4-0 pre-season record into last weekend, have spread the wealth in the early weeks of their 2006-07 season and have looked every bit the program that has won 12 of the last 16 Oahu Interscholastic Association championships in the process.

“We’re hoping our strength will be our balance between our perimeter play and our inside play,” Kalaheo coach Chico Furtado said. “We have three or four guys who can give us 10 to 20 points a game, and as the season goes on, we’re hoping our experience will kick in. Our three captains have a combined 10 years of varsity experience.”


Four key returnees - post-player Tyler Caswell, forward Clifton Pires, off guard Cheynne Lishman and point guard Chase Moses - have been the mainstays for Kalaheo to date. Lishman was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the Pete Smith Classic recently, tallying 54 points through three games, and figures to be one of the top offensive threats in the OIA.

“With Kahua (Hollinger), Marvin (Judd) and Chris (Tumaneng) gone (to graduation last spring), we were concerned about our offense, but Cheynne has picked up the slack,“Furtado said.“He’s really come around as our early season go-to guy.”

On paper, the loss of Tumaneng would seem the most visible from last season, but Furtado has filled the void left by shifting Moses to the point guard spot, a position he hadn’t previously played at Kalaheo. A versatile all-around athlete who is coming off a stellar season with the school volleyball team, Moses will be one of the league’s taller guards at 6-1.

“Rather than put a guy (up) from the JV team there, we decided to convert him, and he’s doing really well, averaging only about one turnover a game so far,” Furtado said. “It’s a matter now of bringing him along to the point where he’s really comfortable there going against the better teams.”

The Mustangs’ outside game will be complemented by the abilities of Caswell, who is 6-foot-6 and the 6-foot-3 Pires, who is ideally suited to Furtado’s flex-motion offense.

“Tyler is doing a good job of rebounding,” Furtado said. “Against Punahou, (in a five-point Kalaheo win) he dominated in the paint, defensively. We’d like to see him score a little more. Right now, he’s averaging about nine points per game.

“Clifton has been really good at attacking the basket, and he’s developed an outside game,” he added.“Staying balanced will be a key for him. Defensively, he’s been very good. He played (stand-out Spencer) McLachlin of Punahou very tough, holding him to 13 points.”

Furtado is also high on a supporting cast that will feature Deaux Burns, Cody von Appen, Bruce Andrews, Koa Siliga and Alika Kaapana.Their development could go a long way toward what Furtado hopes will be yet another strong post-season run for the Mustangs in February.

“We have to increase our depth,“Furtado said.“Deaux is the only guy coming in off of the bench who played varsity basketball last year. The rest of the guys were on the JV team, but everyone has played good minutes except for in the Punahou game, and we’ve been happy with all of them. We’ll use the rest of the pre-season to evaluate.”


As always, Kalaheo’s pre-season schedule is among the most demanding in the state. Last weekend, the Mustangs were to take part in the James Alegre Tournament at Radford. At 6:30 p.m. Friday, Farrington visits Kalaheo for an individual pre-season encounter, with the Mustangs set to travel to Las Vegas to participate in the 16-team Valley High Invitational, which will be hosted by Desert Pines High School Dec. 20-23.

The same areas of play that have been Kalaheo’s forte through the years remain the focus of their preparation this early pre-season.

“Getting to the free throw line, taking care of the basketball and playing good defense,” Furtado emphasized.“We’ve been getting to the foul line, but we’re only shooting 63 percent, and that’s not nearly good enough, and as big as we are, we have to make sure we win the battle on the boards.”

Kalaheo opens its regular season Jan. 2 at Moanalua. Under the OIA’s new alignment, which separated the league into two divisions, the Division I Mustangs will meet every East opponent twice this season.

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