HONOLULU — JJ Mandaquit told himself it was just another game.
The former Iolani School standout helped powerhouse Utah Prep Academy roll to an 84-30 victory over the host Raiders in the quarterfinals of the 40th Iolani Prep Classic on Thursday night.
Mandaquit, a Hilo native, began attending Iolani from 6th grade and moved to the mainland in his sophomore season for larger hoops opportunities.
“It was great to play this school that I attended for four years. I played against a lot of my teammates and old classmates,” Mandaquit said. “I didn’t want to make it into a big thing for myself. The main thing was to go out there and win the game, and that’s what we did.”
[Note: See below for more photos of Utah Prep-Iolani.]
Utah Prep, a program with national title aspirations, advanced to face a fellow powerhouse in Oak Hill (Va.) at 6:30 p.m. in Friday’s semifinals. Brewster Academy (N.H.) takes on Veritas Academy (Calif.) at 8 in the other semi.
Iolani will challenge Imhotep Institute Charter High (Pa.) in the consolation semis at 3:30 p.m.
Mandaquit, a 6-foot-2 Washington signee and a U.S. junior national team regular, greeted his old Iolani coach, Ryan Hirata, with a hug during starting five introductions and in the postgame handshake line.
Hirata said afterward that Mandaquit, a physically transformed player from when he appeared in the Iolani Classic as a freshman, has put himself in position to be one of the best point guards in the country.
“Just really proud of his growth as a basketball player,” Hirata said. “Seeing him three years ago and seeing him now, totally different body. Really polished as a player. We couldn’t be more proud of him and the way he’s represented the state of Hawaii.”
Mandaquit was in pass-first mode much of the night; he had an alley-oop assist off the window to Anthony Felesi.
He did, however, get up for three dunks in the runaway second half in which Utah Prep outscored the hosts 44-11.
“I think it’s big credit to the crowd giving me a little extra adrenaline and allowing me to get up a little more than I usually do,” he said with a laugh.
Iolani hit some 3-pointers in the first quarter to get the crowd fired up and trailed by only six after eight minutes.
It was a three-point game, 19-16, after Raymon Teocson hit a triple early in the second quarter.
Hirata had some in-game goals he hoped his team would check off; the Raiders attained a few of them, like getting a stop on Utah Prep’s opening possession, not turning the ball over on their own first five possessions, and boxing out — at least while their legs held up against a team that took one stride for every two or three for the Raiders.
“Anytime you play in this event, you just want your kids to embrace that experience,” Hirata said. “I think they saw firsthand what high-level high school basketball looks like. We were very proud of the way we competed.”
There was no panic on the Utah Prep side as the Raiders showed up for a real game and not a dunk-off.
“We always say emotion can carry a team for the first quarter and a half,” Mandaquit said. “And it’s Iolani’s tournament, right? They practice in their gym all the time. So, of course the first couple shots is going to fall, but we weren’t ever worried. We just had to stick to our game plan, stick to what we know and we were going to be fine.”
Forward AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 player on the ESPN 100 class of 2025, threatened to hit his head on the rim a few times as he skied for stuffs, including a highlight-reel-quality under-both-legs slam. Felesi, a Laie native, put in a game-high 21 points on a series of breakaway dunks.
“Did what he’s supposed to do,” Dybantsa said of Mandaquit. “That’s how JJ play all the time.”
Iolani’s shifty senior guard Aidan Wong got to the free-throw line a few times and led the Raiders with 10 points.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.