The Hilo High boys basketball team has depth and length, two things most BIIF teams don’t have. The Vikings are chasing their first BIIF Division I championship since 2010 and will likely play a 2-3 zone.
Hilo plays Kealakehe Wednesday at the Vikings Gym to kick off the BIIF season-opener, and the Vikings return two starters in senior guards RJ Solmerin and Rayson Padilla, an All-BIIF first-team pick in 2020.
“This year it’s a pretty balanced team,” said coach Ben Pana, who returns to takes over for Bruce Ferreira after previously coaching the Vikings girls and boys teams. “We got a lot of new players, and some nice size, a lot of good shooters, and I think we’re one of the more well-rounded teams on the island.
“We’re looking for a lot of leadership out of those two guys. One good thing about those two guys is they’re willing to buy into the system the coaches are trying to build here. I think we can build a good foundation with those two guys leading the program this year. The rest of the squad is falling into place and playing unselfish basketball.”
Trey Une, a 5-foot-10 senior, will start at center, sophomore Peyton Pana, and senior Jayden Villena, a St. Joseph transfer, at forward.
“I like Trey’s physicality. He’s a strong player inside and very unselfish,” Pana said. “He finds the open cutters and understands to kick out the ball when he’s double-teamed. He’ll rebound, dive on the floor.
“At my 3 spot, Jayden Villena will start. I like his speed. It’s the first time he’ll have a boatload of talent around him. The expectation for him is to go out there and have fun and play basketball. We’ll use his speed to play sound defense and getting out on the break.”
Peyton is the youngest of Ben and Heidi Pana’s children and follows brother Lamaku (2020 Hilo graduate), and sisters Alexis (2016) and Aliyah (2014).
“He’s well-rounded, can play inside and outside and one of the few guys who could play all five positions,” Pana said. “He’s about 6-2, almost 6-3. He’s packing in 220 pounds, so he’s a pretty strong kid.”
Pana has seen players from Kamehameha, Keaau, and Waiakea in Randy Apele’s hoops league, but noted that most of the top hoopsters played BIIF football.
“It’s pretty hard to gauge,” said Pana, who was bummed about the limited schedule. “It’s kind of disappointing that we only get to play seven games. We’ll play all the D-I teams on the island and the D-II teams on the East side, but we don’t get to face Honokaa, HPA, or Kohala. Being D-II, they still give problems to the D-I teams. It’s good practice because we’ll face similar type of teams if we qualify for the state tournament.”
Hilo last qualified for states in 2019 as the BIIF runner-up to Waiakea. Then there was a long gap with the BIIF title in 2010 and in 2000 when the Vikings won the BIIF and state championships.
Villena and sophomore Blayden Grace transferred from St. Joseph, which isn’t fielding a team this season, and sophomore Logan Querubin transferred from Kealakehe.
“They come from basketball families, so they understand the game a lot, which helps us,” Pana said. “Logan is 6-2, so we’ve got some nice size to go along with our speed.”
Anyone who knows anything about Viking hoops knows that they used to trap and press like crazy back in the day.
“We’re working on our press, and we’re playing really good man defense,” Pana said. “We’re going to implement something Hilo never did before with a 2-3 zone because we have so much height. We got a lot of long kids. To have the long kids on the bottom and the speed on the top could be a recipe for a dangerous defense.”
As any coach knows, defense wins championships.
Girls
Hawaii Prep 56, Ka’u 7: Kyana Brucelas scored 24 points and Brooke Samura added 18 as Ka Makani coasted to victory in their opener in Waimea.
Grace Smith scored six points for the Trojans (0-3), who trailed 35-1 at the half.
Honokaa at Kamehameha: The game had to be rescheduled due to COVID-19 protocols, according to the Kamehameha athletic department.