Team Gurami

It’s basketball at its purest, unadulterated and uncorrupted form.

I usually write about the latest happenings in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), but please allow me to indulge on something else just once.

This past weekend, our team won a championship in the one of the longest running and marquee age group basketball tournaments in Metro Manila.

This past Saturday morning at the Jacinto Tiu Competition Court of the Xavier School Sports Center in Greenhills in San Juan, our Ateneo de Manila University juniors high school aspirants basketball team played a game for the ages, rallying from 20 points down at the half to slip past four-peat-seeking, erstwhile undefeated and home team Xavier University in the winner-take-all championship game of the Philippine Athletic Youth Association (PAYA) 15U Division, 73-72.

The win was a tremendous achievement, in no small part because Ateneo has yet to win the PAYA Aspirants crown in more than 20 years.

It goes without saying, however, that the journey was far from easy.

In fact, our team, which was composed of most of the best junior high school players in Ateneo born 2004 or later, had to go through a lot of adversities heading into this moment.

We had a promising start to the season, winning over Aquinas School, Lourdes School of Quezon City, and Claret School by an average of 45.3 points before we got a rude awakening against De La Salle-Zobel (DLSZ), which featured Aljun Melecio’s younger brother, Junjun, together with Rhyle Melencio, the son of former University of Santo Tomas star Richard Melencio.

It was a stinging defeat for our boys, but we regrouped and recovered, beating Niño Jesus High School, Colegio San Agustin and La Salle Green Hills before setting up a pivotal clash with fellow Jesuit school Xavier, which was powered by point guard extraordinaire Peecoo Napeñas.

Remember that name, folks. He’s the next great Xavier guard after Tyler Tio.

We played Xavier tough, even leading by 13 points in the second half, but the Stallions weren’t three-time defending champions for no reason.

They rallied in the final quarter and won, 70-69, dealing us our second loss of the competition.

We would win our last eliminations game over Diliman Preparatory School, entering the Final Four as the third seed overall and facing tormentor DLSZ once again in the knockout semis.

In the rematch against the Junior Archers, our boys responded with a lot of energy.

We outrebounded our opponents, 42-29, and we shot 50 percent from beyond the arc to prevail, 64-54, avenge our earlier loss and move on to the Final against Xavier once more.

The championship game attracted a crowd that was denser than usual.

Aside from the parents, there were classmates and teachers who filled up the stands. The chants from the fans had a similar tenor to the ones we may hear at the Smart Araneta Coliseum or Mall of Asia Arena during National Collegiate Athletic Association or UAAP matches.

It was the biggest game for most of our boys, and they knew that they had to leave everything out on the floor to even have a sliver of hope to win.

We, after all, gave ourselves the nickname “Team Gurami” because we felt like we were small fishes swimming in an ocean meant for bigger preys.

Sure, at the start of the season, when our roster was complete, we looked quite imposing, with 6-foot-5 Filipino-Australian Mason Amos manning the middle together with 6-foot-4 Justin Diaz, the brother of former Ateneo Blue Eaglet Jed Diaz.

Backing them up was a pair of 6-foot-3 forwards in Garrick Lao, the son of Gilbert Lao, and Gerwyn Arada. Burly wingmen Cedric Litang and Jeremy Felix were also in the roster as well as main playmaker Jordan Salandanan, who is the brother of former Eaglets Marc and Jonas.

But as the competition progressed, we had to endure one setback after another.

Mason had to return to Australia mid-tournament while few players went down because of dengue and other injuries.

Such is the reality of high school basketball, and we just couldn’t seem to get the team into its full rhythm.

Now, against a team like Xavier in the championship game, the difference in quality and cohesion showed — at least for the first half.

With nerves overwhelming most of our players, the Stallions took full advantage, scoring the first eight points to build a 20-point lead at halftime.

We were so sloppy that we were on pace to commit 40 turnovers in the game, but head coach Reggie Aromin challenged the boys at the break and reminded them about who we were, that we were Team Gurami, that nobody expected us to be here and that we had nothing to lose.

Come the second half, the boys responded with aplomb.

There was little to rival the exhilaration one gets when seeing teenagers mature right in front of your eyes, and that’s what we saw in our team this past weekend.

By diving for loose balls, forcing turnovers, and attacking the basket, we outscored our opponents, 27-13, in the third period and trailed by just six points entering the final frame.

We continued to chip away the deficit, just telling the boys “next play” every time they may have committed a mistake or missed a shot.

We eventually took the advantage late in the game, leading into a see-saw affair until the dying moments when our best hustle player, Allian Katigbac, grabbed an offensive board and scored the marginal basket, 73-72, with eight seconds left.

Xavier had one more chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but our defense hung tough, we got the final rebound, and as soon as the buzzer sounded, we yelled our hearts out in triumph.

It was a storybook ending to a classic underdog story: Team Gurami overcoming the odds to beat the top two seeds of the tournament and lift the championship trophy in the end.

We snapped one of the longest slumps in our school’s sports history and we did it in the most unlikely fashion.

Why do I share this? Because even if it’s not FIBA, NBA, PBA, or even collegiate hoops material, it’s basketball at its purest, unadulterated and uncorrupted form.

Also, because underdog stories are supposed to inspire, to give hope, and I certainly wish that this one will do just that for those who will come to know it.