Kohala boys basketball coach Don Fernandez can always count on his team’s defensive tenacity to make games entertaining and fast-paced while raising his blood pressure.
Kohala boys basketball coach Don Fernandez can always count on his team’s defensive tenacity to make games entertaining and fast-paced while raising his blood pressure.
“We like to play a fast-paced game where everybody is yelling and the crowd is going crazy,” he said. “We want to use the whole court and press. It’s fun to watch but nervous to coach. It’s good for the fans but bad for the coaches.”
Unless an opponent is an expert at breaking the press, the Cowboys usually snag a lion’s share of turnovers, and a bunch of easy points either with layups or free throws.
That’s how the Cowboys roll, and a chief reason they’re the defending Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division II champion. Their pressure is a two-way weapon — they get stops and score off giveaways.
Kohala forced 30 turnovers and ran over Kealakehe 69-37 at the Waiakea/Keaau preseason tournament on Friday at the Warriors Gym.
Fernandez dipped into his bench, and mixed minutes and rotations with his four returning starters: Hana Caravalho, Kala Jordan, Justin Agbayani and Kealen Figueroa, who didn’t play.
Caravalho kept hitting jumpers at the elbow for 21 points while Agbayani slashed to the rim, buried a pair of 3-pointers, and made 6 of 10 free throws for 16 points. Kainalu Emeliano added 15 points and Chance Pang had nine points.
Arthur Freddy, Blaine Bromberg and Peni Kalavi each had eight points for the Waveriders, who converted 35 percent (15 of 43) from the field and managed 5 of 13 free throws.
Besides sticky defense, the Cowboys are also known for sharing the ball. Even though they’re a transition team by heart they’ll make the extra pass like clockwork in half-court, a reason they shot 48 percent (22 of 46) from the floor, including a lava hot 70 percent in the second half.
That’s not even counting all the easy points with so many trips to the free-throw line. Kohala went 20 of 32 on the charity stripe. Emeliano also cleaned house on free throws with 6 of 8, tagging fouls on Waveriders.
It was a good defensive test for the Cowboys, who bracketed Kalavi, a 6-foot-2, 250-pound center, with swift help-side defense. Whenever the Kealakehe football player turned or tried to catch the ball someone in a black uniform was in his grill.
Jordan and fellow senior Kama’alea Emeliano, the brother to junior guard Kainalu, took turns applying the clamps on Kealakehe’s big guy. The defense’s vise-grip gets much tighter when Figueroa is back giving hard rubs to the opposing point guard and disturbing entry passes.
The Waveriders broke Kohala’s full-court press a few times in the second half and Kalavi had three stress-free buckets with no one glued to him. That’s the part where Fernandez is checking his pulse.
Still, maybe it was a blessing in disguise that Figueroa, the reigning BIIF player of the year, didn’t play because it shined a light on his fellow Cowboys.
“Any one of them can start. It depends on how they practice,” said Fernandez, the longtime Kohala pragmatist. “The biggest thing they have is that they’ve played together for a while.
“It won’t be an easy road for us. We overachieved last year. Now, we’ve got a big bull’s-eye on our back and everybody is out for us. Kama works hard. He’ll be right in the mix with our big guys. He does all the blue-collar work. His brother is another defender who works hard.”
Kohala’s ball-movement is so good because in Fernandez’ system teamwork is the star of the show not one go-to guy.
At one point in the second half, five Cowboys touched the ball before Pang dropped in a short jumper.
At the end of the school year, most schools hand out awards like Most Outstanding Player or Most Improved Player. That’s not the case for Cowboy basketball.
“We don’t give that stuff out,” Fernandez said. “It’s a team award for us. I’m more of a team guy. It’s a team game. That’s how we approach everything.”
Statewide classification started in 2007 and Kohala won BIIF crowns in ‘07 to ‘10, and another last season, a surprising 67-53 upset over a much taller and physically imposing Hawaii Prep squad, which later won the state championship.
That three-year gap between titles showed that the players will come and go, but the teamwork and defensive approach always remain the same — just like Kohala’s old coach.