By BILL O’REAR
By BILL O’REAR
Tribune-Herald sports editor
Multitalented point guard Derek Owens has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at the University of Hawaii at Hilo during the 2012-13 season.
Veteran Vulcans coach Jeff Law announced Wednesday that Owens was his first signed recruit this offseason. He also said he has two more verbal commitments and hopes to sign an additional player or two with size in the next month to round out his recruiting.
Owens, a 6-foot-3 junior-to-be from Tempe, Ariz., played at Clark Community College in Vancouver, Wash., this past year and led the Penguins to an outstanding 25-4 record, including a 15-1 mark in winning the Northwest Athletic Association of Community College’s West Division title.
Owens averaged 10.7 points, 4.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game to anchor the Penguins’ backcourt. He shot 44 percent from the field, 46 percent (38 of 82) on 3-pointers, 79 percent (91 of 115) from the free-throw line and dished out a team-high 134 assists for coach Mike Arnold’s West champions.
“Derek will help us out dramatically in the backcourt,” Law said. “He can play either guard position. He plays very hard — kind of old school — and has a high basketball IQ.”
Law said his two verbal commitments to attend UHH include a 6-3 small forward and a wing player who can play on the perimeter or at power forward. The coach believes both players will fit into the Vulcans’ system and mesh well with the returnees.
“I’m just waiting on their letters of intent before we can announce them,” Law said. “Then I’d like to add a guy or two with some size. We’re not going to really be very big this coming year, but we have some guys coming in with big hearts and high basketball IQs. They know what is needed to be competitive at this level.”
The Vulcans struggled this past year, finishing 9-17 overall and 3-15 in the highly competitive Pacific West Conference.
“We had a terrible season,” said Law in looking back on his 14th year at the helm. “We lacked leadership on the floor and in the locker room. I blame myself and have told our returnees we need to come back this coming year stronger physically and mentally, and every guy needs to be playing for the name on the front of the uniform, not the one on the back.”
Law said he’s aware that some of his eight returnees may not come back, but believes he has a “core nucleus” to build on with the new recruits.
“I’m trying to fill every spot on the team so there is competition,” the coach said. “I’m trying to bring in some quality kids — guys that know how to play, have high basketball IQs, can play without the ball, and who want to compete on every play.
“We want to improve on our won-loss record, but we also want to have players that conduct themselves well on the court, at school and in this closeknit community. We want to play hard and have fun, and take away some of that frustration level that all of us, including the fans, experienced this past year.”
The Vulcan players eligible to return include seniors-to-be CJ Brown, Kiel Myers, Mychael Hearn, Paul Batausa, Michael Melonas, Terrell Mack and Jimmy Lefebvre, junior Matthew Holmes and sophomore Andrew Papenfus. However, Law said he could not comment at this time who will actually return.
“But each of the returnees understands they need to make a commitment to the team and everybody’s minutes will go down next year,” the coach said.
Law said he hopes to fill out his recruiting class as soon as possible.
“Some guys are still looking at their options, especially when it comes to a Division I offer,” he said. “But we’re still in the running for some good players and we’ll just keep our fingers crossed that it’ll all work out in our favor.”
Vulcans Camp
Tthe 37th Annual Vulcans-Hawaii Basketball School, a popular fundamentals camp, will be held June 20-23 at the UHH Gym.
There will be two sessions: Ages 8-12 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and ages 13-18 from 2 to 7 p.m.
The camp will feature Law and women’s head coach David Kaneshiro as well as legendary ex-Vulcans coach Jimmy Yagi. Law’s assistant, Tai Ando, will direct the camp for the second straight summer.
Ando said the camp offers four days of skills training, team games and individual competition.
Cost is $110 and includes instruction, a daily bento and drink, camp T-shirt and a basketball.
Application forms are available online at Hiloathletics.com or by calling the UHH Basketball Office at 974-7701. You can also reach Ando at 372-8167 or andot@hawaii.edu.