Young duo ready to carry the load for Saint Louis hoops

The team is so young, there is no obvious alpha dog, not at first glance.

A few minutes around the Saint Louis Crusaders makes it abundantly clear, however. Pupu Sepulona is the spark that gets the state’s No. 3-ranked team going.

“Every time in practice, you can hear him laughing,” center Jordan Posiulai said. “And making us laugh.”

“Every practice, Pupu is always cracking jokes,” sophomore Stone Kanoa said. He’s fun and light-hearted.”

“Definitely, it may not look like it, but he’s pretty funny,” said the lone senior, Aaron Agliam. “We always dog on each other, and that builds our chemistry.”

To a man, every Crusader says Sepulona is the team’s funniest player. But in humor, there is sometimes a cold-blooded truth.

“He calls himself the ‘Joker.’ The one from DC Comics. He has that Joker mentality,” junior Jiovanni Ramos said.

The young Crusaders — there are three freshmen and four sophomores on the roster — went 15-3 in nonconference play. There is tremendous foot speed in the Saint Louis man-to-man defense, often applying fullcourt pressure. Sophomore point guard Shancin Revuelto brings a poise and savvy beyond his years.

At 6 feet 2 inches and 230 pounds, Sepulona has been a force of nature. He maneuvered his way to 27 points in the Crusaders’ loss to the nation’s top-ranked team, Montverde Academy (Fla.), at the ‘Iolani Prep Classic.

“It’s one of those moments I’ll never forget, playing these high-level stars. That game was all God, all glory to him. It was David versus Goliath, a 6-2 going up against 6-10, 6-8, 6-7. I was nervous, but in the second half, I just went to work. I wasn’t scared to drive in.”

At the Punahou Invitational, he averaged 24 points per game, posting a 24-point, seven-rebound effort in a 56-38 win over Cathedral Catholic (Calif.). The sophomore was big again in the tourney final with 24 points and 13 rebounds in a 51-50 loss to Oakwood (Calif.).

“He’s a scorer. The Montverde guys tried, but they couldn’t take the ball away from him,” said Crusaders coach Dan Hale, a former All-State Player of the Year and four-time state champion as a player and coach. “He has expanded his game.”

Sepulona’s calm confidence is almost unbreakable. With the departure of seniors Hayden Bayudan, AJ Bianco and Aiva Arquette, Sepulona embraces his role this season. The team’s strong start is par for the course.

“Surprised? Not really. I felt like our record would be great this season. We put in a lot of work overall. We’re young, but when we play all the top teams in the state, we bring it. We have nothing to lose,” he said. “We’re the defending champs, but all those guys are gone now, so we have nothing to lose, nothing to fear. This is just the beginning.”

Posiulai brings several dimensions to the floor on both ends.

“We have a great coach and a great program. We actually bonded well over the summer, and through fall league,” the junior said.

The emergence of Posiulai has freed up Sepulona. At 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds, Posiulai was a sophomore reserve during Saint Louis’ state-title run last season. Now, he’s more nimble, more confident as the yin to Sepulona’s yang. The shooting touch has gone from good to excellent — Posiulai was at 80 percent from the free-throw line last week — and the outlet passes are almost one-of-a-kind among rebounders in the prep ranks. Quite the weapon for one of the fastest teams in the state.

Posiulai has posted six double-figure-scoring games, including 27 in a nonconference win over Nanakuli. Sepulona was in American Samoa during that early-season stretch attending a funeral.

“Jordan has become more aggressive and more agile with his movement. He’s lost a lot of weight, got slimmer,” Sepulona said. “He’s become a better passer. He makes my game easier and rebounds all the shots when I miss. He helps me a lot, big time, when he’s on the court.”

The scoring and rebounding by Saint Louis’ big men catch a lot of attention, but their passing skills are elite. In coach Hale’s systematic offensive scheme, all five Crusaders have to be connected and disciplined. Posiulai’s court vision and Sepulona’s ability to contour his body in the paint lead to layups, and-1 buckets and big scoring runs by the Crusaders.

Sepulona is from Kalihi, a cerebral left-hander with equal parts finesse and explosiveness. Some mornings, he is up at 5 o’clock to get some extra shooting reps at Kalakaua District Park’s outside courts.

His mother, Valasi, played volleyball at Chaminade. HIs father, Siona, played basketball for HPU. His success at football — Pupu was a standout defensive end on the Saint Louis I-AA team — is no surprise.

“I would encourage him to do both if anything. It’s challenging, but I believe he can do it,” Valasi Sepulona said. “He’s so self-motivated doing whatever it takes to get better.”

Tina Posiulai raised a family of gritty achievers, all honor-roll student-athletes. The oldest, Ti, played at University Lab, then continued at Wilson College (Pa.), playing volleyball and basketball. She is now a registered nurse in Maryland. Son TJ Posiulai played football at Roosevelt and went on to play at Missouri Southern.

Like his siblings, Jordan Posiulai is an academic standout first and foremost. He has a 4.0 grade-point average and is leaning toward an engineering degree in college.

“As long as he puts his mind into it and does the work, anything can happen,” Tina Posiulai said.

Jordan Posiulai is taking aim at his future.

“In business leadership class, we set a lot of goals and we do a lot of finding colleges that we’d like to go to,” he said. “I’ve been looking to some Ivy League schools I might be able to get into. I’m looking at Georgetown and Cal Tech, which is hard to get into.”

Posiulai was 1 when his father, Liutai, died of cancer. Tina Posiulai makes the trek daily from Waipahu to Kalaepohaku, dropping Jordan off before she goes to work at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She doesn’t give her keiki any option to be mediocre.

When TJ was an eighth grader, she told his club basketball coach that he would not be present for practice for a while. He was getting a C in English, which would be somewhat acceptable to most parents.

“To me, if you’re getting anything less than an A in your first language, that is not good enough,” she said.

TJ was back on the court three weeks later with that A grade. Jordan, on the other hand, has always thrived in the classroom, from Noelani Elementary to University Lab to Saint Louis, where he arrived after the canceled COVID-19 season in 2020.

“Jordan is such a good, responsible boy. I don’t have to tell him to do his work,” Tina Posiulai said. “Jordan always does his work.”

Off the court, there has always been a gentle-giant vibe to Posiulai, even as he appears imposing and physical on the hardwood.

As a fourth grader, he cried after his team lost a close game.

“It’s my fault we lost,” he whispered through his tears.

Never mind that he had carried the team with more than 20 points and 20 rebounds, a fast learner in his first year of organized basketball.

For Sepulona, there is no cellphone. No girlfriend. No meandering through cyberspace 24/7. Everything has a time and place, and that time is often limited. Like Posiulai, Sepulona has a 4.0 GPA.

“For us, it’s about continuing to stay intact with him,” Valasi Sepulona said. “Staying on top of things, like every parent. Kids can get distracted real quick. A little distraction can take someone on a different direction. Me and his dad are always in his ear.”

Dad is the LeBron James fan, a proponent of selfless basketball. Mom was into power lifting during her athletic career, but with Pupu’s natural strength and size, she is a proponent of band work, flexibility — and a lot of ice baths. She is also the equalizer.

“I don’t sugar coat anything with Pupu. We’re always real with him about life. We know he’s a smart kid, but as parents, you never stop talking to your kids no matter how old they are,” she said. “Our duty never stops even after they get married. I heard it from my mom, my husband heard it from his mom. We tell him we love him, we’re not mad at him, all those things.”

That was apparent after the close loss to Oakwood, when Pupu Sepulona missed two free throws in the final seconds. He was lost in emotion for a moment.

“After the game I was crying and they said, ‘That happens to the best athletes. It’s about moving on, moving forward.’ That’s how we grow, you know. When we go through those hard times, the struggle, that’s what makes us better,” Pupu Sepulona said. “Live and learn, that’s one of the most important lessons.”

The ILH gauntlet begins tonight. Saint Louis goes to Mid-Pacific, then hosts Punahou on Thursday and Kamehameha on Saturday. The regular-season winner earns an automatic state-tournament berth, which places an inordinate amount of pressure on every team, every coach, in every game.

“We’re no joke. Even though the ILH teams are stacked, we’re coming for that championship,” Sepulona said.

After the regular season, there is only one remaining state berth available for the rest of the league. Five of the ILH’s six Division I teams are ranked in the Top 10.

“Both of them have committed themselves to help the team in whatever way they can,” Hale said. “We have played some very good teams this preseason and both of them are willing to battle for rebounds and play tough defense even when they are a lot shorter than the competition. This kind of hustle has inspired and motivated the other players on the team to do the same.”

Hale’s even-keeled demeanor and the veteran experience of his staff go a long way — more so with a young squad.

“I think Coach Dan, he’s very intelligent. He knows what he’s doing. When he says something, I feel like you can see what type of person he is,” Sepulona said. “He doesn’t really scream and yell. He doesn’t want to scare us. His kindness, he’s soft-spoken, telling us when we have to do something right. Calm down.”

For now, there are simple goals, one day at a time. Posiulai, who considers cooking his hidden talent, enjoys making two dishes. One of them is chicken alfredo.

By chance, one of Sepulona’s favorite dishes to eat is chicken alfredo. One can cook. One can eat.

There is one ritual that remains consistent for Sepulona.

“I watch ‘Halloween’ the day before games. It unlocks my killer instinct. I mostly watch it by myself,” he said. “My mom probably gets mad at me for watching it.”

PUPUALII SEPULONA, JORDAN POSIULAI

Saint Louis basketball

On Saint Louis’ busy spring, summer and fall conditioning and training

Posiulai: “I think it’s because we all love this sport. That’s what we signed up to do when we tried out for the team.”

On defense:

Sepulona: “We’re not really big like last year or like Maryknoll and ‘Iolani, stacked and big. Our team is young and we have a lot of fresh legs. From our starters to the bench, when our name is called, we’re ready. We don’t get ready, We stay ready. Our ‘D’ is our bread and butter. I feel like we can stop any team in the state. Defense is going to be very important for us this year.”

Top 3 movies/shows

>> Sepulona: 1. “Halloween,” 2. “Transformers,” 3. “Rambo”

>> Posiulai: 1. “Django Unchained,” 2. “Friday,” 3. “Coach Carter”

Top 3 foods

>> Posiulai: 1. Li hing pineapple, 2. char siu ramen, 3. Arizona iced tea

>> Sepulona: 1. Steak, 2. chicken alfredo, 3. barbecue chicken (Bob’s Bar-B-Que)

Top homemade food

>> Sepulona: Corned beef, Spam, Vienna sausage with onions and rice.

>> Posiulai: Chicken alfredo, chicken curry and rice. “I learned to make chicken alfredo during COVID. It was hard making the sauce and using as few pans as I can so there’s less to clean. Now it takes me just 30 to 45 minutes. My mom likes it most of the time.”

Top 3 music artists

>> Posiulai: J Boog (“Let’s Do It Again”), Kendrick Lamar (“The Heart Part 5”), Brent Faiyaz (“Trust”)

>> Sepulona: Rod Wave (“Dark Conversations”), Fiji (“Anything You Want”), Lil Durk (“One Mo Chance”)

Favorite athlete

>> Sepulona: LeBron James

>> Posiulai: Steven Adams

Smartest teammate

>> Posiulai: Jiovanni Ramos

>> Sepulona: Jordan Posiulai

GPA

>> Sepulona: 4.0

>> Posiulai: 4.0

Favorite teacher

>> Sepulona: Ms. (Rachel) Shigeta. “She was my English teacher last year. She’s my advisory teacher this year. She’s always welcoming us 24/7 in her class during lunch break.”

>> Posiulai: Mr. (Ethan) Oki. “He teaches world history. A lot of his teaching comes through him talking. We actually have some fun in that class.”

New life skill:

>> Posiulai: Announcing/public speaking. “I just recently did a little bit of that at our Saint Louis D-II Holiday Classic. I was just announcing random stuff. One of our coaches asked me to do it.”

>> Sepulona: Cooking. “I can cook Spam. I can cook shrimp. I can cook eggs. I can cook chicken patties. Steak. Beef stew. My mom teaches me. When she’s not around, I have to cook.”

Time machine

>> Sepulona: “I would go back when Jesus was alive. Just seeing Jesus would be a big blessing for me, the best thing ever in my life.”

Bucket list

>> Posiulai: “Watch a Super Bowl, NBA Finals and World Cup final.”

>> Sepulona: “Jump out of a plane. I feel like skydiving is fun.”

Youth sports

Sepulona: Baseball, paddling, basketball.

Posiulai: Aikido, basketball, volleyball.

Shoutouts

>> Posiulai: “Shoutouts to my former coaches and teammates, as well as all of my friends at UH Lab and Saint Louis. P.S. Timmy Chang, take a look at our football phenom, Jordan Nunuha.”

>> Sepulona: “To my dad (Siona), mom (Valasi) and entire family for their love and support. To my coaches and trainers that helped me along the way.”