By Wes Nakama
In December 2007, rumors swirled at the ‘Iolani Prep Classic boys basketball tournament that His Airness, Michael Jordan, might show up to watch his son Marcus play for Whitney Young (Chicago). Didn’t happen.
A year ago, people were looking at the Los Angeles Lakers schedule and calculating whether LeBron James might have time to make a quick trip here to watch his son Bronny play for Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) in the Classic. Didn’t happen.
So when former President Barack Obama somehow slipped into ‘Iolani Gym unannounced Monday night for the 7:30 p.m. first-round game between two-time defending state champ Saint Louis and national power St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.), it took awhile for many in the crowd of about 550 to even realize he was there.
Even Saint Louis coach Dan Hale, who was Obama’s teammate at Punahou in 1978-79, was surprised.
“I heard he was here,” Hale said, “but I didn’t know (beforehand).”
Obama and a few of his local friends were seated about five rows up in the ‘Ewa corner of the mauka bleachers, not far from the visiting St. John Bosco bench. Not because he is a front-runner — the Braves are ranked No. 9 in the country by MaxPreps — but because that section is near the door where plain clothes Secret Service agents were stationed and where he could make a quick entry and exit.
Saint Louis actually led 10-6 in the early going, after Jiovanni Ramos’ reverse layup with 5:18 remaining in the first period. But Jaison Joyce answered with his own reverse layup to ignite a 10-3 run to end the quarter, which had St. John Bosco up, 16-13.
The Crusaders kept pace early in the second period, with Keanu Meacham’s reverse closing it to 22-17 almost three minutes in, but Kade Bonam responded with a layup to start the Braves on a 12-3 run to end the half ahead, 34-20. Pupu Sepulona’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer just missed; a make would have closed the lead to 11 points.
“You can see (the Crusaders) have an identity of winning, a culture of winning,” St. John Bosco coach Matt Dunn said. “We had only one film on them, and you could see it on that film and obviously could see it here today. We do some things that take awhile to get used to sometimes, and we were able to bother them a little bit.”
The Braves burst out of the second-half gates for a stunning 16-2 run in the first five minutes, capped by Jack Turner’s free throws which pushed the lead to 50-22.
“When you play a team like that, and you make a mistake or you’re slow on something, they just convert it real fast,” Hale said. “They were so long on defense, you gotta play extra big and extra tall. But for us, it was a great game to play in — great team, really good players, and shows us where we gotta take more steps.”
Sepulona, the reigning State Player of the Year, finished with a game-high 24 points on his usual array of spectacular “and-1” muscle layups and short fadeaways, to go with mid-range jumpers and a 3-point basket.
“He really is good,” Dunn said. “He was impressive, he was the focus of our defense, and I thought at times we did a good job making it hard for him to catch the ball. Once he catches it, he’s really hard to guard.”
Sepulona, who scored 28 points in a 92-49 loss to then-No. 1-ranked Montverde (Fla.) in last year’s Classic, said this matchup against St. John Bosco was more favorable.
“I feel like this experience was much better than last year,” said Sepulona, a 6-foot-2 junior forward. “Last year, I was really nervous before the game, but I was able to gain confidence and we did better (Monday). I felt like whenever I got the ball in the post, every time I got double- and triple-teamed, I could pass it out to my boys like Keanu (Meachum), Caelan (Fernando), Corey (Bailey) — they all can shoot the ball, so I have trust in them. I am very confident they can put the ball in the basket.”
Like several fans, Sepulona was not even aware Obama was in attendance until after the game.
“We weren’t aware, but man, that’s big,” Sepulona said. “That’s actually crazy. I bet he’s really happy that his former teammate, Coach Dan, is making the Saint Louis program really big.”
Photos: Lori McKeown
Christ the King 68, Kamehameha-Kapalama 31
Photos: Lori McKeown
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