Norman Black had enjoyed a lot of success in his long and fruitful basketball career.

Still there’s one title that truly stood out.

“For me, right now, this is the No. 1 because we’ve been through a lot of adversities,” said Black following Gilas Pilipinas’ 70-64 win over Thailand in the gold-medal match of the men’s basketball competition of the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games late Friday.

True enough, the SEA Games had been an uphill battle for the Filipinos.

Before they can even leave for the Thai capital, Black and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) were told that some of their players will not be allowed to see action due to eligibility issues.

Filipino-American players like Kymadi Ladi, Mike Phillips, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and Remy Martin were ruled out as well as naturalized player Justin Bronwlee.

With half of the team getting banished, Black and SBP executive director Erika Dy had to find a way to field a competitive lineup that could help the Filipinos win their 20th title.

“You guys just don’t understand, I went four months not knowing what the rules were. Not knowing what the eligibility rules were,” said Black, who was able to eventually form a rag-tag team composed of

Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) players like Robert Bolick, Justin Chua, Abu Tratter, Von Pessumal, Poy Erram and Dalph Panopio as well as college standout Cedrick Manzano.

They joined holdovers like Ray Parks, Jamie Malonzo, Thirdy Ravena, Matthew Wright and VJ Pre in a team that hardly had any decent training or tuneup matches before marching to battle.

“I formed a team, only to be told I couldn’t use that team. And then when I formed another team, I was told I couldn’t use certain players. So I couldn’t really understand the eligibility rules in the tournament.”

Black said he even had to make himself elusive to media just to keep the identity of his players under wraps.

“I know I shut down the media a little bit, and I didn’t talk, because every time I would say something, it seemed like the organizing committee would change the rules,” he said.

“So I decided I wasn’t going to mention anything publicly anymore, because they’re using our information against us.”

Fortunately for Black, everything went well in the end and the Filipinos ended up with gold medals hanging around their necks despite all the adversities that came their way, including the hostile crowd and biased officiating during the title match against the host country.

And for Black — an 11-time champion coach in the PBA with a grand slam crown under his belt — the harder the journey, the sweeter the victory.

“I’m glad it turned out to be the best,” Black said.