By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Jason Capel was the tournament's outstanding player.
But after demolishing Provo, Utah, 80-39, before a packed house in the title game of the Iolani Prep Classic, the Maryland-based team discovered it had been dropped to No. 7 in the USA Today Super 25 national poll.
Dominguez of Compton, Calif., fell from the No. 1 spot all the way to No. 6 after being upset in the Reebok Holiday Classic in Las Vegas by this week's No. 5 team, West End of Birmingham, Ala.
The victory was the 18th in a row for St. John's over two seasons. The team is 8-0 this year.
Provo head coach Craig Drury, whose team upset then-No. 14 St. Joseph (Alameda, Calif.), 86-78, in overtime on Saturday night (a loss that dropped St. Joseph to No. 21 this week) to reach the Iolani championship game, said St. John's played its role to perfection.
"They just outexecuted us in every way," Drury said. "They're a complete ballclub."
Drury watched St. John's race out to a 21-4 first-quarter lead as 6-foot-8 junior Jason Capel, the classic's most valuable player, scored 10 of his game-high 30 points, grabbed three rebounds, blocked a shot and made a steal.
After St. John's scored the game's first 11 points, Provo called a timeout. The total frustration of the Utah players at even that early juncture was represented by point guard Jeremy Frampton, who pounded loudly on the bleachers with his fist.
Frampton had been the hero of Provo's semifinal upset win over St. Joseph as he scored 11 of his 27 points in overtime.
Provo came out of the huddle more determined, but there was no stopping Capel, who added nine points in the second quarter and staked St. John's to an insurmountable 41-14 halftime lead.
"We played as good a first half as we could play," St. John's head coach Stu Vetter said. "We were extremely intense defensively and took them out of their game completely."
Capel, the son of Old Dominion head coach Jeff Capel and brother of Duke star Jeff Capel Jr., played all five positions.
Sporting a tattoo of a black panther with a basketball in its claws on his left arm, the player named the nation's top sophomore last season had three blocks, 10 rebounds, six steals and two assists.
"He has the potential to be one of the best players we've ever had," said Vetter, who also has Dennis Scott, George Lynch and Randolph Childress.
In four Iolani Classic games, Capel averaged 27.5 points.
Where would he like to go to college?
"It's wide-open, but Old Dominion is where I'm leaning," he said.
Spain's 6-8 export, Antxon Iturbe, the brother of Clemson center Iker Iturbe, scored 14 points for St. John's while 6-7 sophomore Damien Wilkins added 12.
St. John's big playmakers were Sherrod Teasley with 10 assists and Shike Lee with eight.
Brigham Young recruit Mekeli Wesley led Provo with 15 points - 13 in the second half.
NOTES: Wilkins, the son of the Orlando Magic's Gerald Wilkins and nephew of San Antonio Spurs' Dominique Wilkins, said he talks to his father often during the NBA season. He said he tried to talk to him before the Provo game. "But he was at shoot-around preparing for the game with Cleveland."
St. Joseph head coach Frank LaPorte, who is battling pancreatic cancer, took his players to Pauoa to give a free clinic on Saturday to about 200 children.
LaPorte, who coached NBA star Jason Kidd as a prep player, raffled off 10 certificates for Jason Kidd basketball shoes, each worth $110.
LaPorte's third-place-game victory over Fairfax was the 715th of his career.
Deondre Carter, a 6-9 Fairfax High (L.A.) junior, is deaf and he plays with the help of quick and agile interpreter Vickie Josefsberg. The 37-year-old Josefsberg must move all over the sidelines to relay instructions to Carter from the Fairfax coaches in sign language.
"I once got a technical called on the team because the refs didn't know what I was doing with my hands," she said.