The Orthodox Jewish high school basketball team from Houston that is being forced to forfeit its state championship dreams to avoid playing on the Sabbath is gaining some powerful allies. But the Texas association that controls its fate refuses to budge, reiterating that the games will not be rescheduled to accommodate the school's religious beliefs.

Tamir Goodman — the Orthodox Jewish player who Sports Illustrated famously dubbed "The Jewish Jordan" when he verbally committed to Maryland, former Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy and Mayor Annise Parker are all standing behind the Robert M. Beren Academy in its fight to get its 2A state semifinal game moved from Friday night to Friday afternoon.

Goodman has been tweeting about the situation and trying to raise awareness. During his career, Goodman also refused to play on the Sabbath, with many believing that led to Maryland backing off on its scholarship offer.

Parker sent a letter to the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) urging the association to reverse its decision. Parker notes in the letter that TAPPS prohibits the playing of any games on Sundays, the Christian day of worship that the overwhelming majority of its members observe. (This point was first revealed by CultureMap.)

Van Gundy also called the TAPPS offices to urge officials to reconsider.

"I called because when you’re the head of an association like this, the only thing you should worry about is doing right by the kids," Van Gundy told the New York Times. "This decision has nothing to do with the kids. I feel like they made a mistake and they don’t have a vice president of common sense who will tell them that this is silly and it’s OK to change your mind."

The Anti-Defamation League is also urging TAPPS to reschedule, saying in a statement, "We call on TAPPS to change its policy, which seems inherently unfair to those who observe the Sabbath on Saturday."

One Beren Academy parent half joked and half seriously told CultureMap that the school expects the team "to make The Ellen DeGeneres Show next." That's not where the players on coach Chris Cole's 23-5 team want to be though. The attention's not what this is about.

These are a bunch of hoops-loving kids from a tiny school (67 total high school students) living a real-life Hoosiers story as they compete against bigger programs. They just want the chance to try and finish that dream on the basketball court.

Instead, a team they beat by 27 points in the quarterfinals is being told it will play in Beren's place in Friday night's semifinal.

TAAPs executive board voted 8-0 against changing the final four weekend schedule so Beren would not be forced to forfeit to avoid violating its religious beliefs and playing on the Sabbath (from sundown Fridays to sundown Saturdays). Even with Beren parents offering to pay for any additional costs a schedule switch would bring.

"When TAPPS was organized in the late 1970s, the member schools at that time all recognized Sunday as the day of worship," TAPPs said in a statement released on its website Wednesday. "The By-Laws were written to state that 'TAPPS would not schedule any competition or activities on Sunday.'

"At that time, there were no member schools that observed their Sabbath on Saturday.

"During the early days of TAPPS, state semi-finals and finals for team sports were scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays. Occasionally, due to the sites available, some games were also scheduled on Thursdays. Every effort was made to schedule finals on Saturday, since many parents did not work on Saturday and could attend their children’s games. The TAPPS Executive Board, which is the final authority of the association, continues to follow the Constitution and By-Laws."

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Read CultureMap's first column on the situation: Forcing Jewish school to forfeit or play on Sabbath is a small-minded decision: No basketball for you!