It's been quite the turnaround for Raymon Teocson and the Iolani Raiders boys basketball team. 

After posting back-to-back three-win seasons the last two years, Iolani is in the midst of a resurgence on the hardwood this winter. The Raiders finished the first round of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu schedule with an 8-4 record, good enough for third place behind Punahou (10-2) and Saint Louis (9-3). 

The play of Teocson, a junior guard and second-year starter, has been one of the primary factors in the rejuvenation surrounding the Raiders. 

Teocson is averaging 12.3 points per game in ILH play — second most on the team behind Declan Beckette's 17.3-points per game average — but his value goes far beyond just the numbers, Iolani coach Ryan Hirata says. 

"He's the type of player that raises the play of everybody around him. In coaches' terms, he's a gamer," Hirata said. 

While Teocson stands 5 feet, 10 inches tall, Hirata estimates that he is "maybe 130 (pounds), 135."

Hirata describes him as "frail," but Teocson certainly does not lack for grit. In fact, as a sophomore last year, Teocson earned the title of ‘dawg captain.'

"Our definition of ‘dawg' is somebody that comes out every day, works extremely hard, provides the energy, provides the spark, just does all the little things — fights for the 50-50 balls, rebounding, attacking — he just has that mentality; He's our chief energy officer," Hirata said. 

Playing with urgency and tenacity has been a trademark of Teocson, not just in games, but also in practices. 

"He's always been willing to do whatever our team needs first. He was always willing to sacrifice his body for the team. There's times in games and practices that he's just exhausted, but he'll push through and that's something that, for the team, just gives them that extra motivation to get everybody on the same page and aim for one goal and I think that's why our team has earned that kind of success that we've had this year is because of that mentality," Hirata said. 

Teocson recorded five games where he scored in double figures a year ago, including a season-high 15 points against Maryknoll in the final stretch of the ILH season, but he averaged a modest 6.6 points per game in league play that year. Teocson ranked fourth on the team in scoring average, but has shown a jump in production as a junior this year. He has scored in double figures in eight of his team's 12 league games, including a string of six straight games with at least 10 points. 

"I think he is one of those undercover players that sometimes you take lightly or for granted and then all of a sudden, after five minutes of watching him play, you're going, ‘holy man, this guy can play,' and I think he's always been kind of an underdog. He's not the biggest, he's not the fastest, he's not the most athletic, but he makes up for it because of his heart and I think that's one of the biggest attributes you look for as a coach is how big of a heart does your player have and he's got the heart of a lion," Hirata said. 

While Teocson's role for the Raiders has grown over the course of his two years with the team, his ego has not. Hirata points out that Teocson has shown the willingness to take on tasks that sometimes gets overlooked by others. 

"As a sophomore last year it was his first year playing varsity basketball and he took on a lot of our defensive assignments on the other team's top guards and in some instances just top overall player. He was kind of a secondary scorer last year — off the ball, hit an open jumper, drive it a little bit, score it a little bit — but this year he's really taken on a little bit more of a scoring role for us to keep the defense honest. He's been a lot more aggressive to the rim and he's really kind of expanded his game at all three levels, from the 3-point line, midrange and at the basket," Hirata said. 

Teocson had arguably his best offensive game last week, when he scored a career-high 24 points to help Iolani pull out a 71-68 win over Kamehameha in overtime. 

"He had a great game for us, hit some big shots," Hirata said. "He was attacking with aggressiveness. He took it upon himself because all of the rest of our guys were being guarded pretty tightly and he took what the defense gave him."

Iolani trailed 52-40 after three quarters, but stormed back in the fourth quarter, when it outscored Kamehameha 23-11 to force overtime. Declan Beckette scored all of his game-high 25 points after halftime. 

"It was an amazing team effort to come back from down 14 (points). We had guys like Ayden (Goo) hitting a big time 3 to put us up three in overtime and then grabbing an offensive rebound to put us up five before he fouled out. Our bigs, Ambrose Smith and Carter Holden held down the fort in the paint. We were dependent on Noah Singer and Kahua Benton at the guard positions to take care of the ball for us and our bench provided us with much needed energy, so it was a team effort to handle that adversity, especially on senior night against a good Kamehameha team that shot the ball extremely well," Hirata expressed. 

Two days after the win over the Warriors, Iolani held off a pesky Mid-Pacific team for a down-to-the-wire 56-55 win last Saturday. Teocson led the Raiders in scoring with 17 points, including a pair of 3-pointers and a 5-for-5 night at the free-throw line. 

"He hit two go-ahead shots in the final minute of the game to get us over the hump," Hirata recalled. 

Hirata described the type of mental toughness that Teocson has displayed in his time with the varsity squad. Despite his rugged and relentless style of play, Teocson has managed to stay healthy — bumps and bruises notwithstanding. 

"I just think that's how he's built. He's always been the underdog and his mentality just carries a lot of weight that mentally pushes him to be tougher physically and that's one thing that we always say is, physically you're going to wear down throughout the season, but mentally you've got to always be there and I think that carries him, his mentality from inside out. He's just a tough kid and he always wants to do the best he can for the team," Hirata said. 

Teocson, along with Beckette and Goo, make up what Hirata calls a "three-headed monster" that has helped carry the Raiders this year. Part of the synergy can be traced to a familiarity that the triumvirate have with one another.

"They've played with each other now the past two years and Declan, Ray and Micah Lile won an ILH championship in intermediate together as eighth graders and so that championship pedigree moved up with them to our varsity 1 level, but as far as Ayden, Declan and Ray, you couldn't ask for a better combination than that. They work well together on the defensive end, offensively they know each other's game so when one is open, they'll find the open guy and I'm proud of all three of them for the growth that we've seen in them on and off the court," Hirata said. 

While Teocson — who also plays volleyball for Iolani during the spring sports season — is all business on the court, he doesn't take himself too seriously off of it. 

"He's a pretty calm, cool and collected character off the court — never too high or too low — and he's an undercover funny guy, too," Hirata said. 

"He's always smiling, which, I think, is one of his biggest attributes is he has fun playing the game of basketball. To him, diving on the floor for a ball, defending the other team's best player, boxing out, being Johnny-on-the-spot for a rebound under the basket and getting his teammates involved with the energy and effort, that's all fun for him and I think that's why he enjoys being in that role of being a dawg and that's something that spreads and is an example to our team this year," Hirata added. 

Iolani has recorded two separate four-game winning streak in the ultra-rigorous ILH this year. It's only losses in league play have come against Punahou — twice, by a combined nine points — and against reigning four-time ILH champion Saint Louis. 

"I'm extremely proud of the team effort and the buy in from this group and it's just been a joy to coach these guys this year and to see them smile and enjoy the game, win some close ones and finish with eight wins in the regular season after we had three wins the last two years. Everyone has contributed and I think Ray would say the same. It's been a total team effort at the end of the day and it's really nice to see out of this team to set the cultural foundation for our entire basketball program," Hirata said. 

Both the Buffanblu and Crusaders have cemented their spots in the upcoming state tournament. 

Hirata's squad is seeded third in the ILH second round (single-elimination tournament) that gets underway next week. 

Teocson and the Raiders have a double-bye and will host a to-be-determined opponent on Wednesday, 6 p.m. at the Iolani lower gym. The winner of that game will clinch the ILH's third and final berth into the Hawaii Army National Guard/HHSAA Division I State Championships in two weeks. 

BOYS BASKETBALL 

Xavier Abair, Laupahoehoe — Scored 22 points in a win over Christian Liberty 

Declan Beckette, Iolani — Scored 25 points in a win over Kamehameha 

Isaiah Brooks, Christian Liberty — Scored 21 points in a loss to Laupahoehoe

Kyran Canete, Pahoa — Scored 30 points in a win over Honokaa 

Darius Chizer, Mid-Pacific — Scored 24 points in a loss to Iolani 

Talon Ea, Waipahu — Scored 20 points in a loss to Kaimuki 

Hilton Edward, Kaimuki — Scored 20 points in a win over Pearl City 

Hailey Fernandez, Iolani — Scored 17 points in a loss to Kamehameha 

Kawohi Huihui, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored 30 points in a win over Waiakea 

Garrick Imamura, Kalani — Scored 26 points in a win over Aiea 

CJ Jenkins, Kapaa — Scored 21 points in a win over Waimea and scored 23 points in a win over Island School 

Xarren Jose, Hilo — Scored 20 points in a win over Waiakea 

Layden Kauka, Kohala — Scored 42 points in a win over Hawaii Prep, scored 30 points with 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals in a win over Kealakehe and scored 38 points with six rebounds, six steals and five assists in a win over Pahoa 

Hayden Manuel, Kapaa — Scored 21 points in a win over Waimea 

Todd McKinney, University Lab — Scored 20 points in a loss to Punahou 

Ronin Naihe, Kahuku — Scored 28 points with 11 rebounds in a win over Moanalua 

Sebastian Peterson, Seabury Hall — Scored 20 points in a win over Kulanihakoi and scored 29 points in a win over Maui Prep 

Hayden Phillips, Kihei Charter — Scored 24 points in a win over Maui Prep 

Beckson Pierce, Le Jardin — Scored 21 points in a win over Island Pacific 

Shyne Salvador, Kamehameha — Scored 26 points in a loss to Iolani 

Tanoa Scanlan, Punahou — Scored 28 points in a win over Kamehameha

Kingdon Simmons, Hawaii Prep — Scored 29 points in a loss to Honokaa 

Kolten Tabuyo-Kahele, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored 20 points in a win over Kealakehe 

Kukia Tagabi, Honokaa — Scored 29 points in a loss to Pahoa 

Tui Tukimaka, Mililani — Scored 25 points in a win over Leilehua 

Yoshua Vernes, Hanalani — Scored 24 points in a loss to Hawaii Baptist 

Lawaia Walsh, Kulanihakoi — Scored 21 points in a loss to Seabury Hall 

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Brooklyn Barrett, Le Jardin — Scored 26 points in a win over St. Andrew's

Shailan Benevides, Kamehameha-Hawaii — Scored 18 points in a win over Kau 

Liliana Brandt, Punahou II — Scored 17 points in a win over Iolani II 

Bryia Carenio, Waiakea — Scored 29 points in a win over Honokaa 

Nihoa Dunn, Kamehameha — Scored 20 points with 14 rebonds, three blocks and two assists in a win over Iolani and scored 30 points in a win over Punahou 

Remedy Gonzalez, Pahoa — Scored 25 points in a win over Kohala 

Pua Herrington, Maryknoll — Scored 22 points in a win over Iolani 

Rayne Mershon, Leilehua — Scored 24 points in a win over Roosevelt 

Sophia Moniz, Pahoa — Scored 17 points in a win over Kohala 

Angel Stephenson, Kalani — Scored 10 points with 12 rebounds in a win over Radford 

Shantay Stroman, Radford — Scored 20 points in a win over Kahuku 

Ava Tabucbuc, Honokaa — Scored 25 points in a win over Hawaii Prep 

Serenity Tacgere, Moanalua — Scored 24 points in a win over Leilehua 

Riya Tobosa, Pearl City — Scored 19 points in a win over Waianae 

Ahnastaziah Wright, Punahou — Scored 22 points in a loss to Kamehameha 

BOYS SOCCER

Keiren Bunyan-Tammens, Kailua — Scored two goals in a win over Pearl City 

Aziz Camerrer, Kamehahmeha — Scored the lone goal in a win over Punahou 

Cedric Crampton-Nabaa, Waimea — Scored two goals in a win over Kauai 

Isaac Davies, Kaiser — Scored two goals in a win over Aiea 

Elijah Hernandez, Castle — Scored three goals in a win over Moanalua 

Paul Horcajo, Kahuku — Scored two goals in a win over Waipahu 

Josiah Ishizaka, Mililani — Scored a goal and assisted on another in a win over Kalani 

Justin Katayama, Castle — Scored a goal and assisted on two others in a win over Moanalua 

Keanu Keomaka, Moanalua — Scored two goals in a win over Radford 

Toranosuke Kikuchi, Kalani — Scored two goals in a win over Campbell 

Makakoa Leapaga, Waianae — Scored the lone goal in a win over McKinley 

Devin Lee, Iolani — Scored a goal and assisted on another in a win over Punahou 

Rider Macmillan, Castle — Scored two goals and assisted on another in a win over Moanalua 

Kahu Pali, Molokai — Scored two goals in a win over Kulanihakoi

Omar Perez, Kapaa — Scored two goals in a win over Island School 

Jonah Poepoe, Campbell — Scored two goals in a loss to Kalani

Tyler Welsch, Campbell — Scored two goals in a win over Moanalua 

GIRLS SOCCER

Vaiana Lussiaa, Hawaii Prep — Scored four goals in a win over Honokaa 

Kylah Racca, Kauai — Scored the lone goal in a win over Island School