Monday Morning MIL: Seabury Hall boys basketball hopes big roster can reach new heights at state tournament

The Seabury Hall boys basketball team has been extremely close to its first Heide & Cook/HHSAA Division II state title for each of the last two seasons.

In the last two games they have played, the Spartans have vanquished the two teams that have taken them out of the last three state tournaments, beating Kohala 71-40 on Friday at the Erdman Athletic Center and Hawaii Baptist Academy 63-37 on Saturday.

Seabury Hall lost a heartbreaking 49-45 overtime decision to Kohala in the state championship game earlier this year. They also lost to Hawaii Baptist Academy 63-62 in the 2023 state quarterfinals — Seabury Hall won its next two games to finish fifth in the state — and also fell to the Eagles by 15 points in the state quarterfinals in 2022.

One game into the Maui Interscholastic League season, the Spartans are 8-1 so far overall this year, 1-0 in MIL play — their only loss was by nine points to Corona Santiago High School, a school of more than 3,700 students in Corona, Calif., that is ranked 11th in their state by MaxPreps.com.

“I feel like we’re heading in the right direction,” Seabury Hall coach Scott Prather said after the win over HBA on Saturday. “I’m not really happy with the way we played today just because we have a high standard of what I expect out of them.”

The Spartans’ 8-1 mark includes two wins over King Kekaulike and one over Maui High, both MIL Division I programs.

Prather clearly has high expectations for this version of the Spartans — they have three players listed at 6-foot-5 in Bromo Dorn, Keahi Sjostrand and Soren Moog, all seniors. Junior point guard Sebastian Peterson matched Dorn for game-high scoring honors on Saturday with 25 points.

“We’ve got some really good leadership this year, again,” Prather said. “We have some really talented offensive players, we have some really dedicated defensive players, but we’re still learning how to play with each other to the best of our abilities and to maximize each other’s skill sets. Like I said to the boys: ‘This is just one step in the right direction, we still have to take many more steps to be where we want to be.’ ”

Dorn was a first team Division II all-state selection by scoringlive.com last season and was the MIL D-II Player of the Year in voting by the league’s coaches. He is focused on a state title as a senior.

“As good as any team, as good as any team I’ve ever played for, man, I love my teammates, love my coaches,” Dorn said. “I mean, this is the team for sure.”

Dorn enjoys being part of a team that has 11 of 16 players on the roster listed at 6 feet or taller.

“It definitely helps a lot being on a team this big,” Dorn said. “It just like frees me up to play outside, too, and I can play inside. Rebounding is a lot easier, just being big, it helps a lot.”

Dorn, who is averaging 29.4 points per game according to scoringlive.com, remembers the 2024 state championship game and said it is fueling the Spartans this season.

“It’s driving us a lot, of course, we will never forget that, but just use it as fuel to push this year,” Dorn said. “Hopefully we get to the same position, but different result this time.”

Peterson said the veteran Spartans — there are six seniors on the roster and four starters are seniors — can be special this season. Their size is simply something that Peterson has never played with because Sjostrand and Dorn have each added a few inches in height since last season.

“I love it, it’s really easy to find open people, like when I’m driving in the paint it’s easy because I have shooters outside like Bromo and Keahi and then finding Soren in the post down low, it’s really easy to get buckets down there,” Peterson said. “We’re having so much fun. Practices are intense, too. Practicing hard in practice makes games way easier and more fun for us.”

While Dorn and Peterson both appear bound for college basketball, Sjostrand said this season will be his last on the basketball court.

“Every game we focus on energy and defense,” Sjostrand said. “As long as we’re playing defense, we believe we can score with anybody. We can score as much points as we need to win, but we just need to play defense and stop the other team.”

The question of who is the best team on Maui was discussed a lot among those in the gym on Saturday. 

The answer to that question and perhaps who will win the D-II state title may be the same answer — Seabury Hall. It’s definitely early, but the Spartans beat two of their nemeses in their last two games and perhaps exorcised some small demons in the process.

“That’s what we’re trying to be, but we can’t say until the end of the season, probably,” Sjostrand said of who’s the best team on Maui. “We know how hard we have to work, we know it’s going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice, but we’re willing to do it this year and we believe we have the team to do it.”

Seabury Hall certainly caught the eye of HBA coach Kellen Kaneshiro.

“They’re a very impressive team,” Kaneshiro said. “… Bromo is an unbelievable player and he was on our radar since he was a freshman. To see him grow and blossom into the player he is now is testament to how hard he has worked. I expect a lot of big things from not only him, but this team as well. Sebastian Peterson, great guard, great shooter, they have a lot of guys, not just those guys. … They’re going to do a lot.”

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VOLLEYBALL: Inoue’s remarkable career ends for Chaminade in NCAA second round

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King Kekaulike High School graduate Nanna Inoue’s stellar college volleyball career ended in Chaminade University’s four-set loss to San Francisco State in the second round of the NCAA Division II tournament on Friday in Pomona, Calif.

Inoue, the 2019 MIL Division I Player of the Year as a libero, started her career at Odessa Junior College in Texas during the pandemic and later played at Tyler Junior College in Texas. She did not intend to play college volleyball entering her senior season, but after graduating from King Kekaulike in three years, several college opportunities came her way. 

Inoue’s career ended for the 28-5 Silverswords on a night she had four assists and 19 digs. She was an Academic All-Pacific West Conference each of the last three years.

HJI’s “Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.