The University of Hawaii men’s basketball team has received a commitment from an accurate-shooting, junior-college guard.

Amoro Lado of College of the Southern Idaho will sign a scholarship agreement, join the Rainbow Warriors this summer, and then have three seasons of UH eligibility.

“I’m really excited to get out there, for sure,” Lado said in a telephone interview. He said the UH coaches, future teammates and the program’s direction factored in his decision.

At 6 feet 3, Lado can play the point or two guard. He is a skilled ball-handler who averaged 12 points and 3.3 rebounds in 24.3 minutes per game this season. Lado connected on 47% of his 3s.

“Just countless hours in the gym,” Lado said of his shooting efficiency.

With help from a teammate or shooting machine, Lado will put in extra work each day. The machine has a netting that “rebounds” shots, then fires out passes to the shooter. Lado said he will place four balls into the machine, and auto-set passes at 3-second intervals. Depending on whether he had practiced earlier, Lado will take between 300 and 1,000 shots per session.

“Once I feel satisfied, which is never, or when I get tired, I hang it up and come back the next day and keep doing it,” Lado said.

Lado was born in San Diego and moved to Caldwell, Idaho during middle school. “It was a culture shock.” Lado said. “I’m still a city guy. But at the same time, I was young, I made friends quick.”

Lado excelled in basketball, making the varsity team near the end of his freshman year. As a Vallivue High senior, Lado averaged 24.8 points in 2019, the most in Idaho’s 4A/5A classification since 1997. He was named state player of the year in 2019.

Lado said he finds motivation from the memory of his older brother Edward, who died of a seizure during Lado’s freshman year.

“Dealing with that made me hungrier,” Lado said. “That was my ‘why.’ Why do you play? Why do you play hard? Why do you work out so much? There are many reasons, but that’s one of them. I feel I have choices. I’m here and he’s not. While I’m here, I have to make my time worth it. I have to make every second, minute, hour count by playing hard all the time.”