HONOLULU—For the last seven years, the Big Island team from the Mauna Lani Bay Resort has dominated the ILWU statewide basketball tournament and walked away with the state championship. One
reason for this dominance may be the fact that the team is able to recruit the best players from over 3,500 members who work at 6 major ILWU hotels on the West side of Hawaii.

This year was no different as the team from the Mauna Lani Resort crushed Maui Land & Pineapple and overpowered Oahu’s Love’s Bakery to win the championship title of the 21st Annual ILWU Local 142 Basketball Tournament. Oahu took second place; Kauai followed at third place; and Maui came in at fourth place. The tournament was played at the Lanakila Park Gym in Honolulu on December 7, 2002.

The first game of the single elimination tournament pitted Maui Land & Pineapple against the Mauna Lani Resort. The smaller team from Maui was canned by the defending champs—96 to 35. Alan Coito led the high scoring for Mauna Lani with 24 points, followed by teammate Lawrence Kauka with 23 points.

Jay-ar Failano was the high scorer for Maui with 16 points.

More closely matched teams from Oahu’s Love’s Bakery and the Hyatt Kauai played the second game. Love’s prevailed by a score of 56 to 46. Mark Revuelto and Mark Ancog led the scoring for Love’s with 20 and 17 points respectively. Gary Ganotisi hooped 18 for Kauai.

The two eliminated teams—Mauiand Kauai—played the next game to decide the third and fourth place positions of the tournament. The Hyatt Kauai sent Maui Land & Pineapple packing by a score of 55 to 48. High scorer Gary Ganotisi led the
Kauai team with 22 points and Jay-ar Failano scored 14 for Maui.

The fourth and last game between Oahu and Hawaii would decide the tournament champions and second place winner. In the first half, Oahu looked like they might upset the champions as they took and maintained the lead. However, their game fell apart in the second half and Mauna Lani built up a 15 point lead. Love’s closed the gap to 10 points but the game ended with Mauna Lani the victors over Oahu—59 to 49. Alan Coito led the scoring for Mauna Lani with 21 points, while teammate Lawrence Kauka followed with 15. Mark Revuelto was the Oahu high scorer with 19 points.

Team Standings—Romel Butihi, representing 4th place Maui; Eddie Vidal, from 3rd place Kauai; Maurice Bisbee representing 2nd place Oahu; and Kahana Cazimero from 1st place Hawaii.

The final standings were: 

1st Place - Mauna Lani Resort (Hawaii)

2nd Place - Daiichiya-Love’s Bakery (Oahu)

 3rd Place - Hyatt Regency Kauai (Kauai)

4th Place - Maui Land & Pineapple (Maui)

Named to the All-Star Tournament Team were: Gary Ganotisi (Kauai); Mark Revuelto (Oahu); Lawrence Kauka (Hawaii); Mark Ancog (Oahu); Jay-ar Failano (Maui); and Alan Coito Jr. (Hawaii). Alan Coito Jr. was also named the Most Valuable Player.

Winners of the 3-Point Shooting contest at half-time were: 1st place -Gary Ganotisi (Hyatt Kauai); 2nd place - Reeve Cazimero (Mauna Lani Resort); and tied for 3rd place - Lawrence Kauka (Mauna Lani Resort), Romel Butihi (Maui Land &
Pineapple), and Kahai Freitas (Love’s Bakery).

Many thanks to Business Agent and Sports Coordinator Brian Tanaka, Randy Prieto of Unit 4405 - Fleming Foods, and Kenneth Ige of Unit 4412 - Servco Pacific for coordinating the tournament and keeping score.

All-Star Tournament Team—Alan Coito Jr. (Hawaii), Brian Bertulfo and Maurice Bisbee of Love’s Bakery standing in for Mark Revuelto and Mark Ancog (Oahu), and Lawrence Kauka (Hawaii). Kneeling: Jay-ar Failano (Maui) and Gary Ganotisi (Kauai). Alan Coito Jr. was also named the Most Valuable Player.

The championship game between the Mauna Lani Resort from Hawaii and Love’s Bakery from Oahu started out as a closely matched contest. One team would score, and the other team would match that score. One team would take the lead, and the other team would come back and take over the lead.

Kauai overpowered a smaller Maui team by 55 to 48 to win the third-place berth. The Kauai team was from the Hyatt Regency Kauai and the Maui team hailed from Maui Land and Pineapple Co.