On Feb. 22, the WCC Gamecocks basketball team lost a hard fought battle to Leeward Community College by a score of 32-11.
The Gamecocks kept the game relatively close and trailed 19-9 heading into halftime. Mark Viloria led the way with seven points. Jared Altenhof also scored two points.
In the second half, Viloria scored an early jump shot to get the Gamecocks to 19-11. But Leeward put its foot on the gas and scored 13 straight points to win. The Gamecocks are now 0-2 in their league. They lost to Kapi‘olani Community College Royals last week.
“We just got out rebounded,” Viloria said. “I know that they (Leeward) are tall, but we should know how to box them out. If you are a guard, then you should know how to box out. We weren’t getting back on defense, our shots weren’t falling, and it’s just the little things. Overall, we got a lot of things to do.”
Viloria graduated from Kahuku High School last year, where he won a state basketball title with the Red Raiders. He played with current University of Hawai‘i basketball player Samuta Avea. Viloria wants to bring his championship mindset to the WCC Gamecocks.
“Whatever I had there (at Kahuku), I have to bring that intensity here because it’s a different story now,” Viloria said. “Before I would just spot up and shoot, but now I got to dribble and I have to rebound and everything else. I’m the leader here now too. We just have to focus and bring it here next week.”
Intramural basketball games are played every Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. at Halawa District Park Gym from Feb. 15 to March 22. Games are hosted by the IM LeeSports League, an intramural sports league made up of University of Hawai‘i community colleges and UH West O‘ahu.
Games consist of two 12-minute periods with a running clock. The clock only stops for injuries and timeouts taken by each team. In the last two minutes of games, fouls committed will also stop the clock. There is no shot clock. The games are played 5 vs 5 (co-ed), with the players deciding when and who gets subbed in and out of play.
This year, the Gamecocks have a large roster with 14 players. The team usually holds practices on Tuesdays, but Viloria says that not enough people come to those practices.
“We have to practice because that’s the only time when we’ll get better,” he said. “You get better in practice and bring it to the game. These guys like to play ball. But at the same time, they’re still trying to learn, so I’m just trying to guide them through.”
For more information about WCC intramural basketball, contact coach Makana Tani at tanimaka@hawaii.edu.
by Leighland Tagawa, Ka ‘Ohana Editor in Chief
