SUQUAMISH — If you dropped in at the Suquamish Tribal Center gym Friday afternoon, you would have noticed some odd features of the game between the Spectrum Alternative School basketball team and their opponent from Tacoma.

There was the rhythm section, which was composed entirely of Spectrum principal Chris Wendelyn and a single drum, which he thumped whenever the Spectrum team charged downcourt; There were the uniforms, which were unmatching T-shirts and shorts; but mostly, there was the relationship between the two opponents.

Two players collided under the basket. The Spectrum player, his nose briefly bloodied, pushed through the gym doors to head for the water fountain.

A sub went in, but the game didn’t go on. The opponent who had collided with the Spectrum player had followed him into the hallway to make sure he was okay.

That attitude extended after the game, when the two teams met in crowd of smiles and hugs, and beyond that, when they sat down for a taco feed together.

But that’s always the case when Spectrum’s basketball team meets that of fellow alternative school Alternatives For Individuals, which hails from the Lakewood area (and is called AI for short). The teams have met five times in the last two years, and while the competition is close, but the bond is closer. Coaches, students, and officials say that the two teams get along exceptionally well.

“It’s just one of those beautiful, unexplained events,” said Spectrum head coach Bob Geballe. He said that the two teams, for whatever reason, just get along well.

That relationship was visible from the very first game, when AI edged Spectrum by two points.

“Under those circumstances, there could have been yelling and shoving,” Geballe said. “But instead they were congratulating us, we were congratulating them.”

While the games are always competitive , the time spent after the game, when players gather, talk, and now eat together, is even more special to the students.

“Their personality clicks with us,” Spectrum player Sammy Mabe said after Friday’s game. “And we love playing against them.”

Both schools are similar; each is an alternative high school serving a relatively small number of students; AI has 175 students in grades 9-12.

The similarities go deeper, said AI principal Robin Greenleaf, who travelled to Friday’s game.

“We don’t get along this well with some of the other schools,” Greenleaf said. “I think it’s because both schools have a strong basis of human rights and dignity.”

Staff members and students from each school hope the tradition will continue. Friday’s game was the First Annual Human Rights Exchange Game, and while Geballe hopes the game will be extended to other opponents, he knows the link between Spectrum and AI will continue.

“All alternative schools have a bond because they’re outsiders,” he said.

But this game, Geballe said, is more special than most.

“It’s magic,” he said. “I don’t know why.”