Tyler Jackson, center, and Chris Hess, right, defend Nijah Marshall during a Jan. 31 practice at Stuttgart High School in Stuttgart, Germany. Friends since preschool, the duo reunited in 2017 when the Jackson family returned to Stuttgart, and they have been inseparable since. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

The Stuttgart Panthers are on the prowl to make history this week, looking to add a banner in the gymnasium by winning the school’s first boys basketball championship since 2013 – when their school had another name and was located on another base.

Going 16-0 overall and 14-0 in Division I games has the Panthers with the top seed heading into the DODEA European basketball championships Wednesday through Saturday on Ramstein Air Base.

At least some of the team’s success can be traced back to a U-12 team championship five years and a trio of players whose friendship symbolizes the Panthers’ togetherness on and off the court.

Juniors Chris Hess and Ryan Stevenson and sophomore Tyler Jackson played on the Stuttgart Eagles U-12 squad that went to the Berlin Easter Cup in 2017. Despite being undersized - just like this year’s Panther squad - the Eagles won the title and created what Hess called a core memory.

“When we won at that Berlin tournament, that win brought in all of us not only as a friendship, but also as a basketball team,” Hess said. “We’ve all stuck together ever since then, and I just think that we all grow around each other.”

Hess and Jackson met in preschool during the Jackson family’s first stint in the Stuttgart area. Tyler remembered the duo playing basketball and Lego games the most then. But the Jacksons left in 2013.

They returned in 2017, but with Tyler in fifth grade and Hess in sixth, the two were at different schools. When they joined the local CYS basketball program, the two reunited on the gym floors.

There, they met Stevenson. The trio have been inseparable since. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they played video games such as Fortnite and NBA2K until restrictions lightened and they returned to outdoor courts.

Ryan Stevenson goes up to make a pass during a Stuttgart boys basketball practice on Jan. 31 at Stuttgart High School in Stuttgart, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Their connection is noticeable for the rest of the squad.

“It’s how they see each other every single day. I can’t name too many people in my life that act like that with each other,” said senior Trenton Jackson, Tyler’s older brother.

Tyler Jackson elicited a laugh out of Hess when the first way he described Hess was “slow-paced.” Hess, meanwhile, used the exact opposite phrasing for Jackson. The sophomore point guard also said Hess makes difficult shots, is shifty and is a playmaker.

Hess, meanwhile, called Jackson a floor general and a defensive lockdown, while also mentioning he can knock down shots when needed.

“I feel like when he touches the ball, I know what he’s going to do,” Tyler Jackson said of Hess. “You can see the situation, and it’s like, ‘Oh, there’s a guy open in that corner? He’s going to drive and he’s going to kick it to that corner.’

Both are impressed with Stevenson’s ball-hawking skills and rebounding.

“I like to hustle a lot,” Stevenson said. “That’s probably the most fun part of the game. I never really was a good shooter, so I kind of have to help the team in other ways. I think rebounding really is my thing.”

This chemistry is not limited to Hess, Jackson and Stevenson, though.

The Panthers have a deep squad where anyone can lead the team on any given day. Six players have paced the team in scoring in at least one game: both Jacksons, Hess, junior Ismael Anglada-Paz, junior Jacob Schudel and Nijah Marshall.

Both Tyler Jackson and Stevenson are averaging four assists per game to go with nine and seven points, respectively. Hess is averaging eight points and five rebounds per game.

All players said the team plays unselfishly, and it shows on the floor.

“I think that helped … our chemistry kind of grow together,” Hess said. “It wasn’t just over one season. It was over years of studying how each other plays. I think it’s showing off in how we play in games.”

All this has the Panthers as the favorite to bring home the title.

Not that they are getting complacent and thinking the title is in the bag. Stuttgart expects tough competition from Ramstein, Vilseck and others.

“Without bringing that chip home, it don’t mean nothing,” Tyler Jackson said. “We’re still trying to hunt everybody else. It doesn’t matter that you want to come out at us – we’re going to come at you 10 times harder.

“I can tell you that when we win this championship, I promise I will be crying. We’ll all be crying our eyes out because the journey to here has been so long.”