By Wes Nakama

MILILANI — Memories of Tuesday’s Senior Night victory over Campbell and emotional festivities afterward will be preserved for the Mililani boys basketball team for years to come.

But unfortunately for the Trojans, an unexpected aftershock developed one day later when they learned the apparent 76-40 win will now be forfeited due to the participation of an ineligible player. The forfeit was officially announced by the OIA on Thursday and will have a big impact on the Western Division standings. 

Mililani now drops to 17-5 overall and 7-2 in the OIA West, two games behind first-place Leilehua (19-4, 9-0). The Trojans will visit Kapolei (11-3, 7-1) on Thursday, and Kapolei travels to Leilehua for the regular season finale on Tuesday, so there is still the possibility of a tie for first. But instead of Mililani, it will now be just Kapolei that has a chance to force the tie.    

Campbell (8-6, 7-2) now has a chance to move into third place, and the Trojans could drop to fourth place.

It is quite a turn of events and the opportunity had been there for Mililani, since Campbell has been short-handed due in part to … football. One 6-foot-4 post player, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, completed his diploma requirements last month and is now starting his football career as a quarterback at the University of California, Berkeley. Another post, Jordan Kernaghan, missed the previous week participating in the Polynesian Bowl and has started personal football training after accepting a scholarship to play offensive line for the University of Hawai’i.

Three other players have been out for various reasons.

“Their size made our guys look small and Mililani was taking advantage,” Sabers coach Wyatt Tau said after Tuesday’s game. “Hopefully guys come back this week, because we lost five guys within a month. Mililani was just good, tonight I thought we kind of stayed with them for awhile, but we couldn’t defend, box out, get rebounds. It was hard for us, their size was a big factor and they were smart to attack us.”

The Trojans’ season also was impacted by football, but for a different reason. Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Mililani head coach Garrett Gabriel’s son and senior forward Roman Gabriel’s brother, finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting and led the Ducks into the national quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl. Coach Gabriel missed time with the basketball team while traveling to New York for the Heisman ceremony and to Oregon games.  

“I tell people I’ve got good (assistant) coaches, these guys have been with me every year since we started,” Garrett Gabriel said. “I trust them, the kids understand that it doesn’t matter if I’m saying it or they’re saying it, you have to treat it the same. I think they understand that those guys have won without me, and they’ll be perfectly fine when I’m not here as the head coach.

“Missing time (at basketball) was difficult, because I wanted to be here for Roman, but he’s the type of guy who would always say, ‘It’s for Dillon, this is once in a lifetime.’ “

During the postgame ceremony, Garrett Gabriel said each of the five seniors brought different qualities to the team, on and off the court:

• Tykea “Junior” Johnson, shooting guard, lived in Hawai’i as a youth, went to the Mainland, and returned. Averaged 8.5 points per game in league play entering Tuesday, including a season-high 18 against Pearl City.
• Aaron Matsuda, forward, positive team player whose “demeanor never changed” no matter how much playing time he received. San Francisco Giants fan, rival of Garrett Gabriel’s Los Angeles Dodgers. “We get into it over that,” Gabriel said.
• LeCedric Brown, forward, averages over 12 points per game but also is the team’s shutdown defender. “We make him guard some of the best players in the state,” Gabriel said.
• Ezekiel Virtudes, point guard, primary ball-handler, floor leader, distributor. “He’s our quarterback,” said Garrett Gabriel, himself a former record-setting QB for University of Hawai’i. “He’s the most unselfish player, and don’t let his size (5-feet-5) fool you. He is a competitor.”
• Roman Gabriel, forward, averages 18 points per game. “It’s not easy playing for your dad, especially me, because of my expectations,” Garrett Gabriel said. “He put in the work to become the player he is, but I’m even prouder of him for being the good person that he is.”

Roman Gabriel said this senior group has tried to uphold the standard of achievement set by the 2022 OIA championship team that reached the state title game. Mililani was OIA runner-up the past two seasons.

“Starting off with my freshman year, the expectations were set super high,” Gabriel said. “I saw a lot of great players like Jackson Mayo, Dylan Flanders, Trey Lieb, and they just laid out the way for us. I think we understand the focus and determination it takes to carry on through the season, just playing with that mindset that it’s our last year, we don’t have another chance.”