Photos courtesy of St. Joseph School

St. Joseph’s six-foot-five center sophomore Thomas Fairman controls the airspace over Hilo.

Tiny St. Joseph, Hilo, on verge of hoop greatness

The Cardinals are poised to grab the state basketball Division II championship

By John B. Woolverton | Special to the Herald

As if inspired by the diminutive biblical hero who slew the giant Goliath through the grace of God, Hilo’s tiny St. Joseph School has been playing the role of David throughout the 2009-2010 boys basketball season. The Division II school has vanquished nine out of 10 monstrous Division I foes, and at the Division II level are unbeaten and unchallenged.

St. Joseph has been the state’s top-ranked Division II team from preseason to present, and are favored to win the HHSAA Division II state championship come the first weekend in March.

The Cardinals exploded into statewide prominence at its own Cardinal-Warrior Basketball Classic, a 16-team dual-site preseason tournament featuring the Division I powerhouse Iolani, Maui’s Division II contender Seabury Hall, plus the best Division I schools in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation. It was the first time St. Joseph School won its own basketball tournament.

That was just the beginning.

In December, St. Joseph ventured to Oahu for the prestigious Moanalua Invitational Tournament, featuring the state’s most elite public and private schools plus a select few from California. Proving their previous wins were no fluke, St. Joseph promptly defeated the OIA’s McKinley and host Moanalua on back-to-back nights in convincing fashion.

Although they would lose the following night to the defending Division I state champ Kamehameha, the only team St. Joe has faced and not beaten, their tournament performance earned them a number six state ranking (regardless of division) by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

The 2010 season validated the Oahu newspaper’s assessment of the small Hilo high school, whose enrollment (boys and girls) is less than 100. St. Joseph finished atop the BIIF-East standings, above the island’s Division I biggest — Hilo, Waiakea, and Kamehameha. The team now heads into the BIIF’s Division II playoffs as the clear favorite to win the title and to earn top seed in the March 4-6 HHSAA DII tournament.

Not only do the Cardinals play a disciplined, sophisticated team-basketball usually found at the collegiate level, they offer fans a collection of star players rarely found at such a small school, all at the same time.

St. Joseph’s leading scorer, and one of the top offensive players in the state, is senior guard Jacob Andrade. Andrade burst onto the scene in December by lighting up Division I Kealakehe High for 32 points in the Cardinal-Warrior Classic championship game. Then, on Jan. 12 in Hilo’s Civic Auditorium, Andrade put on an absolute scoring clinic by dropping 44 points on archrival Hilo High. That performance, followed a few days later by a 37-point torching of Division II rival Pahoa High, earned Andrade the Honolulu Advertiser’s “Athlete of the Week” honor.

While Andrade leads the Cardinal attack from the outside, St. Joseph’s front court is dominated by the six-foot-five, 15-year-old sophomore Thomas Fairman. Fairman, whose long limbs make him a functional six-foot-seven or eight under the basket, is the Big Island’s dominant center. Playing a foot or two above his competition, he has averaged a double-double in points and rebounds throughout the 2009-2010 season. Thomas Fairman will be the name to watch for HHSAA basketball fans over the next two years.

St. Joseph also has two of the most technically skilled performers in the HHSAA, both underclassmen. Junior William Scanlan-Leite, one of the state’s slickest point-guards, and sophomore Sebastian Ohara-Saft, whose jump shot is so pure it borders on robotic, round out the dynamic Cardinal offense. Both sons of coaches, Scanlan-Leite and Ohara-Saft are among the most fundamentally sound technicians you’ll ever see at the high school level.

The tournament for the 2010 Division II state title begins March 4 in either the Farrington or Kalani high school gymnasiums. The scene shifts March 5-6 to the University of Hawaii’s Stan Sheriff Center for the semis and finals.

To celebrate this historic state-run, St. Joseph School is organizing alumni and Catholic community events on Oahu during championship week. The school will host a hospitality room at the team’s hotel during the evenings. The culminating event will be 9 a.m. Mass on March 7 at Honolulu’s Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace followed by brunch at 10:30 a.m.

All are invited to these celebrations to share in the unique experience and Catholic fellowship provided by St. Joseph School and HHSAA athletics.