Seabury wins MIL opener over Molokai
OLINDA — Dylan Stolley knows his Seabury Hall boys basketball team has work to do, but the signs of potential were on display Friday night at the Erdman Athletic Center.
The Spartans won their Maui Interscholastic League Division II opener 53-21 over Molokai behind 16 points from Kobe Garcia and 11 from Stolley, who had all of his points in the first half as the Spartans rolled to a 38-11 lead at the break.
“You always know the other team is going to come back and fight, so we just had to maintain our lead and keep playing together,” said Stolley, one of six juniors on the Seabury Hall roster.
Seabury Hall went 7-6 in nonleague play, including 2-1 against MIL Division I teams — they beat Maui High and King Kekaulike while losing a 51-49 decision to Lahainaluna.
“We had some tough losses early in the season, but we’re finally working together well and starting to play,” Stolley said. “It’s great competition, playing against those good teams — if we make it to states those games will help because those teams are a lot better over there.”
Garcia had 14 of his points in the first half, 11 in the second quarter.
“We definitely push each other, there’s a lot of good guys on the team — Bromo (Dorn), Leo (McKuin), there’s so many good players,” Stolley said. “So, we all compete and make each other better.”
Jericho Adolpho scored in the lane to bring the Farmers within 3411 with 55 seconds left in the first half before Garcia scored the final four points of the half.
The Farmers pulled within 40-15 on a 3 by Damare’a Braxton and on the ensuing trip down the floor Jericho Adolpho blocked a shot — he had three blocks in the second half.
Moments later, Braxton finished a fast break to cut the deficit to 23, showing a flash of just what the Farmers can do.
Braxton finished with 14 points for the Farmers.
The Spartans turned on the 30point mercy-rule running clock on a traditional 3-point play by Dorn with 2:44 left in the third quarter. Dorn’s only points of the night pushed the lead to 47-17.
Adolpho is the younger brother of Kalei Parker, Molokai’s coach and former standout volleyball and basketball player at the University of Hawaii.
Parker married husband and assistant coach Zerin Parker a year ago.
“Seabury is an awesome team, they’re always tough, so we knew we were coming in here with a challenge,” Kalei Parker said. “They are a great example of their system, running a system and getting people in the right spots, people who are good at the things they do. They are doing those things and they don’t do other stuff.
“They do what they’re good at and everyone has their role, you see them playing their role. That’s a great example for us.”
Parker said the Farmers, who are now 2-1 in the MIL after a pair of wins over Hana last week, are missing several key pieces, due to everything from illness, injury, family trips and academics.
Seabury Hall coach Scott Prather said his team has been dealing with the same challenges, but just got whole on Thursday. Friday was the first game of the season where his entire roster was available.
“I felt like we came out and executed the game plan, which was a lot of hard trapping and scrambling on defense,” Prather said. “They did a good job to adjust and they brought the pressure and fight to us in the second half and it was a much closer game in the second half.
“I’m proud of our guys, they practiced well this week and they are ready for the challenge.”
Prather smiled when asked about his team coming together.
“To put it in perspective, yesterday was the first practice all season that we had everybody, so we’ve had a litany of things that we’re dealing with, but we’re finally coming together and I hope we can continue that,” Prather said. “I think it’s something that every team is going to deal with. It’s just a matter of managing the guys that you have of who are available.”
Like the Farmers, Prather said his team has dealt with all kinds of absences.
“A combination of all that — we’ve been using up a lot of tape, a lot of cough syrup and a lot of all that vitamin C and chicken noodle soup and all