El Segundo Star at Home on the Court, Football Field, Diamond : Prep Sports: El Segundo’s Ken Talanoa will be playing his college football at Hawaii, but he’s busy with the Eagles in the basketball playoffs for now.

El Segundo High School senior Ken Talanoa, an All-Southern Section defensive end, signed a letter of intent Wednesday to play football for the University of Hawaii.

But that won’t distract him from the business at hand: leading the Eagles’ basketball team into the second round of the Southern Section 2-A Division playoffs Friday night against Crossroads at Santa Monica High School.

Talanoa, who is also an outfielder for El Segundo’s defending 2-A champion baseball team, has no problem focusing on goals. Intense competition is a way of life in the Talanoa family.

“This is my fifth year here,” El Segundo basketball Coach Rick Sabosky said. “It’s our fifth year going to the playoffs, and it’s no coincidence that this is also our fifth year with a Talanoa at center.”

Talanoa’s brother, Scott, was the Eagles’ most valuable player in basketball as a senior in 1988 and is now a first baseman for Cal State Long Beach.

“My brother always went right from football to basketball to baseball,” said Ken, who is averaging 13.5 points and 12.8 rebounds per game. “And now I guess I’m trying to live in his shoes.

“It’s hard, but actually I’m trying to be better than he was. He’s pushing me to be better than he was, too.”

“No matter where he is, the older brother makes a point to be at (Ken’s) games,” said the Talanoas’ father, Aiulu. “Right after the game, he will critique his younger brother’s performance. Win or lose, they always know they have each other to depend on, which is a good feeling.”

Aiulu Talanoa said his sons have different styles but similar attitudes in sports.

“They are different brands of players,” he said. “Scott may have been a bit more physical in basketball, for example. But they both have always gone out there with one purpose, and that’s to win.”

And the Eagles, who moved up to the basketball-tough Camino Real League from the relatively mild Santa Fe League for one season (they’ll join the San Fernando Valley League next season), have done a surprising amount of winning this year. They finished the regular season with a 13-13 overall record and a 7-7 league mark, good for fourth place among eight teams.

The Camino Real League includes basketball powerhouses St. Monica, which entered the season rated No. 1 in the state; St. Anthony, the No. 6-ranked team in the Southern Section 5-AA Division, and St. Bernard, a traditional power that produced current Arizona freshman center Ed Stokes.

El Segundo, with an enrollment of about 650 students, is the only public high school in the Camino Real League.

Many observers said the Eagles would be intimidated by the league’s well-established Catholic schools, which draw students from a wide geographic area.

The El Segundo players knew they faced a challenge, but Talanoa brought his teammates together for a motivational meeting before the start of league play.

“We talked about how everybody else

thought we couldn’t win,” recalled Talanoa, an all-Santa Fe League pick last year. “But we told ourselves that if we stayed together, we would do well in this league and show people.”

Indeed, it’s hard to imagine a team led by the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Talanoa being intimidated by anyone.

Nonetheless, that’s how the Eagles looked as they opened league play with double-digit losses to St. Bernard and St. Monica. Things changed for the better in a hurry, though. A 12-point El Segundo win over Pius X was followed by a major upset, 79-76, at St. Anthony on Jan. 12.

That victory highlighted an impressive six-game league winning streak. El Segundo’s top scorers, guard Scott Panfil (20 points per game) and forward Tate Seefried (16.7), each scored 24 points in the win over St. Anthony.

“That game was a true turning point,” said Talanoa, who contributed 10 points and 14 rebounds. “And ever since then, we’ve proved that we have the heart and the character to play anybody.”

Talanoa thinks facing stiff competition from teams in higher divisions all season will help in the playoffs. The Eagles drew a bye in the first round Tuesday.

“It’s going to help us a lot knowing that we can beat bigger schools in bigger divisions,” he said. “It should give us an edge because we know we just have to beat the ones at our level.”

Talanoa helped El Segundo to the Southern Section 2-AA quarterfinals a year ago, and he’s primed to top that accomplishment.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to win,” said Talanoa, who had a uncharacteristic 12-assist game earlier this season. “I’ll rebound, I’ll pass. If they need me to score, I’ll score. I’m just ready to go in there and do my business, get it done.”

Sabosky admires Talanoa’s blood-and-guts enthusiasm, although he said it must be tempered at times.

“He knows how to move bodies out there,” the coach said. “But sometimes I have to calm him down. The first couple of weeks after football season, he was just killing people in practice.”