When is a loss a good loss? Possible when it happens in the league opener, with a young team that will only learn from the experience, improve and get better. That was the assessment of Punahou boys coach Darren Matsuda, after his No. 1-ranked Buffanblu rallied but fell to No. 9 Mid-Pacific 56-54 Wednesday night at Mills Gym on the Mid-Pacific campus. “Losing right now is not necessarily a bad thing,” Matsuda said. “I think it’s a good thing actually. […]

One by one they waited. Friends, classmates, even former teammates all lined up — long after the senior night festivities had ended at Mid-Pacific gym on Tuesday — to present a lei and share a special embrace with a friend who’s enduring a trying time. Mid-Pacific senior basketball player Ben Swanson returned from Minnesota to be on the bench one last time and share the experience of senior night with his Owls teammates. His father, Brad, who is fighting an […]

Tuesday will be more than just a game for the Mid-Pacific boys basketball team. Much much more. It’ll be senior aloha night, sure, but what will make this game special, meaningful and emotional will be the return of a player who saw the lives of his family, especially his father, get turned cruelly upside down and inside out in just a few short months. Senior Ben Swanson will fly back from Minnesota to participate in the 5 p.m. game at […]