Monday Morning MIL: Baldwin boys basketball relies on family feeling for success

There is a family feeling surrounding the Baldwin High School boys basketball team — it starts with seniors Evan Manarpaac and Dylan Kuia and finishes with a veteran coaching staff led by Cody Tesoro.

The Bears have ridden that family atmosphere to a 7-0 start in the Maui Interscholastic League Division I regular season and are on the brink of clinching their sixth berth in the last seven state tournaments.

With wins in their next two games — at Maui High on Tuesday and hosting King Kekaulike on Jan. 13 — Baldwin would clinch the MIL regular-season title at the state berth that goes with it. 

The 12-game regular season ends Jan. 29 and the MIL tournament semifinals and final will be held at Baldwin’s Jon Garcia Gymnasium Feb. 2-3. An overall MIL championship or second-place playoff game for the final state tournament berth, if either is necessary, would be held Feb. 4.

Baldwin owns four of the last five MIL titles and has dominated the league this season, winning its seven games by an average of 20.7 points per game. The Bears are 10-5 overall — two of their non-league losses have been to Kailua, ranked second in the state in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser statewide poll, and to Bonita, Calif., by just three points each time.

“This team is special,” Tesoro said at practice Friday. “And yes, I’m talking about the basketball side of things, but they actually care about each other. They genuinely like each other, are hanging out with each other outside of basketball, and I think that plays a big part on why they’ve been fairly successful.”

Baldwin’s two unquestioned leaders are team captains — Manarpaac and Kuia — who have been playing basketball together since their days at ‘Īao Intermediate School. 

They both play for the Maui Lani Cane Fire club team coached by Jerry Manarpaac, Evan’s father, who is also on the Baldwin coaching staff along with 22-year-old Jerren Manarpaac, Evan’s older bother who graduated from the school in 2021. His younger brothers are also up-and-coming players — Jeremiah Manarpaac Jr. is a sophomore on the Baldwin roster and Ezekiel Marpaac, the youngest brother, is currently a 7th-grader at ‘Īao Intermediate School..

Evan Manarpaac is the team’s 5-foot-11 point guard and Kuia is the team’s tallest player at 6-3. Both said they can anticipate what the other is thinking on the court.

“Oh, playing with Dylan is great, bro,” Manarpaac said of Kuia. “Having someone that can get to the rim anytime he wants and just always picking up rebounds and stuff is great. Been playing with him since middle school days, so it’s always cool playing with Dylan.”

Kuia said his chemistry with Manarpaac is something that makes him better.

“The guy is so good,” Kuia said of Manarpaac. “He can see the court anywhere. Like, I could be running, I could not even see him, and then the ball’s coming right to my face already. His court vision is amazing, his IQ, his shot selection, it’s just all so good. We started playing together since sixth grade, so we know each other pretty good.”

Kuia and Manarpaac are both averaging 13.8 points per game over their last 10 games. Kuia has scored 23 points in a game twice, against King Kekaulike on Nov. 25 and Lahainaluna on Dec. 9. Manarpaac scored 20 points in the Nov. 25 game against King Kekaulike and has scored in double figures in nine of their last 10 games.

Manarpaac said that while his older bother by blood is on the coaching staff his basketball brother is Kuia.

“Dylan is like another one of my brothers,” Manarpaac said. “I met Dylan in the sixth grade, and then me and him, we’re always in the same friend group. So, yeah, me and him are basically best friends, like brothers.”

Evan Manarpaac also enjoys having his father and brother on the coaching staff and younger brother on the roster. 

“It’s super cool having a competitive family spirit,” Evan Manarpaac said. “Basketball is what we always go to when we want to have a family talk.”

Tesoro said the Maui Lani Cane Fire is the club team where most of the Bears play in the high school offseason. Tesoro’s father Ed Tesoro and 2005 Baldwin classmates Donnie Dadiz and Trenson Himalaya are all on the coaching staff as well. Greg Heyd, who had two sons play for Baldwin, is also on the coaching staff.

Cody Tesoro stepped away from the Bears for a season two years ago when his youngest daughter Teya was born with complications at birth, but she is now a healthy, rambunctious 2-year-old. Older sister Shay, 5, and mom Kai are always at Baldwin games along with Teya. 

Jordan Helle stepped in to be the Bears’ head coach for the 2023-24 season when Tesoro stepped away and led them to an MIL championship.

“When you come to Baldwin it’s really family oriented,” Cody Tesoro said. “And we pride ourselves on that.”

“Monday Morning Maui Sports” 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.