The 6-foot-5 junior had double-doubles against Pahoa and Kohala on back-to-back nights. ScoringLive photo illustration

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Athlete of the Week: Valentinas Ulinas, Hawaii Prep boys basketball
The Hawaii Prep boys basketball team ran the table in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation this season, which culminated with a league championship last week.

Ka Makani have put together a perfect 14-0 record in BIIF play — which includes the league's D1 teams — and a big part of their success has been the play of junior forward Valetinas Ulinas. The 6-foot-4 native of Lithuania turned up the production in a pair of playoff games against Pahoa and Kohala at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo.

Ulinas recorded back-to-back double-double performances to help HPA to its second straight BIIF D2 title.

He scored 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting with 10 rebounds, one block and a steal in 20 minutes of game time in Tuesday's 55-33 semifinal win over the Daggers. In 25 minutes of action in Tuesday's 78-58 win over Kohala in the championship game, Ulinas shot 12-of-19 from the field and scored 26 points with 13 boards, two blocks, two steals and an assist.

"When he's locked in and really aware he's been productive and I think definitely the playoffs had his attention last week," HPA coach Fred Wawner said. "He did a good job of taking care of the little things we've been working on, like sprinting the floor, establishing a defensive presence first and then on offense and it's carried through in the playoffs."

Wawner said that his emphasis for Ulinas this year has been improving his work on the defensive end of the floor.

"I think he's got a lot of skills, but he's still a work in progress, trying to understand the team concept and just some of the defensive and offensive concepts. Individually he's very skilled, we want to blend that into our framework and it's not that he's selfish. I think that's kind of just how he sees the game, so that's his biggest growth point," Wawner said.

Ulinas, who ran cross country for the first time during the fall season, has been working to improve his back-to-the-basket game, Wawner added.

"He's pretty efficient in terms of how he carries himself on the offensive end. He's patient and he has a nice package around the rim in terms of post moves, but he's more comfortable playing face-up to the basket and putting it on the floor, so I'm asking him to change his game a little bit and be more of a post presence," Wawner said. "I think his comfort level is out near the 3-point line, so we're trying to mix his skills and what we try to do. His future is probably on the wing because he can handle it a little bit and he can shoot it a little bit, but he's done a lot of good for us around the rim."

Wawner said that Ulinas tends to play aggressive defensely — which has led to foul trouble in prior games this season — but he fared better last week.

"I think he had some good stretches in those two games where he stayed on the floor because he did the little things on defense," Wawner said. "We like to play half-court man-to-man and get pretty dug in, try to take away the paint and so obviously our big kids are important as far as protecting the rim and supporting against the dribble-drive and he's continuing to grow in that area."

Off the court, Ulinas has assimilated rather quickly to the Big Island in his first year on the Kamuela campus.

"We're an international boarding school with kids from 28 countries, so he's pretty comfortable and happy in our international setting with kids from all over the world," Wawner said. "He's a pretty happy kid, who is happy to be here and certainly Hawaii has pretty amazing gifts that he's never seen before as far as the outdoors and just the people and the culture, so he's got wide eyes and is excited, but he's a very focused kid in terms of basketball; that's his passion. He carries a basketball around with him most of the time. He's a harding working student who wants to take advantage of what HPA and Hawaii has to offer."

HPA will be making its second trip to Oahu this season for this week's state tournament, which gets underway Thursday. The last time it was here, it went 1-3 in the prestigious Iolani Classic, including a 98-32 drubbing at the hands of Los Angeles-area powerhouse Sierra Canyon. Ulinas scored 10 points in the loss to the Trailblazers, but rebounded with a 24-point effort the next day in a five-point loss to eventual-OIA Division I champion Moanalua.

Wawner said the opportunity to play against top-tier competition in the preseason has already paid off for his team.

"We got the brakes beat off of us once or twice over there, but the experience was invaluable. Not just on the basketball court, but having to have some resolve from playing the night before and getting beat and playing good teams every day was very good for us. I left there feeling very good about our group in terms of our toughness and resolves and I think we actually did some things in stretches of those games that I didn't think we were capable of, so it's already paid some dividends because our league schedule is hard and our guys only have a positive mindset about that experience, which is kind of cool based on that we took our lumps over there."

Ulinas and Ka Makani are seeded third in the D2 bracket and play ILH runner-up University Lab in Thursday's quarterfinal round.

"University will be a big challenge for us and the next game is the most important, so we haven't looked at anything beyond just being really locked in on Thursday night against University," Wawner said. "We've got a good group of kids that really likes playing together and though they've been playing together for a while, we're still relatively young, but we're excited about the opportunity to get over there and see what we can do."

Tip off between HPA and UH Lab is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Saint Francis and will be followed by a 7 p.m. quarterfinal between Kauai and second-seeded Farrington.

In the top half of the bracket, Kaiser will take on fourth-seeded Seabury Hall at 5 p.m. and Kohala will meet the tournament's top seed, Damien, at 7 p.m. Those games will be played at Kalani's Earl C. Holmer Gymnasium.

BOYS BASKETBALL
Kaukahi Alameda, Hilo — Scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in a loss to Waiakea

Kiai Apele, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored 17 points with 10 assists, eight rebounds and two blocks in a win over Kamehameha-Hawaii and scored 21 points with 11 rebounds, 10 assists and three steals in a win over Hilo

Kaimana Baker, St. Anthony — Scored 23 points in a loss to Haleakala Waldorf

Ja'Shon Carter, Kapolei — Scored 26 points, including 14-of-18 shooting on free throws, in a win over Kahuku

O'Shen Cazimero, Kohala — Scored 26 points with five rebounds, two steals and an assist in a win over Honokaa and scored 23 points with five rebounds, four steals, two assists and a block in a loss to Hawaii Prep

Mochi Dukelow, Baldwin — Scored 17 points in a win over Maui

Ethan Erickson, Kahuku — Scored 29 points in a loss to Kapolei

Leif Fautanu, University Lab — Scored 21 points with 14 rebounds and a block in a win over Le Jardin

Connor Fernandez, Haleakala Waldorf — Scored 18 points in a win over St. Anthony

Aaron Hirahara, Punahou II — Scored 17 points in a win over Iolani II

Keoki Hoopai-Waikaloa, Hana — Scored 26 points in a loss to Molokai

Isaiah Hopson, Kailua — Scored 19 points with 10 rebounds, two steals and an assist in a loss to Moanalua

Michael Hughes, Hawaii Prep — Scored 16 points with 12 rebounds, five assist, two blocks and a steal in a win over Kohala

Kama Konohia, Seabury Hall — Scored 23 points in a win over Molokai and scored 17 points in a win over Seabury Hall

Deven Latimer II, Le Jardin — Scored 17 points in a win over Christian Academy

Darius Lauture, Kekaulike — Scored 21 points in a loss to Lahainaluna

Isaiah Lee, Kalani — Scored 19 points in a loss to Kalaheo

Kawika Lee, Iolani — Scored 24 points with six rebounds and a steal in a win over Saint Francis

Raefe McEnroe, Farrington — Scored 18 points with 13 rebounds in a win over Kaiser

Kameron Ng, Saint Francis — Scored 29 points with four rebounds and a steal in a win over Iolani and scored 22 points with three rebounds and a steal in a loss to Iolani

Rayson Padilla, Hilo — Scored 25 points with three steals, two assists and a rebound in a win over Konawaena

Reese Pascua, Lahainaluna — Scored 20 points in a win over Kekaulike

Noah Payne, Seabury Hall — Scored 18 points in a win over Lanai

Jerek Prudencio, Waiakea — Scored 19 points with five rebounds, four assists and a steal in a win over Kamehameha-Hawaii

Geremy Robinson, Moanalua — Scored 25 points in a win over Kahuku

Kui Ross, Baldwin — Scored 17 points in a win over Maui

Isaiah Sugiura, Moanalua — Scored 15 points with three rebounds, one assist, one steal and a block in a win over Kailua

Peter Suiaunoa, Waiakea — Scored 11 points with 10 rebounds in a win over Kamehameha-Hawaii

Everett Torres-Kahapea, Kailua — Scored 21 points, including 13-of-16 shooting on free throws, in a win over Kapolei and scored 20 points with three assists, two rebounds and a steal in a loss to Moanalua

Max Wiemken, Hawaii Baptist — Scored 20 points with 11 rebounds, two blocks, one steal and an assist in a win over Hanalani