University High senior Ryan Hobus and Farrington junior Moli Heimuli led their respective teams to victory last week. ScoringLive photo illustration

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Male Athlete of the Week: Ryan Hobus, University basketball
Ryan Hobus has always been a steady performer in the classroom. This season, Hobus is matching that effort on the basketball court.

The University Laboratory School senior and third-year varsity member is coming off a season-high 25 points scored in a 20-point win over Hawaii Baptist Wednesday on the final day of the Saint Francis tournament.

Hobus, a 6-foot-4 post player, made 12 of his 14 attempts from the field and also grabbed six rebounds in the 72-53 win.

"He really loves basketball," Quitan said of Hobus. "His dad was a college basketball player and so he's always put time into his game. It was just a matter of filling into his body."

Quitan said the "20 or so" pounds of weight that Hobus put on in the offseason has served him well this year.

"He grew so fast that against physical teams he kinda really struggled in the past, but this year he's definitely been a lot better on both ends of the floor," Quitan said. "He's really put in a lot of work in the offseason getting stronger. He was on the thin side, he bought into the offseason training and got stronger. He's been our most steady player and our first option on offense."

Part of Hobus' development during the offseason was diversifying his game on offense.

"A lot of it was trying to get him to do things other than look for his shot," Quitan said. "We've been trying to get him to do be more aggressive and battle for position. He's been more of a finesse player versus a big, strong physical presence down low. We want to get him out of his comfort zone and bang for position."

Quitan said Hobus holds a 4.0 grade point average.

"He's like the model student-athlete," Quitan said. "He works hard. He doesn't really talk a lot like the other kids. He's definitely more on the quiet side, but he's always ready to play. He's just a good role model for the kids."

The Jr. Bows (12-3) won all four of their games in the Saint Francis tournament last week and concluded the preseason with an 11-3 record. The team has just nine players, but don't lack depth according to Quitan.

"We have four returning starters and everybody on the team played last year," Quitan said. "I kind of think the strength of this team is that we don't rely on just one guy like how we did a couple of years ago with Anthony (Canencia). We're not one-dimensional. All nine of our guys can play and all nine can contribute and can score and that's pretty rare at a small school."

University Lab is hoping to parlay last season's heartache into more wins this year.

"We lost a lot of close games last year," Quitan said. "It was a battle last year — every game was close for us — and we're kind of expecting the same thing again. We played some good competition in the preseason and we're excited. Hopefully with the experience from last year we'll be able to pull out more victories."

The Jr. Bows missed out on the Division II state tournament last year after qualifying in each of the previous two seasons.

"That's definitely a goal of ours: to get back to the state tournament," Quitan said. "We've got five seniors and they've all kind of bought in. We did a lot more offseason training this year, we played all summer and it's kind of showing now. We're more deep than we were the last couple of years."

Hobus and the Jr. Bows opened Interscholastic League of Honolulu regular-season play with a 64-34 win over Christian Academy Tuesday night.

Female Athlete of the Week: Moli Heimuli, Farrington basketball
In her first two varsity basketball seasons at Farrington, Moli Heimuli had the opportunity to play with — and learn from — a pair of standout posts in Jeneva Toilolo and Penina Faumui.

Now, in her junior season, Heimuli has stepped out of their shadows and into the forefront as the top player for the Governors (4-0).

Heimuli, a 5-foot-10 power forward/center and third-year varsity member, has helped Farrington to a 4-0 start in the Eastern Division of the Oahu Interscholastic Association. She had 15 points Wednesday in a 42-36 win over Kahuku, which kept the Govs in a tie for first place.

"Moli is one of those all-around players," Farrington coach Caroline Tatupu said. "We have her playing in the post, but she can also handle the ball pretty well for a post player. She's out go-to player."

Heimuli posted 20 points in a 59-33 win at Kalaheo to open the regular season back on Dec. 15 and notched 17 points in a 57-44 win at Kalani eight days later.

"She got off to a bit of a slow start but then she's turned things around," Tatupu said. "She's actually not the most physical player — although she may look like it — but in her own way she's able to play through it and step up and play the way her teammates need her to. If the other team is physical, she will be physical back."

Tatupu said Heimuli does a lot of things well — not just score points.

"She has a good sense of reading the court and because she is one of those taller players and can take up a lot of space that helps with our defensive play as well," Tatupu said. "Moli has come into that role that she knows that a lot of teams are going to be keying on her, so she's taken on the role of trying to create opportunities for her teammates to score as well and she knows that at times she will be the decoy. But when the opportunities were given for her, she looked to score for herself as well."

The Govs jumped out to a 13-4 lead on the Red Raiders after the first quarter, but clanged to a 26-25 lead after three quarters.

"We got off to a good start and then kind of got too relaxed and let them hang around and they slowly chipped away," Tatupu said. "Kahuku always seems to be one of those teams that is just a physical challenge for us, so for us to be able to come out with a win over Kahuku was a big win for us. They're always a tough and competitive team."

Tatupu said the knowledge that Heimuli drew from both Toilolo — who is now at New Mexico State — and Faumui — who is playing at Blinn College — is paying dividends for her this year.

"I know that last year and the year before Moli was more of a behind-the-scenes player with those two around, but she would always look for them for help in improving her game," Tatupu said. "At that time she was more of a role player, but she just did what she had to do to stay on the court, whether it be grabbing rebounds and putbacks, she just went out and did what she had to do. She often worked with them and had questions for them after practices and they helped her understand her role on the team."

The Govs return just three starters from last year's team that finished third in the D1 East, but failed to qualify for the state tournament.

"We have a few seniors, but they weren't on the team last year, so you could say that the younger ones are kind of taking the lead this year in our junior class," Tatupu said. "We're going to take it one game at a time. Starting off the season we knew that we had some talent on the team, but with only three returnees we were just focused on trying to take it one game at a time and go from there."

Farrington has won its four league games by an average of 16.5 points and faces off against fellow-unbeaten Roosevelt (4-0) in a tough road test Wednesday night.

The ninth-ranked Rough Riders are led by All-Hawaii First Team post Keala Quinlan, who is averaging 20.8 points per game this season, and figures to be on Heimuli for much of the contest.

"I think that'll be a great matchup between them," Tatupu said. "As everyone expects, those are probably the two players that both teams will be going through on both sides. It's going to be an interesting game and will come down to which team makes the least errors."

Tip off between the Govs and host Rough Riders is scheduled for 7 p.m.

BOYS BASKETBALL
Chris Afe, Farrington — Scored 17 points in a win over Kalani

Vaitornoa Agor, Farrington — Scored 16 points in a loss to Punahou II

Kahinu Alapai, Waiakea — Scored 16 points in a win over Keaau

Austin Aukai, Konawaena — Scored 16 points in a loss to Waiakea

Kymani Ayonon, Waialua — Scored 18 points in a loss to Damien and scored 19 points in a loss to Assets

Jaylen Cain, Maryknoll — Scored 19 points in a win over Wuhan No. 2

Charles Caldwell, Keaau — Scored 17 points in a loss to Waiakea

Santino Calloway, Radford — Scored 40 points in a win over Christian Academy

Rayson Canencia, Saint Louis II — Scored 16 points in a win over Roosevelt, scored 21 points in a win over Assets and scored 18 points in a win over Lanakila Baptist

Jayden Chaviera, Aiea — Scored 16 points in a loss to Pearl City

Cole DeSilva, St. Joseph — Scored 18 points in a win over Nanakuli

Miah Fepuleai, Farrington — Scored 22 points in a win over Kalani

Liam Fitzgerald, Leilehua — Scored 17 points in a win over Kapolei

Manato Fukuda, St. Joseph — Scored 15 points in a win over Kamehameha II and scored 20 points in a loss to Kohala

Brandon Galang, Damien — Scored 16 points in a win over Waialua

Kolin Galdiano, Damien — Scored 26 points in a win over Waialua

Kobe Ikari, Kalani — Scored 26 points in a loss to Farrington and scored 15 points in a loss to Kaiser

Kaeler Kahana, Kamehameha — Scored 19 points in a win over Moanalua

Samuel Kahapea, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored 20 points in a win over Castle

Chance Kalaugher, Kaiser — Scored 23 points in a win over Maryknoll, scored 24 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in a win over Iolani, scored 24 points in a loss to Punahou and scored 24 points in a win over Kalani

Hayato Kamata, Maryknoll — Scored 16 points in a loss to Kaiser and scored 18 points in a win over Wuhan No. 2

Chris Kobayashi, Punahou — Scored 16 points in a win over Kamehameha and 18 points in a win over Kaiser

Kawehe Kohatsu, Kailua — Scored 23 points in a win over Roosevelt

Lancen Kuni, Waialua — Scored 19 points in a loss to Damien

Hirkley Latu, Kahuku — Scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a win over Kalaheo

Eric Lautzenheiser, Campbell — Scored 16 points in a loss to Hawaii Baptist

Sifo Lauvao, Kaimuki — Scored 20 points in a loss to Saint Francis

Alex Layi, Kalaheo — Scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a win over Farrington and scored 17 points in a win over Kailua

Blaise Leong, Kamehameha II — Scored 17 points in a win over Maryknoll II

Isaac Liva, Mililani — Scored 16 points in a win over Campbell

Jeremy McGoldrick, Castle — Scored 19 points in a win over Saint Francis

Ty Minatoya, Hawaii Baptist — Scored 18 points in a win over Castle

Micah Mitchell, Hawaii Baptist — Scored 19 points in a win over Campbell, scored 19 points in a win over Castle and scored 25 points in a loss to University

Douglas Mitchell, Waianae — Scored 23 points in a loss to Mililani

Kameron Ng, Saint Francis — Scored 15 points in a loss to Castle and scored 17 points in a win over Kaimuki

Luna Niipali, Saint Louis — Scored 17 points in a win over Lanakila Baptist

Kapaa Nishimura, Kalani — Scored 17 points in a loss to Kaiser

Jaymason Nunuha, Saint Louis — Scored 25 points in a win over Damien

Christian Ono, Kaimuki — Scored 18 points in a loss to Kamehameha-Hawaii and scored 15 points in a loss to Saint Francis

Saige Pulu, Moanalua — Scored 20 points in a win over Kaimuki

Jeremy Ramos, Radford — Scored 19 points in a win over Saint Louis II

Lance Sataraka, Saint Louis — Scored 19 points in a win over Waialua

Ryan Shin, Maryknoll II — Scored 20 points in a loss to Nanakuli and scored 21 points in a loss to Christian Academy

Iverson Sione, Nanakuli — Scored 36 points in a win over Maryknoll II and scored 23 points in a win over Waipahu

Jason Talbo, Roosevelt — Scored 18 points in a win over Christian Academy

Gilbert Tapat, Pearl City — Scored 16 points in a win over Aiea

Royce Tashiro, Waialua — Scored 18 points in a loss to Saint Louis and scored 23 points in a loss to Damien

Sape Tupuola, Pearl City — Scored 18 points in a win over Aiea

AJ Ulufale, Assets — Scored 24 points in a win over Waialua

Captain Whitlock, Kalaheo — Scored 24 points in a win over Kailua

James Wilkins, Moanalua — Scored 25 points in a win over Kaimuki

GIRLS BASKETBALL
Tywanna Abbott, Leilehua — Scored 19 points in a win over Waialua

Brittini Blake, Kahuku — Scored 15 points in a loss to Farrington

Hannah Coffin, Leilehua — Scored 14 points in a win over Waialua

Stephanie Dang, Hawaii Baptist — Scored 20 points in a loss to Sacred Hearts

Cameron Fernandez, Lahainaluna — Scored 18 points in a win over Maui

Jessica Hanashiro, Sacred Hearts — Scored 15 points in a win over Sacred Hearts

Brooke Ho, Kaiser — Scored 17 points in a win over Kalani

Sienna Ho, Moanalua — Scored 14 points in a loss to Kailua

Keleah-Aiko Koloi, Lahainaluna — Scored 15 points in a win over Maui

Keala Quinlan, Roosevelt — Scored 23 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in a win over McKinley

Rebeka Revelle, Kamehameha-Maui — Scored 19 points in a win over Baldwin

Tara Takata, Kailua — Scored 19 points in a win over Moanalua

Kayla Torres, Mililani — Scored 14 points in a loss to Radford

Delcie Williams, Kailua — Grabbed 19 rebounds and scored eight points in a win over Moanalua

Zoe-Ann Yamamoto, Sacred Hearts — Scored 14 points in a win over Hawaii Baptist

BOYS SOCCER
JP Carson, Mililani — Scored two goals in a win over Pearl City

Jason Catron, Kapolei — Scored two goals in a win over Leilehua

Ethan Grubbs, Waialua — Scored three goals in a win over Nanakuli

Shandon Hopeau, Kapolei — Scored two goals in a win over Leilehua

Triston Kapahua, Waianae — Scored two goals in a win over Aiea

Boogie Mattos, Campbell — Scored two goals in a win over Radford

Noah Mokulehua, Kaiser — Scored four goals in a win over Kaimuki

Chyson Morgan, Nanakuli — Scored two goals in a loss to Waialua

Aaron Rivas, Kaiser — Scored three goals in a win over Kaimuki

Tyler Shimogawa, Moanalua — Scored the lone goal in a win over McKinley

Elijah Tucker Smith, Radford — Scored two goals in a loss to Campbell

David Tupper, Campbell — Scored two goals in a win over Radford

GIRLS SOCCER
Lauryn Cabudol, Campbell — Scored two goals in a win over Radford

Destinee Hanaike, Castle — Scored three goals in a win over Farrington

Tia Furuta, Mililani — Scored two goals in a loss to Pearl City

Skyelar Losconia, Campbell — Scored three goals in a win over Radford

Chevyn-Rae Morgan, Nanakuli — Scored three goals in a win over Waialua

Sara Olanda, Aiea — Scored two goals in a win over Waianae

Ciana Rivera, Castle — Scored three goals in a win over Farrington

Tarynn Sales, Moanalua — Scored two goals in a win over McKinley

Rayna Santiago, Nanakuli — Scored three goals in a win over Waialua

Daysha-Ann Solidum, Kalani — Scored two goals in a tie against Kahuku

Taylor Strong, Kailua — Scored two goals in a win over Kalaheo

Alex Yawata, Kaiser — Scored three goals in a win over Kaimuki

Dalles Young-Toledo, Waialua — Scored two goals in a loss to Nanakuli