Trinity places 3rd in NCSAA National Tournament to end season

The 2024-25 season began with no small amount of uncertainty for the Trinity boys basketball team. Having lost six seniors from the previous season’s team that went 20-9, the Eagles and head coach Scott Williams did not know what to expect.

Even with the lack of experience, this season’s team won five of their first six games and just wrapped their season with a 23-11 record and a third-place finish in Division 5A at the National Christian School Athletic Association Tournament.

“I didn’t see this coming at all,” head coach Scott Williams said. “We were super inexperienced, but these kids are super coachable and we kept working hard. … This team, probably for me as a coach, was one of the most rewarding teams I’ve ever coached. They had total buy-in, total work ethic and were so coachable. We just kept working hard and getting better."

The Eagles traveled to Mount Vernon, Ohio, for the NCSAA National Tournament on March 6-8. They won their opening game 56-42 against Greater Grace Christian Academy from Baltimore before losing 71-50 ton Atlantic Christian of New Jersey.

Trinity bounced back in the third-place game, winning 49-43 over Columbia County Christian of Pennsylvania, wrapping up the 10th straight winning season for the program.

The Eagles were led by a large junior class this season, with Akira Hori and Vinny Hendrix standing out after stepping into heightened roles this season.

Hori led the team in scoring, averaging 18.5 points per game, while also averaging 3.1 assists and 2.8 steals per game. Hendrix scored 18.2 points per game to go with 8.1 rebounds per game.

The pair finished strong, with Hori leading the team with 24 points in the third-place game, while Hendrix added 16 points and eight rebounds. Both were named to the Division 5A All-Tournament Team.

“I thought they both played pretty well in the tournament, and they both had great seasons, so I was really happy as a coach to be able to present them with that award,” Williams said. “That was wonderful. It was a great way for them to end it and a great way for our team to end it.”

Trinity had no seniors on the roster this season. With the entire team set to return, and standouts such as Hori, Hendrix, freshman Cory Hathaway (14 ppg) and junior Johnny Bayarra (5.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg) coming back with plenty of experience, next season’s team will come into the year with higher expectations that they faced a few months ago.

“I think we have the potential to use this as a steppingstone to take it to maybe the next level,” Williams said. “There’s always room for improvement. I heard Steph Curry from Golden State say recently that he thinks he can get better. So if Steph Curry can get better, I feel like everybody on our team can get better, and I can get better as a coach. So hopefully we can just continue to work hard and have an even better season next year.”