Sabers Hit The Road Games
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usFor the Campbell basketball team, the road to the OIA Red West title will invariably be tied to the road itself. Beginning with Thursday’s key contest at Mililani, five of the Sabers’ last seven league games will be away from their own gymnasium.
The good news is that their first road game - the first of four Red West encounters, in fact - was a roaring success as they defeated a solid Pearl City team 61-40 last week.
“It was a confidence boost for our team,” Campbell coach Wyatt Tau. “We were aggressive, and we attacked, and for the most part we executed. The Radford and Leilehua games were not our best, defensively. We gave up a big quarter in both games.”
The main priority four games into their Red West slate was to get out of their own way, according to the coach. Campbell turned over the ball 27 times in its league opener versus Radford and 24 times in a loss to Leilehua in its second game. In wins over Kapolei and Pearl City, the Sabers reduced those totals to 16 and 12, respectively.
“We’ve had the possessions, but we’ve turned it over too much,” said Tau. “We’ve been on them a lot lately about taking care of the ball. We haven’t been shooting as much as we would like. We’re shooting a little over 40 times a game, and that’s about 20 less than our past teams.”
Campbell’s wins over Kapolei and Pearl City came on a Saturday and a Monday, so the Sabers held a rare Sunday practice in between.
“I didn’t want them sleeping all day Sunday and coming in sluggish, so we went to church with our families and then we all came in at 4 p.m. that day,” he said. “We went over our offensive and defensive sets, and it really paid off (against Pearl City).”
Campbell, which was on Maui over the weekend for the Saint Anthony’s Tournament, returns to Red West action this week with a pair of key games back to back. A home date with Waianae is set for Wednesday, with a road game versus Mililani to follow on Thursday. A 12-day layoff between league games follows, so wins in both encounters this week would be a boost for the team - especially with the Red West arguably the most balanced league in the state.
“That would make up for the first two losses,” Tau said.“We’ll be ready, and we’ll take care of the ball. It’s going to come down to whether or not we make shots. Every game is a big game, and we have to practice hard for every team.
“It’s anybody’s game in the West,” he added. “Everyone is playing well, defensively. No one is blowing anyone out. I think our 61 (points versus Pearl City) is the highest total for anyone (in league play).”
On the offensive end, the Sabers have been led to date by guard Allen Otanes, who is currently averaging 17.3 points per game. He posted a season-high of 22 points versus Radford recently and had connected on 13 three-pointers through his first four games.
“He’s shooting with a lot of confidence - he’s been relentless. He’s been our goto guy, and we’re asking him to do more.”
Post player Christopher Crawford is averaging 10.8 points a game, while Fouina Haskins is at 8.4.“Christopher is scoring more in the paint this year, and we think he could be averaging 20 points a game, but he’s missed a lot of lay-ups. Fouina is gradually getting to where we’d like him to be. Manuel Sy has started our last two games.”
CJ Ramos and BJ Halmos also are in the rotation. Halmos started the Radford and Leilehua games, while Ramos is the team’s third leading scorer at 6.5 points per game.
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