Reigning OIA West player of the year Joseph Gouty and the Mules will pay a visit to Jashon Carter and the Hurricanes Saturday night. ScoringLive photo illustration

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There is strength in numbers for the Leilehua boys basketball team.

Despite an offseason change in leadership, the Mules have lots of continuity heading into the Oahu Interscholastic Association regular season.

Russ Fitzgerald, a former head coach at Kailua and longtime Leilehua assistant, has taken over the reins of the program after its former coach, Pat Wetzel, stepped down after taking an administrative position at the school.

Wetzel, a vice principal, is now a volunteer assistant for the Mules, who have a slew of returning players from last year's Western Division runner-up team that finished fourth in the OIA tournament and qualified for the state tourney.

"We return so many guys but really not, because we lost a lot of depth and some of our nasty streak with some of the guys we lost last year, so we're still trying to find ourselves," Fitzgerald said. "We lost a bunch of seniors, even the seniors who were tough in practice but didn't get a lot of game time. They really made our starters tougher last year."

Leading the talented group of returnees is senior guard Joseph Gouty, last year's OIA West player of the year. He is averaging 15 points per game this year. Gouty netted a season-high 26 points against Punahou and 23 against Kamehameha.

"Everybody thinks of Joe as a scorer, a guy who will drive into the middle and get fouled, but I think he's really improved all around," Fitzgerald said.

Sophomore Liam Fitzgerald — the son of the coach — can play the shooting guard, small forward or power forward position for the Mules, who are ranked ninth in the Hawaiian Electric/ScoringLive Boys Basketball Power Rankings.

"At 6-5, Liam is tough to guard because he's tall like a post player in Hawaii, but growing up he would play on the perimeter, so he's comfortable there," the elder Fitzgerald said.

Seniors Koa Kauhi, Nicholas Duran, Anterrio Gainwell and Christian Alvarez will also play pivotal roles for Fitzgerald's bunch this year.

"Half of our team I've had as students or have right now," said Fitzgerald, a teacher at Leilehua. "We have a nice relationship with the kids. It's about honesty. I can tell them what they need to hear versus what they want to hear and the directive to me from my athletic director and principal was to make sure that we use basketball as a vehicle to teach these kids life lessons and how to grow and things like self sacrifice and time management."

The Mules (5-5) will face a tough test when they visit Kapolei in both teams regular-season opener Saturday.

Unlike Leilehua, the Hurricanes (6-4) will rely on their youth this season. Freshman Jashon Carter and sophomores Zoar Nedd and Isiah Higa are penciled in amongst the starting five. For now.

"One thing we learned from the preseason is that we're going to be a slow-paced team probably," Kapolei coach Gary Ellison said. "We're not going to be a run-and-gun team. The boys can run, but we're trying to slow down so we can learn as we go, especially with the number of young guys we'll be playing. We're still trying to get them to understand what we're trying to do."

The Hurricanes dropped three of their first four games of the year before winning five of their next six, including wins over Roosevelt, Kailua and Campbell. They fell two points shy against Maryknoll — the lone ranked opponent they have faced.

"We started off rough in the beginning but finished up strong," Ellison said. "The boys are getting better as we go. (Saturday) will be a huge test to see where we're at. With the preseason it's kind of hard to tell because we played so many guys, but we've whittled it down to hopefully a solid rotation."

Ellison said slowing down Gouty and Fitzgerald will be of utmost importance.

"It's going to be really hard matching up with them," Ellison said. "They're a really hard matchup. They've always got good post players and one thing I know about Leilehua is they're extremely disciplined — that's what makes them really good. They're well coached and well disciplined. We're going to do the best we can with what we have. I think the boys are ready for the challenge. They're really eager as we haven't played in a week and a half, so they're kind of hungry right now."

Tip off between the Mules and Hurricanes is scheduled for 7 p.m.