RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Campbell's basketball team is flying high. The Sabers are ranked third in the Star-Bulletin Top 10 and they pulled off an upset of Punahou earlier this month.

Turning up the heat

Campbell's hoops team
is primed to take the path
of the Sabers' gridders

AS A MIDDLE SCHOOLER, Tristan Bailey saw his older brother, Chad, wear the orange and black on the basketball court and baseball diamond.

Campbell's roundball and baseball teams were good back then. Tristan stepped into the uniform when his time came, not knowing what his own Saber legacy would be, but wanting more than a decent team and a playoff berth. Much more.

The Sabers tore it up in this year's Leilehua summer league, winning by margins of more than 20 points. There was depth and talent from point guard Robert Morris to low posts James Bannister and Mark Sealy. Bailey, a 6-foot-3 senior, is the consummate swingman, handling the ball and delivering contributions on the perimeter and under the glass. But still, he wondered.

Would it all be enough to chase a championship?

ON THE LEEWARD COAST, and especially across the old railroad line in neighborhoods that once stood in Campbell territory, Sabers athletics played second fiddle in recent years. The opening of Kapolei High School drew new students from across the Leeward Coast, and Campbell's thunder fizzled to the wattage of a AAA battery.

That changed this year.

The football Sabers captured the Division II state championship with a convincing win over giant-killer Iolani. The boys basketball team is trying to follow that example. The Sabers are 7-2, including wins over Farrington, Damien and Kahuku last weekend to capture the Saber Hoops Classic title. They rose one spot to No. 3 in the Star-Bulletin Top 10, buoyed in large part by an upset of perennial powerhouse Punahou in early December -- with just seven players.

The Sabers have new faces mixing with the old, but their advantage is familiarity with their coach, Sol Batoon. Trust is there.

"He knows our weaknesses and won't put us in a bad situation where we'll mess up," Sealy, a forward, said. "And he believes in us."

That's what makes it imperative, at least in Batoon's eyes, for his team to pay close attention to detail in the coming week and a half leading into the regular season. It's their last chance to have an unobstructed flow of practice. Batoon likes few things more than to chisel away at his sculpture, molding it bit by bit. That includes putting center Daniel Phillips through his daily routine of physical low-post play.

"Coach reminds me to play my size," said the 6-foot-8 Phillips. "My coach at Manchester used to yell at me, too."

Manchester Christian Academy (Wash.) is a long way from oven-baked Ewa Beach. But that's exactly where Phillips chose to pursue his dreams. And that is where his dreams intersect with those of Saber-raised Bailey.

"We're bigger and faster now. If one guy scores all the points, it shouldn't be that way unless someone is hot. Everybody can score," Bailey said. "A lot of people are scared to penetrate on Daniel. As soon as he blocks a shot, you can see people start floating their shots."

SCORCHING HEAT PUNISHED anyone willing to walk the dusty route of Ewa Beach Road one mid-summer day. That's where the keen eyes of assistant coach Ken Tangjian spotted an unusual sight: a pale, 6-8 kid, narrow as the crusty telephone poles along the street.

Tangjian was beside himself. This had to be the boy he'd heard so much about, making his annual summer visit from the mainland. Tangjian, who coaches youth basketball in the summer, could certainly find a place on his roster for this kid. The coach, without having seen him play a minute of hoops, asked if he would be interested in joining a team for a tournament in Las Vegas.

"I heard about him from his aunty for two years," Tangjian said of occasional discussions with neighbor Mary Jay. "She said he's shy."

That was no problem for Tangjian, who has a somewhat verbose, slightly enthusiastic spirit. Phillips found it impossible to say no. "There are only two kinds of people in the world," Tangjian announces at least twice a night. "Portuguese ... and wanna-bes."

Fortunately, Phillips is part-Portuguese. He's part-Hawaiian, although he won't touch kalua pig or anything else high in fat. He puts only high-octane fuel into his body, even taking the skin off the Costco whole chicken as he devours the entire bird.

So Phillips eats entire chickens and hoops it up in Hawaii. It's not the senior season he imagined when he started attending Manchester Christian. "I miss my parents and my sister. My friends, too. They were surprised that I moved, but they're happy for me," he said. "For college, it's better recognition."

IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS, Campbell basketball has transformed under the heady influence of Batoon. Long known for taking Hawaii All-Star teams to the mainland, he has coached at places as disparate as Seminole Junior College and Chaminade, as well as Hilo High and Saint Joseph. One way to improve on the court is to play the best, so he organized the trip to Las Vegas, a task he once reserved for his All-Star teams.

Instead, his Saber players had the opportunity to play for an exhibition team that found an extra boost of confidence on the mainland. Playing in a division of post-high school players -- the Main Event bracket -- the Campbell squad reached the quarterfinals and gained a measure of self-respect that exceeded the perfect win-loss record in the Leilehua league.

The clarity was not lost on Bailey. "They were bigger than us. Most of 'em were faster than us," he recalled. "We knew, if we can do this here, wait 'til we go home."

The trip also gave the coaches a good, close look at their players' hearts. "You find out what the person is about, if he's about himself or about the team," Batoon said.

Prior to Batoon, the hoopsters practiced at any hour, early in the morning or late at night. It all depended on their old coach's work schedule. "Now practice is at the next level," Bailey said. "It feels like a college program."

PHILLIPS COMES TO EWA BEACH from Washington state every summer. "Who wouldn't?" he asks rhetorically. It's Hawaii.

Bailey wasn't sure what to make of Phillips when they first met. Here was the tallest player he'd ever had for a teammate. And at that height, Phillips loves doing something that still makes Bailey crack up to this day.

"He loves to bodysurf. He's down there every day," Bailey said.

Sealy averaged 22 points and 11 rebounds per game at the Las Vegas tourney. Batoon doesn't hesitate to explain that the 6-4 senior is his best post scorer, but Sealy was academically ineligible to start the season. He turned to Phillips, who has a high grade-point average, an ACT score of 24 and strong study habits. Sealy is over at Phillips' house so much, he may as well be living there. The influence is obvious. Sealy is eligible to play now, although the nonconference schedule is done.

"Mark's teaching me to play physical, to post up and use my wingspan," said Phillips, who has a feathery shooting touch and a deadly accurate turnaround jump hook.

"The important thing is to take care of things in the classroom," Batoon said. "When we lost to Hilo, we had only eight guys. Some guys weren't eligible, and Dr. Gail (Awakuni) puts pride in academics, so we can't contradict standards. And our standards aren't normal."

Bailey knows what to expect of his longtime teammates. He also knows Phillips is the X Factor. "If he plays more aggressively, he could be the best player in the state. The guy is so soft-hearted," Bailey said. "I'd love to see him always fight for better position."

Judging from his 3,000-mile trek, Phillips is already doing just that.

Campbell? Chasing championships? Bailey doesn't ask how anymore. He knows it just might be fate.