The summer basketball season officially tipped off for Malibu High School last weekend as it hosted the third annual “Summer Shark Showdown,” a two-day, 16-team tournament. Saint Bonaventure defeated Camarillo in the championship game at the buzzer, 50-49, while Malibu went 1-3.
“We struggled, but the tournament was awesome otherwise,” Malibu Coach Bobby Tenorio said. “We had better talent than last year. We are starting to attract better competition. The boys get to play basketball and enjoy the beaches as well. It’s a good thing to have here in Malibu.”
Coming off the program’s first outright league title in school history and its first league championship since 2007, Malibu took the court for the first time this summer with several new players and in search of a team identity.
Junior center Justin Holmes, the 2012 Frontier League Most Valuable Player, began the summer where he left off by scoring the team’s first basket against Hueneme in the first round. Holmes finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds as the Sharks won, 57-51.
“Justin dominated like he did all last year,” Tenorio said. “He demands double teams so everyone else was getting open.”
Anthony Kodomichalos added 10 points and Marcelis Adriano chipped in with eight points and four steals.
Holmes, a six-foot-six, 230-pound center, did all he could in game two versus Santa Paula, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in a 52-46 defeat.
The next morning Holmes flew to New York to participate in a basketball camp at Columbia University. His absence was felt by the Sharks as they lost their final two games of the tournament to Venice and Channel Islands.
“Without Justin we are clearly a different team,” said Tenorio, who begins his fourth season at the helm for Malibu. “No one really knows their role yet. This summer will be a work in progress. We are working toward November, not [trying to win] right now. It’s going to be hard and we have to climb back up that mountain again.”
Senior Will Rosenthal stepped in for Holmes and did an admirable job in the center position, scoring 14 points and collecting eight rebounds against Channel Islands.
“Will did a good job,” Tenorio said. “He knows that he doesn’t want to go home and not be able to make the playoffs and not be able to compete in league. He knows how to win.”
Holmes averaged 18.2 points per game and 14.1 rebounds per game and had an amazing 20 double-doubles (double figures in points and rebounds in a game) out of a possible 26 contests as Malibu finished 18-8 this past season.
Rosenthal and the Sharks will have to adjust to life without Holmes for most of the summer as he travels across the country with his elite club team.
“I thought we played a lot better the first day with Justin. We weren’t really prepared without him,” Rosenthal said.
Graduating five seniors from last year’s undefeated league championship team also makes the summer that much more challenging.
“We need to focus on team chemistry,” Rosenthal said. “We lost five seniors who were insane and brought the team together. We need to build the team back up. I need to score a lot more this year and lead the team. As the captain, I will need to be more vocal and help this team build chemistry.”
Malibu will be playing in the Pacifica High School summer league on Wednesday evenings as well as attending the San Diego State team camp June 29 through July 1.
“This summer is all about chemistry and continuity,” Tenorio said. “I don’t care about winning but rather the competition and building friendships.”