GW's boys hoops title run demonstrates resilience, team concept

If you know anything about Guam geckos, it's that no matter what the situation, they always have a tendency to come back. And that's precisely what happened for the GW boys basketball team in the public school championship game - down a dozen to Okkodo, these Geckos rallied with a frantic 4th quarter to win 41-38.

It's GW's first championship in 12 years, and the first time the Geckos have claimed the JV and varsity titles at the same season. It's a remarkable accomplishment for a remarkable group of young men.

The resilient purple-&-gold and first-year coach Desmond Mandell dished on how they had to dig deep, what it took to come from behind, and what this means going into this weekend's champs-vs-champs title game against the island's top private school.

"Just like coach says, it all starts here at practice," said Kaden Apiag, a senior guard. "We've just got to stay locked-in and ready for our next game."

What makes GW's title even more special is the road they took to get there. The team finished the regular season with a 6-4 record, and wasn't at full strength for every game. But coach told them they'd earned a chance to be great and to seize the moment. Mandell told KUAM Sports, "We faced a little bit of adversity throughout the year, between injuries and just some games where we didn't show up. But it always comes down to either you're losing or you're learning. And we had to learn from each game, so when it came down to it, I told them the tried-and-true statement of success is when preparation meets opportunity.

"And we felt like we were prepared. We felt like we learned from our early losses, we learned from the games we played against those teams during the regular season. And this was the opportunity that we wanted – the opportunity they talked about and hoped for in the beginning of the year. And now that they got that spot, it was again about taking grabbing that opportunity."

Celebrations aren't always choreographed, and when the final whistle sounded, all the players spontaneously ran straight to their coach to embrace him for what they'd all achieved – as a team. Not just for that moment, but all season long.

Fellow senior guard Daran Treltas, who was one of the first to Mandell, shared, "He's a new coach, he's our new coach just came in this year and we trusted him trusted him to take us here, and I think he executed well and we did good."

Mandell said he wasn't expecting the gesture, recalling, "The reason why I was in that corner was I wanted them to have their moment, but I was I was so excited I wanted to celebrate, too, so I kind of stepped aside to celebrate on my own to let them have their moment. And they ran over to me - right when I turned around they were all running towards me. Just thinking about it gets me choked up, because it's my first year here and it comes down to winning their trust and them trusting me in me as a coach.

"And one of my mentors once told me is all you can hope is to put them in position to succeed and I felt like I did my best to do that. And for them to seek me out right after the buzzer...it meant a lot to me, and that was that's something that I'll cherish forever."

GW has always been a fanatical sports school, and coming to campus after winning the 'chip, the players - especially their seniors - said the atmosphere was nuts. "All of my teachers were congratulating me; one of my teachers got me breakfast," laughed Apiag. "And all of my friends were like, 'Hey - what's up, champ?'"

When it comes to memories, the seniors immediately recall what precise moment (and subsequent lecture) that turned their season around. Caden Poblete said after being blown out by double-digits by Southern, they were challenged to step-up. "And after that, we didn't make anymore mistakes," he said.

And so with momentum, intensity, and confidence the Geckos are getting squared away for this weekend's epic GSPN Champions-vs-Champions game. While they're riding high to represent the ISA league, the task now is staying locked-in for their next challenge.

They've achieved the essence of victory, becoming a singular unit. And, above all, they continued the Gecko tradition of doing this together.