The Lunas have been inconsistent this year. They've blown people out and have been blown out themselves. It's an all-or-nothing team.
Tonight's game was key to measuring where they stand in the MIL. Baldwin has veteran leadership in Gabe Ross (wasn't he a senior last year? ha ha) and Pasoni Tasini. The Lunas have seniors, but not with the leadership qualities and experience that previous year's seniors had (TJ Rickard, Luke Williams, Micah Arcangel and Leroy Rickard). THe MIL is won by the backcourt, and Baldwin's is considerably better. Ross is strong, quick with a low center of gravity and a great finisher.
The gym was pretty packed, as it always is when these two teams match up. With the start of the MIL season, that means the cheerleaders are here. Darn! They tend to occupy the baseline under the basket - my prime shooting spot for basketball. I had to improvise this game, shooting from high up in the back corner bleachers, then down at floor level by the elbow, free throw line extended. Still having some back-focusing issues with my D7000, especially when using my 24-70mm lens. Gotta fix it some how.
Still, this was not the Lunas night. Within a few minutes, they were down 8-0. Gabe Ross was slicing and dicing the defense for easy passes to the big men and easy buckets. Lunas were not playing any kind of defense. Don't the coaches read the paper? Ross did the very same thing to Kamehameha a few nights before. Basic fundamental defense - STOP THE BALL. The Lunas continue to try to full-court press the Bears (which is suicidal with the ballhandlers they have), which led to a lot of mismatches on transition and easy buckets. My preference would have been to put someone bigger, fast and physical on Gabe Ross and harass him all night. To me, that would have been John Mishima. He did that last year, playing full court defense as the point man on the press. Then you can have speedsters Perieff, Cariaga or Tauese playing the passing lanes with 6'7" Gavin Kahaialii defending the basket. Well, that's what I would've done. Then again, I've never coached - at any level - so I have no credibility whatsoever. Ha ha!
The Lunas did manage to make it close in the first half, coming to within 3 on a buzzer beating 3-point shot by Cariaga over three Baldwin defenders at the half.
In the second half, it was all Baldwin. This match up goes to the Bears. Two more to go. The season is still young. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
For more photos, click here.
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