The halftime locker room was a chamber of intense, focused recalibration. The six-point deficit felt manageable, but the way they had been strategically outmaneuvered in the first quarter left a bitter taste. The frenetic, successful rally at the end of the second quarter had proven one thing: they could disrupt Imus High's pristine system, but it required a level of defensive intensity that was almost impossible to sustain.
"They are surgeons," Coach Gutierrez stated, his voice a low, analytical hum. He paced in front of the whiteboard, which was covered in diagrams of Imus's offensive sets. "They don't beat you with athleticism; they beat you with a thousand precise cuts. Our adjustment in the second quarter worked. The pressure on their guards, the drop coverage from our bigs—it threw them out of their rhythm. That is now our blueprint."
He stopped pacing and looked at each of his five starters, his gaze lingering for a moment on each.
"But it is not enough to disrupt them. We have to punish them. They are not a great transition defensive team. Every time we get a stop, every time we secure a rebound, we are not jogging the ball up the court. We are sprinting. We are turning this into the kind of chaotic, high-possession game they hate. We will make their minds and their legs work on every single second of the clock. We will make them uncomfortable. We will make them break."
Tristan looked at his teammates. He saw the fatigue from the grueling first half, but underneath it, he saw a fire. The halftime break hadn't been a rest; it had been a sharpening. They had been presented with a complex puzzle, and after a quarter of frustration, they had finally begun to see the solution.
Across the hall, the Imus High were a picture of calm. Their coach wasn't yelling. He was adjusting.
"Their pressure is effective," he acknowledged. "They're forcing Jamie to work too hard just to initiate the offense, and they're denying Jeffrey the ball. So, we change the point of initiation. Andrew," he said, looking at his star center, Andrew Quinahan. "You are now our primary playmaker. We will run the offense through you at the high post. You are the best passer on this team besides Jamie. Your height allows you to see over their defense. Be patient. Let the cutters work off you. Make them pay for overplaying our guards."
The two teams returned to the court, two armies armed with new strategies. The friendly pre-game atmosphere was a distant memory. This was a tactical war, and the third quarter was destined to be the bloodiest battle.
Start of the Third Quarter: Dasmariñas 26 — Imus 28
Dasmariñas had possession to start the half, and they immediately followed their coach's command.
Tristan took the inbound and was a blur. He pushed the ball up the court with a ferocity that caught the Imus defense off-guard. He saw Aiden Robinson streaking down the left wing, a step ahead of his defender. Tristan fired a perfect chest pass, hitting him in stride. Aiden caught it, took one power dribble towards the rim, and elevated. Robin Villanueva, Imus's tough power forward, rotated over to contest. Aiden, showing his veteran poise, absorbed the contact in mid-air, adjusted his shot, and laid it in off the glass. And-one. The whistle blew.
Score: Dasmariñas 28 — Imus 28.
And-one.
The Dasmariñas bench was on its feet. It was the exact start they needed—aggressive, fast, and physical. Aiden calmly sank the free throw, giving his team the lead for the first time since the opening minutes.
Score: Dasmariñas 29 — Imus 28
Now came the test of Imus's new strategy. Jamie Alapag brought the ball up, but instead of probing, he made a quick pass to Andrew Quinahan at the top of the key. Ian, wary of his three-point shot, had to come out and guard him. Quinahan, standing at six-foot-four, simply raised the ball over his head, his high vantage point giving him a clear view of the entire court. He was now the quarterback.
Jeffrey Chan and Joey Joson began a series of intricate off-ball cuts, using each other as screeners. Marco and Aiden were forced to navigate a moving forest of bodies. For a moment, Chan got free on a curl cut towards the basket. Quinahan saw it and delivered a perfect, one-handed bounce pass. But just as Chan caught it, Cedrick, showing incredible defensive IQ, rotated from the weak side, his massive frame cutting off the path to the rim. Chan was forced to kick it back out.
The play had been thwarted, but it was a clear demonstration of Imus's tactical flexibility. They were a basketball chameleon, able to change their offensive identity on the fly. The possession ended with Alapag having to take a tough, contested jumper as the shot clock expired, which missed.
The game descended into a furious, back-and-forth struggle. Tristan, his stamina seemingly limitless, continued to push the pace at every opportunity, creating transition chances that kept the Imus defense on its heels. He found Marco for a three-pointer on one break and hit Ian with a beautiful lob on another after Ian had outrun Quinahan down the floor.
But Imus refused to break. They slowed the game down in the half-court, running their offense through Quinahan at the high post. He was a master facilitator, his passes leading to a backdoor layup for Joson and an open mid-range jumper for Villanueva.
The lead swung back and forth, neither team able to gain more than a two-point advantage. The intensity was palpable, the air in the gym thick with the strain of high-level competition.
Then, with four minutes and twelve seconds left in the quarter, the game came to a horrifying, screeching halt.
It started, as so many pivotal moments do, with a loose ball. A pass from Tristan was deflected and skittered towards the sideline. Three players converged on it: Tristan, Jamie Alapag, and Aiden Robinson. Aiden, with his long strides and relentless hustle, got there first. He scooped up the ball, but his momentum was carrying him out of bounds. In a split second, he made the selfless play, planting his foot hard to stop his momentum and save the possession, firing a pass back to Marco.
At that exact moment, the powerful form of Robin Villanueva, who had also been chasing the ball, was trying to stop his own forward progress. He couldn't. He collided with Aiden's planted leg with the force of a car crash.
The sound was sickening—a combination of a dull thud and a sharp, pained cry from Aiden. He crumpled to the floor, his body twisting as he fell, clutching his right ankle.
The referee's whistle blew frantically, stopping play immediately.
The game, the score, the rivalry—it all vanished. Tristan was the first to reach him, dropping to a knee beside his friend. Aiden's face was a mask of agony, his teeth gritted, his eyes squeezed shut.
"Aiden? Talk to me, man. What is it?" Tristan asked, his voice tight with concern.
"My ankle," Aiden gasped, his voice strained. "It… it rolled. Bad."
The entire Dasmariñas team was there, forming a silent, worried circle. Even the Imus players came over. Robin Villanueva, his face pale with concern, knelt down.
"Man, I'm so sorry," he said, his voice genuine. "I couldn't stop. Are you okay?"
Aiden just shook his head, unable to speak through the pain.
Coach Gutierrez and the school's medic were on the court in seconds. The coach's usual fiery demeanor was gone, replaced by the deep, paternal concern of a man looking at one of his own kids in pain. After a quick, gentle examination, the medic looked up at the coach and gave a grim, almost imperceptible shake of his head. He wasn't coming back.
The decision was made. Two of the reserve players carefully helped Aiden up, his arms draped over their shoulders. He couldn't put any weight on his right foot. As he was helped off the court, the entire gym—the players from both teams, the coaches, the few faculty watching—gave him a standing ovation. The applause was a mixture of respect for his hustle and heartfelt sympathy. Aiden acknowledged it with a weak, pained wave, his face a portrait of devastation. The dream of the Nationals, for him, was suddenly in serious jeopardy.
Tristan watched his teammate disappear into the locker room and felt a cold knot of anger and fear form in his stomach. Aiden wasn't just a scorer; he was the team's glue, their most versatile player. But there was no time for emotion. He was the captain. He had to lead.
Coach Gutierrez called them into a huddle. His face was stone.
"Daewoo," he said, his voice low and firm. "You're in for Aiden."
Daewoo, who had been watching with a worried expression, immediately snapped to attention, his face hardening with focus. He quickly pulled off his warm-up shirt.
"The game does not stop," the coach said, his eyes scanning the shaken faces of his players. "Imus is going to smell blood in the water. They are going to attack. Do not let them. You are going to take this anger, this frustration, and you are going to channel it. You are going to play for the man who just left every ounce of his hustle on that floor for you. You will not fold. You will not break. You will win this quarter for him. Do you understand me?"
A chorus of "Yes, Coach!" answered, their voices thick with a new, raw emotion.
As they walked back onto the court, the atmosphere had changed. The tactical chess match had become a deeply personal fight.
"For Aiden," Gab said, his voice a low growl as he patted Tristan on the back.
"For Aiden," Tristan repeated, his knuckles white as he clenched his fists.
The substitution changed the entire dynamic of their team. They had lost a significant offensive threat and a key rebounder. In his place was Daewoo, a defensive specialist, a relentless, lockdown wing defender.
Imus, seeing the change, immediately tried to exploit it. They ran a play for Joey Joson, trying to isolate him on the new man. Joson got the ball on the wing and tried to drive past Daewoo. But driving past Daewoo was like trying to drive through a wall of thorns.
Daewoo's footwork was impeccable. He stayed in front of Joson, cutting off the drive, his hands active, making the dribble uncomfortable. Joson was forced into a tough, off-balance fadeaway that missed badly.
It was a stop. A huge, momentum-killing stop. Daewoo had held his ground.
On the other end, however, Aiden's absence was keenly felt. The floor spacing was cramped. The Imus defense could now load up more on Tristan and Marco. A pass from Tristan to Marco was nearly stolen. The possession ended with Cedrick having to force up a tough shot in the paint that was altered by Quinahan.
But Daewoo's impact was on the other end of the floor. He was a pest, a shadow, a relentless defensive engine. He dove for a loose ball. He perfectly executed a defensive rotation to draw a charge on Alapag. His energy was infectious, and it seemed to galvanize his teammates. They were playing with a desperate, furious energy, their defense a chaotic, swarming force.
Tristan, realizing he had to shoulder more of the offensive load, began to assert himself. He called for an isolation, got the switch he wanted, and drove past the slower Robin Villanueva for a layup. On the next possession, he came off a screen and, with the defense expecting the drive, pulled up and drained a three-pointer. He was playing with a controlled rage, his movements sharp and decisive.
With a minute left in the quarter, they had not only weathered the storm, but they had retaken the lead.
Score: Dasmariñas 40 — Imus 38
"They're playing on pure emotion right now," the Imus coach said to his team during a quick dead ball. "Don't get caught up in it. Stay calm. Execute our stuff."
For the final possession of the quarter, Imus went back to their ace. They ran a play to get Jeffrey Chan an open look. It was a masterpiece of off-ball movement, designed to create confusion. In the chaos of a switch, Daewoo found himself guarding Chan. It was the defensive stopper versus the pure shooter.
Chan got the ball in the corner. Daewoo closed out on him with a ferocity that was breathtaking. He didn't just put a hand up; he contested the shot with his entire body, leaping and extending every inch of his frame without fouling. Chan, forced to alter his shot ever so slightly, released the ball. It looked good from his hand, but it caught the back of the rim and bounced out.
Ian secured the rebound as the buzzer sounded.
End of Third Quarter: Dasmariñas 40 — Imus 38
The Dasmariñas players walked to the bench, not with joy, but with a grim, exhausted satisfaction. The quarter had been a nightmare. They had lost one of their brothers to a bad injury, they had been on the verge of breaking, but they had fought back. They had won the quarter, 14-10.
Tristan immediately went to the end of the bench where Daewoo was collapsing into a chair, his chest heaving.
"That last stop," Tristan said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "That was incredible. You just shut down the best shooter in the province."
Daewoo just nodded, too tired to speak, but a look of fierce pride was in his eyes.
Coach Gutierrez gathered them. There were no cheers, no praise. His face was a grim mask.
"One quarter left," he said, his voice low. "You fought through adversity. You honored your teammate. But it's not over. The fourth quarter is about composure. They are going to make a run. It is our job to stand our ground and finish this, for ourselves, and for Aiden."
They looked at each other, a silent promise passing between them. The game had started as a final exam. It had now become a mission. They were going to win it, no matter the cost.