We Are No Longer 0 and 3

Sam Castro

The Dalat men’s basketball team was in a familiar situation at the ACSC tournament of 2019. The team didn’t have a good start, and it was only then that God gave them a miracle.

During the week of February 11^th, ACSC basketball began for both of Dalat varsity basketball teams. The boys went to Seoul, Korea, and the women went to Manila, Philippines. The boys spent their free day by sightseeing and adjusting to the cold temperature. The following day, the tournament pool play started, and Dalat’s first match was against Grace. It was an intense and well-matched competition that could have been anyone’s game, but Dalat fell short and lost their ACSC opener. The second and third game came, but to no avail, and Dalat was without a single win. We were 0-3.

That night, everyone’s head was down when a notification popped up on my phone, which said, “Dalat plays Morisson at 10:30 tomorrow due to a team that did not follow the rules and has forfeited their games. Dalat’s record is now 1-2.”

Instantly, the entire team found out, and we began to celebrate the turn of events. The rest of the night, the team was dancing and listening to music on the roof of our guesthouse, thanking God for giving us another chance. Linus Lim (12) said “God gave us another chance boys. Let’s take it!”

The following days, Dalat played extremely well thanks to Aaron (10) and Jeremy Worten (12) having some career high games, and the team continued through the tournament by winning several key games. We ended up getting 3^rd place after beating YISS in an extremely close game that was saved by Aaron Worten in overtime.

“A sudden adrenaline rush hit my body, and I was super grateful to God,” says Ruben Nyul (12) after the final buzzer rang.

The Dalat men’s varsity basketball team had a bumpy start to their tournament, but with determination and grit, they finished 3^rd, which is higher placing than any other men’s Dalat basketball team has gotten. We are extremely proud of ourselves and of our coaches for fighting the whole way and never giving up.