Six-player Hawaiian team shines in Summer Classic opener

By Rob Miech

Sunday, July 27, 2008 | 6:36 p.m.

A team from Hawaii with only six players won a game Sunday afternoon on the first day of the Las Vegas Summer Classic at Spring Valley High.

Kainoa Gaddis enjoyed every moment of it.

At the more-prestigious Nike-sponsored Main Event prep tournament over the past week, Gaddis didn’t have much fun. The Honolulu Sharks became selfish and went 0-4.

Practicing at home for that tournament, the Sharks played together as a team.

“With scouts and coaches watching, everyone went one-on-one,” Gaddis said. “I defended, rebounded and set screens, and they weren’t even using my screens.

“When you play for fun, you play better.”

With five teammates on Hawaii Ali’i, Gaddis visited two outlet malls Saturday. He probably hasn’t stopped smiling since he left the Sharks to join Ali’i.

In Hawaiian, Ali’i means chiefs.

“We’re playing for the fun of it,” said coach Robin Chong, 52. “It’s not like these players have many aspirations. We play for the love of basketball. They have that passion.”

Matthew Blanco’s layup with 30 seconds left sealed the Hawaiians’ 56-51 victory over the Runnin Rockets of Ohio. It didn’t appear that any college coach was in the main Spring Valley gym.

Gaddis is the standout Ali’i player, according to Chong, and maybe he will have a chance to play in Division III.

“I’m proud of them,” Chong said. “We didn’t come here with expectations. We said, play your heart out and see how you do. If you win, you win.”

Shane Aquino spent $1,800 to come to Las Vegas on Thursday to see his brother, Lance, and watch his son, Shane Jr., play in the Nike-sponsored Summer Classic. He said the expense of the trip was a main reason why the team has such a sparse roster.

“This is just for competition,” said Senior. “It’s great experience. There are only two tournaments in Hawaii, the main one being the Iolani Classic. It’s great for the kids.”

At 6-feet-2, Gaddis is the tallest player for Ali’i. He patrols down low in the middle of its 2-3 zone defense, but the Rockets weren’t much of a challenge.

That will change Monday at 3:35 p.m. in the Spring Valley auxiliary gym, when Marcus Banks Hard 2 Guard will sport nine players taller than 6-2.

The squad is sponsored by Banks, a former UNLV guard who plays for the Miami Heat.

Tuesday at 8 a.m., Ali’i finishes pool play in the auxiliary gym against HYPE-Salvation Army of Washington.

This is Gaddis’s sixth consecutive summer in Las Vegas. He spent those first two here watching his sister, Courtney, play summer ball. She played at D-III Whitworth but went back home and might walk on at Hawaii.

His mother works at the Hilton in Waikiki Beach. His father tends bar at a Waikiki establishment and is a substitute teacher.

Gaddis speaks highly of Derrick Low, a guard from the Iolani School in Honolulu who just finished his career at Washington State.

“Expectations are small for basketball players in Hawaii,” said Gaddis, who has Santa Clara (“for academics,” he said), Division-II Colorado School of Mines and a D-III school on his radar.

He attends the prestigious Punahou School and talked with a football player, who had been scheduled to make this trip with Ali’i, over the weekend.

The footballer had been going to the 18th annual Birthday Bash, a two-day celebration of "Jawaiian" -- a mixture of Hawaiian and Jamaican -- musicians at the Waikiki Shell. He rubbed it in, to Gaddis and his hoops teammates, that they weren't there.

“We rubbed it in," Gaddis said, "that it’s too bad he’s not here with us.”