St. Joseph seeks upgrade to contender status

St. Joseph senior Cole DeSilva doesn’t need to articulate how much things have changed with the Cardinals since his freshman year, he just points to a practice at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.

A fresh set of varsity sneakers starts squeaking on the court as the junior varsity rests on the sidelines. A few short years ago, the court was almost empty.

In the long history of St. Joe basketball, 2013 was a turning point. Coach Mike Scanlan remembers the Cardinals had to scramble to field a varsity team of eight players – which is exactly eight more BIIF wins than the team would earn in the next two-plus seasons.

“We’re really happy we’re getting the numbers out,” Scanlan said. “We went from almost not having a program to this.”

And by “this,” he means a Division II contender.

Scanlan credits the parents of DeSilva and fellow senior Kaena Nahoopii with helping the program stay afloat three years ago, and now those two players have a chance to complete the revival.

“We still have some things to work on,” Scanlan said. “One of the main things is we’ve been the underdogs for so long, we’re not used to being the underdogs anymore. Almost playing not to lose instead of playing to win.”

With greater goals comes a greater burden.

“A lot of teams are rebuilding and we brought back everybody and did really well in the offseason,” Scanlan said. “When we won NJB (an island summer tournament), the expectations went way up after that.”

The Cardinals won’t boast as much depth or height as many of their opponents, but Scanlan likes his athleticism enough to add more man principles on defense. He won’t tinker with St. Joe’s trademark version of Princeton offense, and he thinks his starting five has the skill-set and disciplines to excel at its finer aspects, such as motion, back-door cuts, picks, passing.

“When we actually run out stuff, it’s really smooth,” the sweet-shooting DeSilva said.

The 5-foot-11 guard is well-known to BIIF fans because he’s been one of St. Joseph’s leading scorers since his freshman season. This season, he’s added more muscle to a balanced four-guard offense that also includes three players of comparable height, a pair of exchange students, junior Manato Fukuda and sophomore Ruka Suda, and sophomore Jakob Au.

In Scanlan’s eyes, DeSilva is the player he wants with the ball in his hands at crunch time to take big shots, but DeSilva points to Fukuda, who’s entering his second year, as the difference-maker.

“He’s insane, absolutely crazy,” DeSilva said. “He can dribble, he can shoot and he can jump. He’s an all-around player.

“I’m more confident with him having the ball in his hand at the end of the game. He can create his own shot whenever he wants.”

Suda, a first-year starter, is another guard who can score, while Au is perhaps the best ball-handler of the bunch, though the Cardinals’ offense doesn’t necessitate that a player fill the traditional role of a one-guard or off-guard.

At 5-9, Nahoopii will suffice as St. Joseph’s post presence. He has the bulk to battle inside and the perfect skills to complement the Princeton offense.

“He can do a little bit of everything and fits the bill,” Scanlan said. “He has a nice shot and he’s one of our better passers.”

St. Joseph’s first goal is winning the Cardinal Basketball Classic, which runs Thursday through Saturday at Hilo Civic, which it hasn’t accomplished since 2010. That was also the last season it won the BIIF crown.

A year later, the Cardinals made their last appearance at the HHSAA tournament, and they bottomed out for a few seasons before surprising Konawaena on the road last season en route to a 4-9 season that ended with a loss at Honokaa in a BIIF play-in game.

If St. Joe plays loose, Scanlan likes his team’s chances.

“Coach Mike has really pushed us to the limit,” DeSilva said. “We came from zero wins and saw what we could do when we won.

“(Last) summer we came on strong and we have a lot more scorers.”