AJ Dybantsa and Utah Prep fail to secure a comeback against Cooper Flagg's alma mater Montverde Academy

No. 1 ranked prospect in the high school basketball class of 2025 AJ Dybantsa featured as Utah Prep took on Cooper Flagg’s alma mater Montverde Academy in their Hoophall classic game on January 19, 2025. However, despite playing 30 minutes of the game, Dybantsa and Utah Prep came up short in the clash, losing 60-74.

Dybantsa did ball out, though, scoring a game-high 25 points. The 6-foot-9 small forward was 8-19 from the field and 3-9 from three-point range. In addition to that, he also recorded three rebounds and three steals.

Dybantsa’s 25-point performance against Montverde came after he recorded 41 points, eight rebounds, four assists and one block in a 99-71 win against Western Reserve on Jan 11, 2025. He also dropped 31 points with a dislocated right pinky finger in Utah Prep’s 78-73 win over the Patrick School a day earlier.

Meanwhile, other Utah scorers in the game against Montverde were Felesi Anthony (10 points) Kiss Jackson (9 points), Rasmussen Jackson, Mandaquit JJ (7 Points each) and Stanton Xavier with two points.

As for Montverde, CJ Ingram led the scoring with 16 points followed by Sisley Trent and Greg Hudson with 15 and 10 points, respectively.

The win improved Montverde’s record to 13-2 his season while AJ Dybantsa’s Utah Prep fell to 16-5.

The No.1 overall prospect in the class of 2025 will now hope to pick his side back up when they take on Sagemont on Jan 30, 2025.

AJ Dybantsa's final days at Utah Prep as he gets set for BYU

The countdown has already started for Dybantsa as he only has a few more games to play with Utah before starting his college career. Speculations over his future are over already after the Brockton, Massachusetts, native committed to BYU for college basketball.

Dybantsa is sure to play at least a season with BYU before deciding on whether to declare for the NBA draft.

However, before linking up with the Cougars, Dybantsa still has a duty to help Utah finish the season on a high.

Following the game against Sagemont, Dybantsa and Utah Prep will play in the Monteverde Invitational on Jan 31, 2025, before turning their attention to multiple Grind Sessions, which are set to run between February 7- March 21, 2025, according to Max Preps.

After the Grind Session, AJ Dybantsa and Utah Prep will then play in the Chipotle Nationals.