Maryknoll boys basketball wins revamped Tony Sellitto Hawai’i Invitational

BY MICHAEL LASQUERO | HSRN
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 22, 2024

Sharing is caring for the Maryknoll boys basketball team.

The Spartans assisted on 21 of their 29 made field goals to defeat Konawaena, 70-32, in the seventh annual Tony Sellitto Hawai’i Invitational at the Clarence T.C. Ching Gymnasium at the Maryknoll Community Center Saturday night.

The multi-day non-conference tournament is named after the coach that turned Maryknoll from a fledgling program in the mid-1960s into a perennial contender for two decades. Sellitto guided his teams to seven Interscholastic League of Honolulu AA titles, one state AA crown and three state A championships before leading Hawai’i Pacific to 12 winning season and a NAIA national championship in 1993.

The annual Sellitto Invitational began in 2015 before taking a hiatus for three years during the COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed in 2023 and is now under new leadership with tournament executive director Payton Grant and tournament director of marketing and corporate sponsorships Micah Tong, both former players of the program, along with athletic directors Ben Valle and Blaine Gier.

Presented by Hawai’i Pacific Health, the Invitational spanned five days and featured nine different boys teams and five girls teams. In addition to teams on Oahu, there was representatives from Hawai’i island, California, West Anchorage and British Columbia.

“I think it went well,” said Grant. “I was a little stressed out coming into the week. We have a lot of traveling teams, so wondering if they’ll actually get here in time. The biggest thing for us was catering to them, making Hawai’i feel like home and welcomed. I think we did a good job, our staff. Our ADs Ben Valle and Blaine Gier, they did a good job and then Micah Tong and Brandon Amano helped me a lot along with our boy’s varsity program.”

This was the first year that the boys’ side of the field employed a bracket-type format, although there were a few alterations to the matchups to prohibit teams from the same league playing each other.

Grant is hoping to build up the tournament into something bigger in the coming years. He added that he was pleased with all the teams competing until the final buzzer, no matter the score.

“We wanna grow into a bigger tournament and just be able to showcase Hawai’i basketball,” said Grant. “I’m hearing a lot of feedback from the visiting coaches asking if we’re having this tournament against next year. It’s been a blast.”

Nixis Yamauchi scored 14 points and had four assists to lead the Spartans over the Wildcats on Saturday and was named the Kawazoe Group Most Valuable Player.

“I feel accomplished of me and my team,” said Yamauchi. “Individually we were unselfish with the ball. We play very well together. We’re all pass first, but at the same time, very aggressive.”

2024 Tony Sellitto Hawai’i Invitational All-Tournament Team, presented by Kawazoe Group
Diego Ultreras, El Capitan
Kole Tanaka-Yee, North Torrance
Buob Marial, West Anchorage
Jayden Hough, Waiakea
Riley Miura, Mid-Pacific
Dylan Nonaka, Konawaena
Alex Martinez, Konawaena
Rome Lilio, Maryknoll
MVP: Nixis Yamauchi, Maryknoll