Kinnick senior center Isaiah Kimbrough averaged 27.2 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game. (Jeunei Bodnar/Special to Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan – What a whirlwind pair of basketball seasons it’s been for Isaiah Kimbrough.
The Nile C. Kinnick senior center has been a central part of the Red Devils’ success the last two seasons. Two of Kinnick’s three consecutive Far East Division I Tournament titles. Back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards.
He even got featured in late January on ESPN’s Top 10 plays on Jan. 28. And in the D-I championship game, life imitated art, as Kimbrough scored the winning points in overtime and blocked a potential game-tying field goal as the buzzer sounded.
Was Kimbrough expecting any of it when he first transferred to Yokosuka from Hawaii?
“Not at all,” said Kimbrough, subdued and quiet, during an interview last month. “I just came here to try to fit in and help out an already championship team. Help with the winning.”
Over time, Kimbrough became the go-to player, the one his teammates counted on to deliver when things got tough. And Kimbrough delivered.
He averaged 27.2 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game, and shot 42 percent from three-point field-goal range. The Red Devils went 24-3 and beat St. Mary’s – their D-I finals foe for the second straight year – 47-44 in extra time.
For all that, Kimbrough has repeated as Stars and Stripes Pacific basketball Athlete of the Year. He edged out Casey Stewart, MVP of the Far East Division II Tournament, which Zama won for the second straight season.
Though the spotlight shone on him, Kimbrough is quick to credit his teammates, including guard Kai Eccelston and 6-foot-6 forward Jesse Brooks, each named All-Tournament, among others for Kinnick’s success.
“This one was more special,” Kimbrough said of his two title seasons. “This was a rebuild, a lot of players up from junior varsity. Individual had roles on this team and they executed them well.”
Kinnick won 89 percent of its games this season. But it was three losses – one against Zama, another against St. Mary’s – that included some lessons for the chastened Red Devils.
“We learned that we have to work harder, stay disciplined and play our game,” he said. Kinnick’s only other loss came in the American School In Japan Kanto Classic two weeks before the D-I tournament.
That was perhaps their most difficult game, a 57-55 loss to Kadena in the Kanto Classic semifinals. “That was probably the hardest team,” Kimbrough said.
And of course, entering the D-I tournament, “there was a lot of pressure,” he said. “Being that leader, being the person to bring everybody together, making sure the bench was engaged. We were all still one team.”
One constant with any Kinnick team coached by Robert Stovall – in his 14th season at the Red Devils’ helm – are two questions he asks after each game: 1) Are you proud of the way you played? and 2) Did you play as hard as you could?
“That’s hard to do for three days,” Kimbrough said. “We were worried a little. You know they (St. Mary’s) are going to compete until the last second. We can’t go basket-for-basket with them.”
When Kimbrough made that block of a three-point shot attempt on the final play against St. Mary’s Ren Nishioka, it triggered a celebration at the Red Devils’ end of the court, a mob of spectators at Kinnick’s home gym mobbing the players.
“When I made the block, saw the ball hit the floor and the buzzer went off … the longest 1.5 seconds of my career,” he said. “It felt great.”
Age: 17.
Place of birth: Jacksonville, Fla.
Sports he’s played: Basketball, track and field.
Sports he enjoys watching: College basketball.
Favorite athlete: LeBron James.
Favorite school subject: Business.
Least favorite subject: English.
Favorite forms of entertainment: Action movies, R&B music.
Favorite performer: Tyler the Creator.
