For eight exhilarating minutes, Hickory High was in the house.

‘Iolani channeled the Indiana prepsters of “Hoosiers” lore in hanging right with national No. 1 Montverde Academy for the entire first quarter of their ‘Iolani Classic quarterfinal matchup on Thursday night.

Then the rest of the game happened. Montverde, the defending ‘Iolani Classic and GEICO national champion, detonated in the second quarter and rolled to a 92-33 victory.

Nobody could take away those opening moments, though, when the severely undersized Raiders held their own, getting stops on the Eagles’ first three possessions and swinging the ball effectively for 3s by Sam Wheeler and Frank Felix for a 6-2 lead. The Raiders’ partisans in the jam-packed stands made sure the Florida team — a head taller at every position — heard about it, too.

“Oh, the crowd was getting psyched,” said Wheeler, a 5-foot-11 senior guard. “I think there was an over-the-back call (on a rebound) to start the game, the crowd going nuts, we were all into it. Then we came down, hit the 3, the crowd’s even more psyched. Everyone was just playing and having fun. That’s what basketball is.”

It was only 10-6 Montverde after the first frame.

“Unbelievably fun. I mean, lifetime experiences for our guys. For their families,” Raiders coach Dean Shimamoto said. “Really, when you’re going up against a team that’s that good, I don’t know that you expect to win, but you expect to have your guys compete. And hopefully make memories for a lifetime.”

Montverde faces La Lumiere (Ind.) in today’s 8 p.m. semifinal. ‘Iolani fell into the consolation bracket against West Linn (Ore.) at 3:30 p.m.

The Eagles featured R.J. Barrett, among other standouts, last year in beating the Raiders 89-43 in that quarterfinal.

They’re no less stacked this year. They obliterated Campbell 102-38 in the opening round Tuesday, while ‘Iolani got past Farrington.

Montverde turned to its guard play to force turnovers aplenty — including more than one five-second inbounds violation — in the second quarter and effectively put on a warm-up for the ‘Iolani Classic dunk contest to be held at the end of the night. Six-foot-nine Precious Achiuwa took contact from three Raiders and weaved his way to the cup for an and-1 bucket. Florida commit Omar Payne and 7-1 Balsa Koprivica, bound for Florida State, added to the one-way cram fest in the quarter.

They outscored the hosts 32-9 in the period — and that included a circus 3-pointer by ‘Iolani guard Noah Bumanglag at the halftime buzzer — to lead by 27 at intermission.

It was more of the same from there, but each ‘Iolani basket was greeted with full enthusiasm from the bench and bleachers.

“‘Iolani came out with a lot of heart and energy (and) gave us a very good first quarter,” Montverde coach Kevin Boyle said. “We started a bigger lineup, which we thought would have some problems matching up and turning them over, because too much size against a lot of guards who can pass. Coach (Shimamoto) does a really nice job with them, they’re really well schooled and well coached. You know, we went smaller to match up and we thought at that point we could start turning them over and start turning defense into offense.”

‘Iolani shot 5-for-26 (19.2 percent) on 3s — making up more than half of its overall looks — and while Montverde went heavily to the paint and shot 32-for-52 overall (58 percent).

Guard Harlond Beverly led the Eagles with 17 points and three assists. He was one of seven Montverde players in double figures.

Felix led the Raiders with six points, while Wheeler, Kawika Lee and Bumanglag scored five apiece.