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Wednesday, December 20, 2000

De La Salle
smashes Castle,
faces Iolani next

---

By Tim Crouse
Special to the Star-Bulletin

The matchup between football powerhouses St. Louis and De La Salle never materialized this year.

But some of the football players who recently led the Spartans to another undefeated season are here in Hawaii -- trying to help the 12th-ranked basketball team win the Iolani Classic.

"I'm glad to be playing in Hawaii representing my school and playing against the best competition in the country," said Matt Gutierrez, who is the quarterback for the football team and a reserve forward in basketball.

De La Salle cruised past Castle yesterday, 87-37, setting up a quarterfinal showdown with Iolani tonight at 8.

"They're not showy but they get the job done," Iolani coach Mark Mugiishi said.

The Spartans took care of business early against undermanned Castle, jumping to a 15-3 lead.

Joel Botelho, the quarterback of the Knights' football team, scored on a driving layup and then converted a steal into another basket to cut the lead to 15-7, but that was as close as Castle got.

Rekalin Sims brought the crowd to its feet with a powerful dunk in the second quarter that put De La Salle up, 33-12, and the Spartans took a 39-16 halftime lead.

De La Salle then outscored Castle 25-5 in the third quarter.

Demetrius Williams -- a member of the football team who is expected to sign with a major Division I college as a wide receiver -- led the Spartans with 16 points.

Charles Brown added 15 more, and three other players were in double-digits. Gutierrez finished with four points.

"I'm really impressed with (point guard) Joe See," Mugiishi said. "He's not flashy but he plays the best perimeter defense I've seen in the Classic in years."

"We play together very well," said De La Salle coach Frank Allocco, who has an .878 winning percentage in nine seasons. "The kids are very unselfish. They play together and do what's best for the team."

Mugiishi is known for slowing the tempo to make the game shorter, but said he won't try to do that today.

"I usually don't do that in the preseason," he said. "If this was the state championship Iwould not try to go toe-to-toe with them, but since it's not, we'll try to play them and see how we do.

In other games yesterday, Kolo Kapanui scored 18 points to lead Kamehameha past Maui, 38-31.

Kamehameha plays Montrose at 6:30 p.m.

St. JosephNotre Dame (Calif.) beat Hilo, 59-40, and plays Roman Catholic(Philadelphia) today at 3:30 p.m.

Roman Catholic ripped Moanalua, 59-27. Brent Welton paced the Cahillites with 16 points, and 6-foot-6 senior forward Tamal Forchion scored 15 -- with four points coming on rim-shaking dunks.

Forchion is headed for George Washington next year.

The Classic wraps up Friday, with the championship game set for 8 p.m.