Hawaii Select Surviving At Vegas Basketball Tournament

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As a veteran of the Main Event National Basketball Tournament, Chico Furtado knows his Hawaii Select traveling all-star team is always guaranteed of two things when they make their annual trip to Las Vegas in July - good accommodations off the court and good competition on the court, especially the latter.

“If we’re playing with a purpose and making good decisions, winning and losing becomes irrelevant,” said Furtado, who is also the head boys basketball coach at Kalaheo High.

“The kids will benefit from the competition. The whole point has always been to play against good teams.”

Trips to Las Vegas have been good to Hawaii Select in recent years. In 2004 and 2005, Furtado’s teams won the Main Event, while finishing as runner-up in 2006 before being eliminated in the quarterfinals of last year’s tournament.

Last week, Furtado’s 2008 edition dropped its first game to Northwest Elite (OR), which eventually won the Pool, before reeling off a pair of impressive wins versus both Oregon Select White (69-29) and Las Vegas Blue Chips (57-41).

“We all struggled in the first game, especially shooting,” Furtado said, “but the experience has been good for the kids. What has been evident is that our not having been able to have everyone together developing cohesiveness has been a chore. We were able to practice together our first day here, and that was the first time all 11 girls were together for either a practice or game.

“So they’ve struggled to understand what we need to do, offensively and defensively,” he added. “Against Northwest Elite, we were down by three with four minutes left and failed to score on four straight possessions. Two were from turnovers, and the other two were from bad shots, because we didn’t get into the ‘flex’ offense.”

Kamehameha standout and Kahaluu resident Pualei Furtado, who led the Interscholastic League of Honolulu in three-point shooting as a sophomore, helped Hawaii Select in its next two games, tallying 5 from behind the arc in those encounters. She hit two 2 on consecutive possessions to keep Las Vegas Blue Chips at arm’s length after an 18-point lead by Hawaii Select had been narrowed to eight.

“She’s playing hard and shooting the ball well the last two games,” Furtado said of Pualei, his niece. “We just need to get her more attempts. I think she can get more shots if she does some things without the ball to set it up.”

In addition to Pualei Furtado, Hawaii Select also includes Lindsey Wong (Kamehameha), Kylle Roy (Kamehameha), Natasha Helsham (Aiea), Tanisha Bello (Kamehameha-Big Island), Kylie Sato (McKinley), Violet Alama (Kalani), Keely Batanga (Roosevelt), Brydgette Tatupu-Leopoldo (Farrington), Kamie Imai (Waiakea), Kourtni Thomas (Kalaheo/Kailua) and Jordan Kealoha (Mid-Pacific).

Ironically, although Hawaii Select was unable to win its Pool of first-round games this year, they still earned a shot at last year’s champion, Tree of Hope (WA), which had beaten them in the aforementioned quarterfinal game in 2007. Tree of Hope finished second in its first-round Pool.

Six of Hawaii Select’s team members participated in the Main Event last summer and remember that encounter.

“They know how good they are,” Furtado said. “Some of our girls saw them play at another tournament recently, so they know what a good team they are.”

A win over Tree of Hope in the quarterfinals of the Gold Pool (second-place finishers from their respective Pools) late last Friday night would have sent Hawaii Select into the following day’s semifinals, thus guaranteeing them of playing two games that day.

Furtado liked his team’s effort throughout last week.

“The kids have played with a lot of energy - they’re getting up and down the floor. We’d like to make every game a ‘transition’ game if we can.”

Hawaii Select was to return to the Island on Monday.