Eagles coach dedicate championship to parents

Grace Christian Academy first-year coach Aaron Rath is dedicating the Eagles’ junior varsity boys championship in the 2006 Private School Basketball League to the parents of the players.

“We’re dedicating the win to the parents. They have been so incredibly supportive. Getting their boys to practice all year long and helping us out. Our [basketball] nets went bad and a couple of parents went out and got nets. We’ve got parents who got jerseys for us. We had parents that had been pushing all year long supporting this team in whatever way they could,” he said.

Rath also gave kudos to his players for “working so hard all year long to pull together and win the title.” He also gave special mention to John Labausa, a member of the team who broke his arm during the season.

Heading to their championship game against the powerhouse Mt. Carmel Knights, Rath said he was pretty confident that his boys would be able to deliver the title even though he visibly saw and felt the nervousness of his players down to the last man, or in this case boy.

Rath said forward Jimmy Phan’s game-saving heave from 14 feet to send the game to overtime Friday was simply “amazing.”

“Jimmy’s basket to tie the game and eventually force overtime was huge. I was afraid at that point (down 49-47 with less than a minute to go) that we may not be able to get a shot off because we were kind of wild and crazy and not controlling the ball, but he put that shot up and it went in, and I was like ‘no way,’ so that was amazing, that was huge. I’m glad he hit it,” he said.

Rath also praised league MVP Kevin Deleon, who fired a game-high 30 points in the finals, including six of the team’s 10 points in overtime.

“During the last four minutes of regulation, he [De Leon] had cramps on his legs. He was actually begging me to put him back in the game in the final minute of regulation and was pleading ‘put me back in the game, put me back in I’m ready to go…’”

On his decision not to immediately insert De Leon in the last couple of minutes of regulation when Mt. Carmel appeared to have the ballgame all sewn up, Ratt said he didn’t want to field his leading scorer too early and have him aggravate his injury. He also said he had supreme confidence in his other players.

“I wanted to give some of my other players a chance to win the game for us. The thing is, our team is based on teamwork. No one player is going to pull us through. The players that were in there were doing a fantastic job,” he said.

When the game resumed for the extra five minutes Monday, Rath only had one marching order for his troops—get the first basket.

So when forward Daniel Javier cashed in on a bank shot to give GCA a 51-49 lead, Rath knew they were already halfway home to the title.

“The first basket by Daniel was huge and once we got that I felt very confident that we we’re going to pull off [the victory]. I knew that the team that scores the first basket was going to have the momentum and would be able to control the pace on offense. Once we score first, I knew we could slow it down and we didn’t have to push the ball for a shot,” he said.

Rath also gave credit to Mt. Carmel for playing a great game. He said it all came down to the team that executed well in the waning minutes and, in part, because of his players’ hard work in practice and in games, they were able to come home the winners.

“It feels great! Honestly, I kind of like expected it because I’ve seen how my boys play not only in games but also in practice, so I knew we had what it takes. This is my first year here, so I came in fresh. I wasn’t really intimidated by it [Mt Carmel’s winning reputation] and at the same time I saw how good our team was throughout the year and how well they work together as a team, so I knew we had that advantage,” he said.

Before the game, the student who swore at an official last Friday apologized to players, parents, and students.

In the awards ceremony held after GCA’s 59-52 overtime triumph over the Knights, De Leon and Phan were named to the PSBL boys junior varsity mythical team together with Christian Hidalgo of Saipan Community School, Cameron Sers Nicolas of Mt. Carmel, Charlie Jo of Marianas Baptist Academy, Nathan Taitano of Saipan International School and Danny Liang of Calvary Christian Academy.

Last Friday, Saipan International School’s Lena Guzman was named MVP and led the mythical team awardees, which included teammate Madison Smith, Saipan Community College’s Savannah Manglona, GCA’s Colleen Kinsella, and Mt. Carmel’s Nicole Lebria.