EDITION #1

October 26, 2019- everyone remembers how crowded the gym was that night, the air humid and tense as if people were expecting something bad to happen. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see people biting their nails, frantically thinking that the game was getting out of hand. Both the EIS and AST crowds were chanting with all their might and power, each one trying to outperform the other. With approximately 3 minutes left on the clock in the 4th quarter, EIS was slowly inching towards the lead, catapulting the encouragement and motivation of the EIS crowd and tumbling AST’s hope of a second AASCA championship. 

 

Suddenly, EIS scored a three-point shot, minimizing AST’s lead to just 4 points with a little bit more than one minute left on the clock. The AST crowd was in shock, each second convincing them even more that their team was about to blow the lead and lose the finals. Was this it? Was AST about to blow the lead and lose AASCA in their homestand? It sure looked like it did for the majority of the people in the gym based on their expressions of incredulousness and discouragement. However, Jose Rafael Rivera (a senior at the time) had other plans that night. Despite the adversity, pressure, fear, and distractions present in that game, he did something that put the AASCA title where it belonged that night - home. So, what is the story behind this legendary moment? How do people look back at it to this day? 

 

“Before that game what you focus on, which is kind of hard to cope with, is the number of nerves you have in your body,” says Jose Rafael Rivera (now a student studying sports management at SMU). “I was seeing the rest of my teammates, seeing how they were suffering from those nerves, seeing them a little bit palid… those nerves are what made me be more composed and just to clear out my mind.” Jose Rafael goes on to mention how he used those nerves to his advantage and how recognizing how he felt really helped him focus: “know that you have them (nerves) cause that it’s when you really get focused”.

 

Similarly, Rodrigo Paredes (who at the time was the youngest player being part of the AASCA team) recounts the environment prior to the game, “Something that I will never forget from that night was the number of supporters in the stands and La Furia before that game. Everyone was supporting us and that is something that motivated us before playing.” As Rodrigo describes, the crowd seemed electrified and eager for the match to begin while the players were somewhat nervous and worried due to the significance that the game in itself held for the players personally; especially for the seniors. 

 

Jose Rafael mentions, “It was more than eight, nine years of just giving it all towards that sport… focusing on the discipline, on the practices, on having a good relationship with my teammates, all of that built up to what that final was (meant to us).” 

 

Nonetheless, the game begins and the crowd goes crazy. People in the crowd clear their throats and yell frantically, motivated and eager to see how the game plays out. Off the bat, the team finds itself struggling to start the first quarter. The AST crowd notes something unusual as AST had won all of its previous matches by an overwhelming amount of points. Now, they were struggling, not only against their most notorious rival but also in the most important game of the tournament. What was happening? Emilio Martinez, AST alumni, was present during the game and part of La Furia, recounts: “We were just coming off from the women’s finals, a game where they had suffered and had to come back to gain the victory. But now seeing the men’s team, after having such a dominant tournament… losing in the finals against EIS in our home… The nervousness was notable; it made us realize that there was a very strong possibility that we might actually lose.” 

 

As both the AST and EIS crowd chanted for their respective teams, the night felt colder and saltier for AST fans once the second quarter ended. Their team was losing by 5 points at halftime for the first time in the whole tournament and a slow realization was starting to creep into everyone’s minds - this wasn’t going to be an easy game. 

 

On the other side of the court, Jose Rafael Rivera and the team were struggling to maintain their composure. As Jose Rafael mentions, “We were a completely different team, we were completely down, we weren’t feeling ourselves for that first half, some of our best players were completely losing their mind… they were getting absorbed by their nerves.” Dealing with the nerves proved hard enough for the players, especially during such an important game. The team needed something or someone to calm their nerves down and maintain their composure in such crucial moments. Fortunately, the coaches managed to embrace their role to do just that: “We knew that our coaches would just wake us up. They yelled at us, and I think that just brought us back to life. We needed to be yelled at, we needed to be told that we were a great team and that we still had the capacity to win this game,” says Jose Rafael Rivera. 

 

“The captain (Jose Rafael) gave a speech, the coaches gave us a speech and motivated us. Everyone maintained a team mentality, a persevering mentality, which gave us the hope to get the win” says Rodrigo Paredes, who was faced with a lot of pressure and frustration despite being the youngest player on the team. 

 

Consequently, the third quarter begins and the AST crowd continues to chant valiantly for its team, hoping to motivate the players in order to overcome their fatigue. During this time, the game seems as equally matched as ever, with both teams exchanging baskets continuously for more than ten minutes. People still could not believe how nerve-racking and stressful the game had become, which in itself filled the environment with tension and desperation. However, AST had slightly managed to gain an eight-point lead entering the final minutes of the fourth quarter. That’s when all of a sudden, EIS unexpectedly started making baskets, showing that they were still in contention and could still make the comeback. As the clock kept ticking, a winner was still not clearly defined and AST’s lead was not a certain one. 

 

With 1 minute left on the clock, AST leading by four, Jose Rafael was one of many engulfed by extreme fatigue: “At that point of the game, you’re tired, you just want the game to end, you just want your team to win.” Despite this fatigue, Jose Rafael is given the basketball at the upper left side of the court, just behind the three-point line with the game on the line. Making the basket would basically clinch an AST victory, missing it would probably give the EIS the last chance for a comeback. “I just remember telling myself (when getting the ball), I can’t lose this, this is our home… I remember saying ‘this shot goes in’.” Fortunately for AST, Jose Rafael was indeed correct and the shot did in fact go in. After making the shot, Jose Rafael was not only rewarded with the intense chanting of joy from the crowd but also with his first sign of relief all game: “I just looked at my coach and saw his face, his face of happiness, he knew we had sealed the game, that’s the sign of relief that I wanted.” 

 

Across the court, Emilio Martinez recalls, “That shot silenced the EIS crowd and made us chant like crazy. It demonstrated why Rafa (Jose Rafel Rivera) was the captain of the team. The shot went in and the rest was history.” After that shot, AST went on to win the championship, making them back-to-back champions. 

 

No matter how much time has passed, Jose Rafael Rivera’s shot will live on for ages to come in the AST community. His shot demonstrates how we, as humans, strive in times of pressure and how striving to embrace nervousness can often benefit our performance. The same way the team embraced times of uncertainty during halftime to come out victorious with Jose Rafael’s shot, we should embrace difficult times and realize that our hard work will eventually pay off no matter the instance. As Jose Rafael points out, “Making that shot made me realize that hard work does pay off in the end.” In this way, Jose Rafael’s shot motivates us to strive for greatness as one of the clutchest shots in AST history.