The Kieffer Alas era in the United States has begun.

After staying in the freezer at Layton Christian Academy (LCA), Alas had been finally unleashed, dropping a red-hot performance with 34 points and 10 three-pointers in his first game for his new school — Utah Prep Academy — at the Premier Prep Phoenix Open tournament over the weekend.

The school paid tribute to the 6-foot-2 former University Athletic Association of the Philippines juniors Most Valuable Player by making a social media post of him lying down with his offensive stats of 34 points and 10 three-pointers.

His father, Ateneo de Manila University assistant coach Louie Alas, stressed that his son got a lot of touches after scoring his first few buckets, paving the way for a red-hot debut.

Utah Prep is known for its elite basketball program. In fact, it used to house Filipino-American standout AJ Mandaquit, who suited up for Gilas Pilipinas 16U squad before playing for University of Washington. Last year, its main man was 6-foot-9 ADybantsa, who was ranked as the No. 1 high school player in the United States before committing to play college ball at nearby Brigham Young University.

Also on the Utah Prep roster is Value Nwah, a 6-foot-10 Nigerian slotman who played briefly for Ateneo.

But the main reason why Alas landed on Utah Prep was its head coach — Mark Dickel.

Dickel, the former New Zealand national team playmaker, used to coach TNT Tropang 5G. He also handled Gilas Pilipinas in an interim basis during the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers with his former New Zealand mentor, Tab Baldwin, serving as consultant.

Baldwin is the head coach of the Blue Eagles, where he has Louie Alas as one of his deputies.

Louie said his son’s aggressiveness keyed his successful debut.

“I just constantly told him to be aggressive whenever he gets the ball. He was able to get his rhythm when he drained his first triple,“ said the elder Alas, who is in the United States to personally motivate his son.

“We even thought he wouldn’t be able to play again after he was subbed out. Then we watched him get back into the court and continued to play.”

Louie, a three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion coach, hopes his son will be able to sustain his momentum after feeling some pain in his ankle after the game.

“I hope he’s okay. He said it was a previous injury he had in his ankle,” Louie stressed.

“They played eight-minute quarters and he played around 20 minutes in the game.”

Moving to Utah Prep could be a good move for Alas as he pursues his dream of playing in the US NCAA Division I. Aside from his coach, Dickel’s familiarity in Filipino brand of play, Alas is in a better situation now after hardly seeing action in his previous school, LCA.

Still, there’s no expectation on the younger Alas.

“We’re not yet thinking too far,” his father, one of college basketball’s greatest motivators, said.

“We’re taking it one game at a time and let him mature and develop.”