Dozens of friends flocked Saturday to the site of a single-car crash that killed an 18-year-old college student.

Linden Quintal, a 2014 Damien Memorial School graduate, had "one little sister and 10,000 brothers," said classmate Dylan Flores, 18. "We all his bruddahs."

Quintal was out bowling at Leeward Bowl in Pearl City until about 3 a.m. Saturday with a group of classmates, a last get-together before everyone left for college after winter break, said Trevor Caspillo, a friend since the eighth grade, when Quintal entered Damien Memorial.

He had taken some girls home to Mililani, Flores said.

Quintal was two minutes from his own home when he lost control of his car near the Kapolei Walmart, police said.

The car was heading southwest on Farrington Highway when it jumped the curb, hit a tree and rock wall before stopping.

Police said excessive speed appears to have contributed to the crash. This was Oahu’s sixth traffic fatality this year, up from three at the same time last year.

Friends said Quintal recently got his driver’s license and drove his grandmother’s green older-model Toyota Camry.

At about 6:30 or 7 a.m., "his mom was texting all the boys, ‘Where’s Linden?’" said Flores.

"She didn’t know."

When friends discovered he was involved in an accident, they went to his home to "give comfort to the parents," Ana Radona Quintal and Sheldon Quintal, Caspillo said.

"I think he just fell asleep," said Kealii Kaanapu, 19, who described his good friend as a "happy-go-lucky guy."

News quickly spread after the Damien Memorial varsity basketball team, including several who played last year with Quintal, gathered for a meeting at 12:30 p.m.

"At our meeting there were a lot of tears, a lot of whys," head coach Alvin Stephenson Jr. said by telephone. "With a heavy heart, they wanted to go out and play for him."

He saw on their faces "a lot of bottled-up emotions," he said, adding, "I knew they would come out."

As a 5-foot-8-inch guard, "he wasn’t the tallest, he wasn’t the finest, but he had the biggest heart," said Stephenson. "He was always happy, always smiling, very, very humble. He would give the last shirt off his back. He loved his teammates, family, friends and had a lot of pride in going to Damien."

Quintal was "the Energizer bunny," Stephenson said. As a senior, he led and mentored the younger players, acts the coach credits with the success of his current team.

Later Saturday, they suffered their first loss of the season.

Earlier at the crash site, his former junior varsity coach and family friend Ernie Kornya, 44, said: "I guarantee a lot of them are playing with a heavy heart." That included his son, Ernie Kornya IV, who was a close friend of Quintal’s since elementary school.

"He’s a good kid, kind," Kornya said. He recalled how he mentored his son in the seventh or eighth grade.

At Damien, Quintal ran track, played a year of varsity football, junior varsity football and three years of varsity basketball.

His love was basketball, Kornya said. He recalled how in one game, "he came off the bench and he was the spark plug."

Along Farrington Highway, friends set up a makeshift memorial, with flowers, balloons and a wooden cross, and wrote chalk messages on the sidewalk and a poster board to memorialize Quintal.

"He was one of my best friends, and went too early," said Syles Choy, 18, as his eyes welled with tears. "He still had a whole life ahead."

Danny Eli, 18, said: "He was smart. He respected people, and he was always there if you needed anything, no matter what the situation."

He recalled, "I was going through hard times with my family, and he would talk to me and tell me, ‘Everything’s going to be fine.’ Whenever I didn’t want to do homework, he would work with me and keep me on the right track."

After high school, Quintal and Eli enrolled at the University of Hawaii at West Oahu.

"It’s crazy ’cause we’re all 18 and we’re still young," said Nick Angoco, who was out with him Friday night.

Alii Arecchi, 18, said: "It could have been any of us."

He described Quintal as a "small, speedy, scrappy little guy, funny guy, very athletic, very loving, very considerate. A true Damien man."