By KEVIN JAKAHI
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Hilo coach Darryl Yagi’s team lost and he was in a good mood, in stark contrast to Pahoa coach Marc Saito, who was no happy camper despite a first-round win at the Cardinal Classic.
The Daggers didn’t play with a whole of fire or fluid footwork on defense, but still managed a 45-38 win over the rebuilding Vikings on Thursday in the preseason basketball tournament at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
“I’m happy with what we saw. We’re young, but we’re building confidence and working with each other,” said Yagi, no relation to UH-Hilo coaching legend Jimmy Yagi.
“We’ve only got one starter back from last year in EJ Narido. The rest of the starters didn’t have a lot of playing time.”
Even when the Daggers have a bad day at the office, they’re still really tough to stop because they’ve got a wealth of 3-point gunners in Tolby Saito, Joel Rosario and Keinan Agonias.
Key on one or two and the third guy will drop a long ball because Pahoa’s ball movement never slumps. The ball goes around and around until someone is open.
Saito, a 5-foot-9 senior guard, scored 20 points and knocked down four 3-pointers. Rosario scored six points, both on 3-balls. Agonias didn’t drop a 3-pointer, but added six points, along with lanky inside big man Torrell Thomas.
Dominic Padasdao scored 12 points, EJ Narido had eight points, and Lawrence Padasdao (Dom’s brother) and Isaac Liu added seven points each for the Vikings.
With Jalen Carvalho playing college ball at Oregon Tech, the Viks really don’t have an outside shooting threat. Lawrence Padasdao, a backup guard, got the only trey.
Josh Breitbarth, a forward and Viking baseball standout, is the other starter. Everyone is new to the lineup, except for Narido, whose main job was feeding Carvalho catchable balls last year.
Dominic Padasdao is a senior, Narido, Breitbarth and Juan Alkichy are juniors, and Liu is just a freshman. Lawrence Padasdao is only a sophomore.
Despite all that youth and inexperience, Hilo somehow out-shot Pahoa, 45 to 40 percent, from the field, one reason coach Saito didn’t have his postgame Smiley Face.
The first quarter summed up Pahoa’s greatest strength: Saito and Rosario each drained a pair of 3-pointers for all of the points.
One play in the second quarter summed up coach Saito’s frustration: Lawrence Padasdao beat his defender off the dribble, then had a wide-open welcome mat to the rim for an easy layup.
The help-side defense didn’t slide over. That’s a no-no in coach Saito’s book. Immediate timeout, and the Daggers got a good scolding. He probably made a mental note to have his guys run extra laps at the next practice.
Then his sharp-shooting son buried another 3-ball to give Pahoa a 22-17 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, Dominic Padasdao, a 5-7 guard, showed his savvy post work, scoring Hilo’s first seven points to cut Pahoa’s lead to 26-24.
After one free throw and a close-range jumper, he ball-faked a pass to the perimeter, then pivoted and converted a 4-foot shot. Padasdao capped his little scoring spree with a putback against much taller defenders.
Then it was young Liu’s turn to flash his skill-set. He doesn’t have a consistent outside shooting stroke, but he’s got loads of athleticism, especially the ability to slash, jump stop and get off a pretty good shot in the paint.
The 5-10 forward made one free throw, hit a floater at the free-throw line, and capped his mini five-point scoring spurt with a nice jumper at the elbow for a 29-29 tie.
However, Saito quickly demonstrated why he’s one of the most well-rounded players in the state. He can play defense, too, especially squeezing ball-handlers. He pick-pocketed a steal, soared in for a layup, and changed the momentum.
In the fourth quarter, Dominic Padasdao scored on another dribble-drive to the basket for a 31-31 tie. Then Saito stole all that momentum again.
The dangerous Dagger buried a long jumper, got fouled and converted the three-point play. Off another turnover, he fed Thomas on the fast-break for a 36-31 lead.
Hilo played a sagging man defense, and doubled Saito when he got the ball back. Throw a zone and he’ll penetrate between a gap and dish the ball.
Press him and Saito will dribble one way, cut back in the other direction and draw a blocking foul. Hilo did well to prevent him from racking up easy points; he made only 2 of 3 free throws.
It’s always a major risk to try to steal the ball from him because his ball-handling is so smooth.
Late in the game, a Vik went for a pick, and he missed big-time. Pahoa rotated the ball (there’s that ball movement, again), and Saito splashed his fourth 3-pointer for a back-breaking 43-36 cushion with 1:45 remaining.
That turned on the ignition for Pahoa’s bus.
The Daggers get the Waiakea-Ka‘u winner in the feature game at 8 p.m. on Friday. It’ll be a nice matchup either way; the Warriors have a determined defender in Calvin Mattos, and the Trojans are always blessed with quickness.
Meanwhile, the young Vikings, who played hard with confidence and cohesion, took the loss as a learning lesson, and that put a smile on their coach’s face.
