Akina making most of bittersweet homecoming

Kawika Akina joins his team during the introduction of the starting lineups. Michael Lasquero | SL

Pleasant Grove senior guard Kawika Akina might have been sidelined with a broken hand, but his team made sure that number 21 was well represented at the Iolani Classic regardless.

The 34th Iolani Classic was to be a homecoming almost two years in the making for Akina, who played for Kahuku as a freshman before making the move to Utah to play for Pleasant Grove, but a broken pointer finger knuckle and three metacarpal bones sustained in the Tournament of Champions in Peoria put a damper on his return.

His absence in the Vikings' lineup, however, did not keep family and friends from coming out to Lower Gym to cheer on the team.

"There wasn't really a point for them to come, I mean there wasn't their nephew or friend playing, so it meant a lot for them to still show up and talk to me after the game and tell me how well our team was doing," remarked Akina. "It wasn't coming just for me, they wanted to watch our team and see if we were the real deal."

The entire Vikings team, including the coaching staff, wore shirts with Akina's likeness featured on the front and his number on the back during warm-ups of the opening game of the Classic and again in the final game of the tournament, a nice show of support for the 5-foot-9 guard by his teammates.

"As players, we felt we should honor Kawika for all he's done for the team and for how bad of an injury this is, especially for his senior year," said senior center Matt Van Komen.

More importantly, the Vikings showed their support with their play, notching a win against Moanalua before bowing out to Sierra Canyon in the quarters in a closely-fought battle, 63-54. Pleasant Grove then closed out the Classic with another tight contest to Oak Ridge, 58-51, before closing out the Classic with a 43-35 win over host Iolani.

After arriving from Kahuku heading into his sophomore year, Akina found himself installed as the Vikings' starting point guard in his first year with the team and logged significant minutes in his junior year in a role as sixth man after returning midway through the season from a concussion.

But it wasn't necessarily a match made in heaven from the start.

Reach Brien Ing at [email protected].