It’s In The Cards…And The Heiar-archy, Trinity Valley Crowned Champs

(Hutchinson, KS) – In their first appearance ever in the NJCAA Men’s D1 Championship Game, the #7 seed Trinity Valley Cardinals (Athens, TX) were crowned the Kings for 2025 after a 69-61 conquest of #17 seed Connors State College (Warner, OK).

The game was tied at half, but the Cards used a grinding, methodical offensive pace, and a force-the-issue defense to take their first double digit lead, 48-38 at the 7 minute mark of the 2nd.

TVCC’s reached their largest margin of 12, 57-45 with 3:07 to play, on a Tyler Smith jumper. It was the last FG the team from Texas would need until MJ Wardlow put the icing on the cake with a lay-in for the final score of the game. Smith would be named to the All-Tournament team in post game ceremonies. He was outstanding from the FT line during the week, making all 14 of his free tosses.

Connors State entered the tourney as the 17th seed (Auto-qualifiers as South Central District Champs), playing their fifth game of the 8 day event, crept back within four, 59-55, after two made Jermiah Johnson FTs, and still 75 seconds remaining.

But the Cards made few mistakes down the stretch to capture the crown. The Valley made 8 of 10 from the line and had zero turnovers in that final minute to secure the win.

Connors finishes at 32-4, as stated, were playing their 5th game since opening the tournament on Saturday, March 22. CSC played the first game of the championship and the last, the first team to accomplish that since the new 24 team, single elimination format started in 2013.

The Cowboys had 6 players play all but 7 minutes of the game’s 200. Both DJ Dormu and Ethan Dietz logged all 40 minutes on the court, while teammate Edwin Daniel played 38:21.

Inspired by the unexpected passing of Connie Muse late last year, the elder Bill’s wife and Bill Jr.’s mother, the team played out the rest of the season in her honor. The team’s mantra became, “This one’s for Momma Muse,” which they had printed on their warm-up shirts.

With no holdovers from last years team, the 12 man roster of newcomers consisting of nine freshmen and 3 transfers, found a new purpose. To try and ease the pain and emptiness suffered by their two coaches.

Shunned by the pollsters throughout the last two years, despite going 34-3 last season (reaching the final four as a 19 seed), and posting a 25-3 record in the most recent regular season, the Cowboys found solace and bonding with this new “call to arms.”

Having been on the sideline for scores of games and hundreds of former and current players, playing second mom to them all, Momma Muse had to watch this one from heaven. But you know, without doubt, she watched with the biggest smile and the most pride for being the Cowboy mom for all these years.

The Cowboys (32-4), who were making their second straight final four appearance, and first time in the Championship game since they won it all in 1990, were led by Kevin Stubblefield, Jr. with 20 points. It was Stubblefield’s best performance of the tournament, going 8-12 from the field (2-2 from three), and 2-2 from the line.

DJ Dormu, who was named to the All-Tournament Team and was also the Bud Obee Small Player Award Winner, added 16 to go along with 4 assists. The Small Player Award is given annually to the tournament’s most outstanding player under 6’2″.

Dormu was “the beast of burden” throughout the tourney, terrorizing opponents in all but 1:08 of the team’s first round win over John A. Logan College, and for all 40 minutes in each of the other 4 games.

In addition, DJ made a game winning 3-pointer from about 35 feet out as the buzzer sounded to take down #1 seed Snow College, 63-62. Plus hit the tying shot in the Quarterfinal game vs Daytona State (also a trey) with about :30 showing. Edwin Daniel’s FT provided the winning margin in that game, 66-65.

In route to their All-Tournament Team selections, Dormu and Daniel (a transfer from Hutchinson CC) were almost unstoppable. Dormu led all scorers in the tournament with 100 points over 5 games, while Daniel was 2nd with 76 points. Daniel also grabbed 74 caroms and posted a dub/dub in all five games averaging 15.2 ppg and 14.8 rpg. DJ led the tourney in assists with 21 and went 25-29 from the charity stripe. Daniel had the most FT attempts in the event (34), but made two fewer than DJ. Daniel was by far the most potent shot blocker during the week with 29 swats, an average of 5.8 per contest.

Trinity Valley, was welcomed into the tournament as an At-Large entry from the Mid-South District, and posssibly received a little lower seed than their regular season record and poll position throughout the season, might have suggested.

Regardless, TV marched right through the games they had been scheduled to play, winning all four of them over a 5 day period by an average of 11.25 per game. Despite not getting their first action on Sam Butterfield Court until the fourth day of the tourney. Connors State had played twice before The Valley stepped onto the court. Sometimes that extended wait can become a disadvantage, especially when your opponent has a game under their belt, but not for the Cardinals.

Trinity Valley, who end their championship season at 34-3, crushed Trinidad State (CO) in the round of sixteen, 92-60, slipped by #2 seed Cowley College (KS) in the quarters 61-60. Then handled Region 14 and Conference foe Panola College (TX) 51-47 to set up their date with Connors in the finals. It was the fourth meeting between those two teams this season, with each team winning twice. Unfortunately for the Ponies, who won the District Championship tilt with TVCC, it was the Cardinals who ended Panola’s season in the semifinals of the national tournament.

The William B. French MVP of the tournament, Zati Loubaki, and All-Tournament Team member Garrett Nuckolls, were the only Cardinals in double figures, each tossing in 17 points. Tyler Smith, also making the All-Tournament Team, finished with 6 points and 4 assists.

Loubaki was third overall in scoring for the tournament with 61 points, putting him 6th place for ppg at 15.3. Nuckolls finished tied for 6th in point production at 50 (along with Caleb Blackwell of South Plains TX) and 9th in ppg at 12.5.

And what’s this Heiar-archy you speak of, you ask? Well, it goes like this, Greg Heiar, in his first year at the helm of Trinity Valley, becomes the first “Coach Of The Tournament” winner to earn that honor at two different schools, which also makes him the first coach to win National Championships at two different schools.

In 2022, the last time Coach Heiar brought a team to Hutch, in his first and only year guiding the Northwest Florida State Raiders, Heiar won his first Natty. Then quickly bolted to the NCAA D1 level when he answered the call from New Mexico State University. But the story continues.

To his credit, Heiar has three appearances in the Championship Game at Hutch as his 2007 Chipola Indians accomplished that feat, before falling to Midland. Just another day, and record for Greg, who just completed his 24th overall year in coaching at the college level.

Want more…Heiar’s 2009 Chipola squad reached the semifinals and took third that season. So there’s your Heiar-archy.

Statistically, the game was as close as the score indicated. We saw 6 ties and 6 lead flips. Trinity did actually lead for about 29 of the 40 minutes, CSC for just over 6. Which means that the score was knotted for almost 5 minutes.

TVCC’s 7-0 run at the start of the 2nd half gave control of the game to the Cards. Garrett Nuckolls was the primary culprit as he scored the first 11points in the second period to kick start the Cards to an eventual double digit lead.

But it wasn’t until their 8-0 run during a six minute stretch which essentially propelled Trinity Valley to the trophy. At the end of that run, with just under 7:00 to play, the Cards were up 49-38.

With only six players getting significant playing time in the Cowboys five games, fatigue was definitely becoming a factor. After matching TVCC with an equal 32 spot the first twenty minutes, the Pokes could only muster 6 more by the 7 minute mark in the second half. Trinity Valley had only posted 17 over the same time period, but it proved to be enough.

Valley held the rebounding advantage at +5, and Connors committed 3 more than Trinity’s 10 turnovers. The Cowboys largest lead was four, 4 1/2 minutes into the game, and had a 7-0 run of their own to close the gap right before intermission.

For the game, Connors shot 35% from the field (29% in the 2nd half) and was 3-10 (30%) from three point land (1 for 6 after the break). Meanwhile, Valley went 22-57 for 38% on FGs (3-7 or 43% on 3FG) but primarily won the game from the FT line (although total fouls by each team was an identical-18) going 22-30 to the Cowboys 12-13.

During their Championship run, the Cardinals set a school record with 34 wins, surpassing the 1982 and 2016 teams previous high mark of 33.

The 2026 National Championship is scheduled for Saturday, March 21st through Saturday, March 28.