Mustangs Prepare To Face Kahuku Power Saturday Night
By Jack Danilewicz
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.us
|
If Moanalua High and coach Greg Tacon need a lobbyist, Kalaheo coach Chico Furtado would definitely qualify.While Furtado admitted his team’s own execution wasn’t on par with a typical Mustang performance in its OIA Red East opening loss to Na Menehune Jan.2,he nevertheless came away with high praise for Moanalua.
“They’re a good team - I’d consider them No. 1 in the East,“said Furtado.“I’ve seen most of the teams in the West, so I think they’re No. 1 across the board. They’re experienced, they run and they can pressure the ball. We just have to become a better team before we play them again and before playoffs begin.”
Should Moanalua stay the course as Furtado expects, the Mustangs’game with Kahuku Saturday night should figure big in both Windward teams’ schedules. They met at the Merv Lopes Tournament in late December with Kalaheo holding off a Kahuku rally to win a game by 4; they had led by 14 midway through the third quarter.
“We have to make sure we board and keep them off of the glass,“Furtado said of Kahuku, which is the defending OIA DI champion.“They’ll have a size advantage, and they have Nehoa Akina. You’re not going to stop him - he’s a good player.We’ll have to double him when we can and slow him down if we can.”
For the Mustangs’ part, Furtado has been going with a four-guard set in recent days. His starting lineup has included Quincy Mason, Kona Makaula, Kevin Leong and Wilson Macleod alongside veteran post player Aaron Fernandez. Macleod made his first start against Moanalua, while the other four have been starting since Day One.
To date, Fernandez has lived up to all expectations, according to Furtado, and has drawn the extra attention from opposing defenses the Kalaheo staff had counted on.
Analyzing his group as a whole, however, he said, “I think our guys have to understand a couple of things: No. 1, they have to all understand their roles.Each individual has to understand his strengths and where he can help us. No. 2, offensively, we have to get the ball to Aaron in situations where he can score since he is our one proven entity (scoring-wise). People have known about him (as the No. 1 option).He’s not going to have the freedom of getting open looks, so he’s going to have to create different ways of scoring.”
Fernandez scored 36 points in Kalaheo’s preseason win over Roosevelt last month.
The Mustangs played their now-customary high-profile preseason schedule, a fact that Furtado expects will benefit his team down the road. Solid efforts against Saint Louis (a 17-point win), Roosevelt (a 20-point win over a Rough Rider team that had beaten Kalaheo earlier in December) and Kahuku in the aforementioned win “showed some promise.”
Among those beginning to hit their stride is Makaula,who tallied 14 points in the loss at Moanalua.“Kona did a good job in the Merv Lopes Tournament, and that continued against Moanalua. Outside of him and Aaron,everyone else is new to the varsity level. We have a sophomore,a junior and a transfer who is a junior (as the supporting cast).
“I think they all have to be able to play better for longer,” he added. “It’s been a roller coaster so far.”
Furtado also acknowledged that lower-scoring games are more suited to his current team. “We have to keep the game in the 40s or 50s.”
The Red East schedule is unrelenting for the Mustangs, who will have played five league games in an 11-day period as of Tuesday’s game with Kaimuki.
Kahuku opened its Red East schedule with a 57-42 win over McKinley Jan. 2, coached by Hiram Akina,who became the first coach in OIA history to lead two different teams to overall titles last February when the Red Raiders won the OIA. He led Mililani to the 2008 title before returning to the community in which he lives to take over the Kahuku program.
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
