Arctic gem
Kamaka Hepa moved from the nation’s northernmost town to Portland in April, enrolled at Jefferson High School and joined the Portland Basketball Club, all in the name of better competition and development.
As a bonus, the class of 2018 forward gets to enjoy an actual summer. And, coming up, a winter with daylight.
July high temperatures in Barrow, Alaska, average in the 40s and Hepa has found it’s pretty much dark from mid-November to mid-January. That’s all the more reason why basketball is popular in Hepa’s remote Alaskan hometown.
“There’s not much to do there, so you either play sports or go hunting and stuff like that,” Hepa said Friday, after a Portland Basketball Club U16 win in the Las Vegas Classic. “I used to hunt a lot with my grandparents. They took me up to their cabin and we used to just hunt caribou and geese.”
People are also reading…
When folks aren’t playing sports in Barrow, watching them is also big. Hepa said the community strongly supported his games at Barrow High School, which won a second straight Alaska title last season despite having to fly out of town for nearly all its games (there are no roads into Barrow, a town of about 4,300 that borders the Arctic Ocean on Alaska’s North Slope).
Born to a native Hawaiian father and Native American mother, Hepa rewarded fans by becoming the Alaska player of the year in both of the past two seasons. But now he’s gone, drawing the attention of Arizona and many other high-major schools since his move to the Lower 48.
“The community wanted me to stay,” Hepa said. “They really support our basketball team. Basketball in the community has always been big.”
One-stop shopping
The three major Las Vegas tournaments have placed games all over town this week, but UA coaches Sean Miller and Book Richardson saved some wear and tear on their rental cars Friday.
They parked themselves near the baseline of Bishop Gorman’s main court for Friday evening, and watched a stream of five-star talent.
First, they saw the top point guard in the class of 2017, Trevon Duval, with WE R1 club.
Then it was Belmont Shore with UA targets that include 2017 forward Billy Preston, 2018 guard David Singleton and 2019 guard Cassius Stanley. Finally, there was guard Lonnie Walker leading Team Final of Pennsylvania to an easy victory in the last game of the evening.
Big boy
Stanley may only be a rising sophomore at Southern California’s Harvard-Westlake, but he more than held his own with juniors and seniors in the U17 set in the Fab 48.
“It’s challenging,” Stanley said. “But I love basketball.”
Of course, Stanley isn’t your ordinary sophomore. Ballislife.com posted back in March that “Cassius Stanley is the most ridiculous ninth-grader you’ve seen!” And last year, the L.A. Times reported that high school coaches were “holding their breaths” to see which high school Stanley would choose to play for.
Stanley said Arizona is one of the schools he is considering, but it’s early.
Duval to visit
As the nation’s top point guard in 2017, Duval can pretty pick any school he wants.
Duval said he planned to cut his list to about 10 schools next month. His father has already told 24/7 Sports that Trevon will visit Arizona, Oregon, UCLA, Kansas and Cal.
“Arizona’s in the mix, definitely in the mix,” Duval said. “Coach Book (Richardson) pretty much talks to me all the time. I haven’t been out there yet but I plan on making a couple of visits.”
Grateful
Walker may be a five-star prospect but takes no scholarship offers for granted. Including the one Arizona gave him earlier this month.
“It was truly a blessing that they offered me to Arizona,” Walker said after a Fab 48 game. “It’s Arizona. Everybody knows who they are. They called me and I was beyond ecstatic.”
He said it
“They were playing love at the end of the game. That ain’t love.” – Indy Hoosier forward and UA target Kris Wilkes, on the opposing L.A. Rockfish after a chippy, foul-plagued Fab 48 game in which Indy won 55-50 on Saturday.
The big number
4.0 Hepa’s grade-point average at Barrow High School last year, going along with basketball averages of 9.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.2 blocks and 2.8 assists per game, according to USA Today.
Bruce Pascoe
