After up-and-down season Indians got hot at right time | Boys basketball

In basketball there's talent, experience and hard work. For Renton senior guards Achoki Moikobu, Joseph Powell and Hanley Shum, it's the fusion of all three that has led to something special.

By Adam McFadden • March 11, 2010 1:29 pm

In basketball there’s talent, experience and hard work.

For Renton senior guards Achoki Moikobu, Joseph Powell and Hanley Shum, it’s the fusion of all three that has led to something special.

It hasn’t been a typical Renton basketball season. The team that is used to putting up dominant records and making state runs found itself with a 10-11 record moving into the playoffs.

“The big move for most of us was realizing that we can lose,” Powell said. “A lot of these players came into the season with the mentality that we’ve always won the Seamount and we’ve always had good records, so we were expecting it to be handed to us. After we lost some games. we got to the point where we had to win or our season was over and it actually clicked in that we had to really play.”

Since things clicked the Indians extended their season by winning four of five games in the bi-district tournament, good enough to move on to the state tournament. And that’s in large part due to the contributions of the three senior guards.

Moikobu leads the team in scoring this season at 13.6 points per game, Shum’s hot shooting has allowed the team to get out to quick starts in the playoffs, and Powell’s quickness has helped on both ends of the floor – not to mention his clutch scoring.

All three are friends off the court. Powell and Shum have played together since their freshman year; Moikobu joined the team his sophomore year.

“We’ve played with each other for so long we’ve got that chemistry,” Shum said. “Sometimes it’s like we can read each other’s minds with our cuts and passes.”

Trusting teammates is essential as the Indians navigate through the playoffs where every mistake is magnified and the margin of error is slim. The team’s five playoff games have been decided by an average of 3.4 points.

After missing state last season, the seniors weren’t about to let the team miss the tournament in back-to-back years for the first time since 2002-2003.

“I wanted to get back more than anything,” Moikobu said. “It was all I could think about. Once we got in, it’s like I can finally breathe.”