Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

DAYTON, Tenn. – The Evangel Christian Lightning capped off their boys basketball season in historic fashion as they secured a national championship for the first time in program history.

Evangel secured the NACA Division VI title with a 3-0 run at the national tournament in Dayton, Tennessee from March 5-8.

As a result, the Lightning finished the 2024-25 season with a 28-1 record and won their last 12 games to secure the ACSC regular season and tournament titles along with the NACA championship.

However, it was anything but an easy road as Evangel overcame a double-digit deficit in each of their three games.

“This team is so special and unselfish,” Evangel coach Hagan Joiner said. “It will be a team that I use as an example for years to come to future teams about responding to adversity.”

The Lightning started out the tournament with a matchup against the Bradley Knights from Tennessee.

Bradley burst out of the gate and took an early 13-point lead. However, Evangel rallied to come back of the course of the game and eventually secured a 10-point victory.

That left the Lightning in another tough test against Landmark Christian of Ohio, but once again after trailing by double digits, they took a 13-point win to set up an opportunity to win the championship on Saturday, March 8 against Kentucky’s Heritage Christian Eagles.

Fueled by a pair of college commits and a strong 3-point shooting presence, Heritage Christian took an eight-point lead going into the halftime break.

That lead grew to 11 as the third quarter went on, putting Evangel behind once again and in another spot to rally back.

Nick Cloud helped finish off the comeback when he grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to Ben Bugnar for the basket, giving the Lightning their first lead at 53-52.

After Bugnar helped his team take the lead, he helped them preserve it late in the contest. When the Eagles had a chance to tie up the game late, he blocked a shot to set up a defensive rebound and preserve the 65-63 lead.

From there, Cade Joiner hit Hudson Walker with a full-court pass to set up an and-1 opportunity. Walker converted the three-point play to finish off the 68-63 win and the championship.

Bugner finished with 27 points despite not scoring in the entire first quarter. Joiner and Walker each scored 11 points in the title game victory.