The Baptist Bible College Patriots have been crowned NCCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Champions.
Their Championship victory marked their 15th straight win of the season, capping off their magical run by cutting down the nets after their biggest game yet, defeating #2 Lancaster Bible College 77-70.
D’Shawn Coleman earned the first bucket of the game, putting the Patriots up 2-0 at the 19:07 mark of the 1st half. Baptist Bible never looked back, as they held the lead for the entirety of the contest, never once even allowing the Chargers to tie the game.
The Patriots jumped out to an early 15-4 lead, powered by Trent McBride scoring 8 points in the first 5 minutes of the National Championship bout, prompting Lancaster Bible to call its first timeout.
That didn’t stall the Pats, though, as they continued to take it to the Chargers, pushing their lead to 24-12 after a fastbreak ending with a Tre Minton 3-pointer. Lancaster Bible College (24-7) proved to be worth their salt, as the NCAA D3 opponents from the United East Conference cut into the lead multiple times, once getting the deficit to just 4 points.
Despite showing why they had earned the right to compete for the title, our Baptist Bible College Patriots took a 38-33 lead into the locker room at the half.
Tre Flowers had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and just 1 turnover after playing all 20 minutes of the 1st half. Trent McBride was dominant with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks before the break.
The Patriots were without starters Tre Minton and D’Shawn Coleman for much of the half, as they played 13 and 6 minutes, respectively, due to foul trouble.
Nick Coble gave the Pats 11 minutes off the bench to help shoulder the load; in the absence of Minton and Coleman, freshmen Joel Kleeman and Logan McNeley provided some of the biggest minutes of their first seasons competing at the collegiate level.
The 2nd half saw much of the same. It was a game of runs, as Baptist Bible built their advantage to +7 on seven different occasions, and +8 twice.
Lancaster Bible cut the margin to +3 a total of nine times. They even cut it to +1 twice, but they never could take the lead away from our Patriots, as each time the Chargers made a run, Baptist Bible answered back with one of their own.
Last year’s MVP of the ACCA National Tournament, Tre Minton, was a machine in the final 20 minutes of this year’s NCCAA D1 National Championship game. After sitting out much of the 1st half with foul trouble, and only scoring 3 points, he saw 17 minutes of action for the Patriots in the 2nd half, scoring 19 points on 7/14 field goals (3/6 3 pointers), perhaps none bigger than his two key buckets down the stretch.
With 4:27 remaining in the game, the lead cut to +5 and the shot clock winding down, Minton had to make something happen in isolation for the Pats; he did just that, and buried a 3 point basket with a hand in his face at the top of the key. Then, a few moments later with 1:08 on the game clock and the score 71-69, ‘Machine’ hit his biggest dagger yet, a long 2 point basket coming from right-to-left off a ball screen from McBride, with Trent’s defender in his face and his own fighting over the top of the screen, contesting over Minton’s right shoulder.
The Chargers continued to hang around, once again cutting into the lead and making it 73-70 with 21 seconds remaining, splitting a pair of free throws at the line.
Tre Flowers pulled down a clutch defensive rebound after Lancaster Bible missed the 2nd free throw and was quickly fouled. He made the long walk from end to end, subsequently nailing a pair of free throws and pushing the lead to 75-70.
On Lancaster’s final possession, none other than Tre Minton came away with the last rebound of the game. He was sent to the line, sinking both FTs and sealing the deal, 77-70.
Trent McBride was voted MVP of the NCCAA D1 Men’s Basketball National Championship tournament. He finished the game with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Tre Minton was voted to the All-Tournament team; he had 22 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block and 1 steal for the Pats.
Senior point guard Tre Flowers commanded all 40 minutes of the game for Baptist Bible. He scored 10 points to go along with 6 rebounds, 5 assists (only 2 turnovers), and 1 steal. Flowers also drew 3 charges on the defensive end and his steady hand at the point for the Pats helped handle Lancaster Bible’s full court pressure for the entirety of the game.
D’Shawn Coleman had 7 points and 12 big rebounds for Baptist Bible in his final game putting on a Patriots uniform.
The Patriots men’s basketball team finished the season with a record of 21-3. Most impressive of all, though, they cap off the 2021-22 season (their first at the NCCAA D1 level) as National Champions.
Click here for a game statistics and a photo gallery.
