The National Park College Nighthawks are NJCAA Division II national champions after their 84-79 defeat of South Suburban College in the national championship Saturday night in Danville, Ill.
On Tuesday, the entire team was honored at the NPC Student Commons with a showing of their final game and various celebratory speeches.
Head coach of the Nighthawks, Dillon Hargrove, whose voice was still hoarse from the tournament, said he was beyond proud of his team.
"In the locker room after the game it was just surreal," he said. "We were out on the floor for a long time, just celebrating like you should. I mean, you just had everybody hugging everybody and you had the water show when you got in the locker room, but it was really just embracing each other from meeting the goal that we wanted to accomplish the entire year."
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Two-time All-American sophomore Nakavieon White said, laughing, that Hargrove avoided the water bath in the locker room and the team soaked all of White's clothes.
Hargrove said the national title was always the players' goal.
"I think that is hard to do, you know, throughout the year," he said. "You can go off the path sometimes and that is OK, but you have to face adversity. And when we won that national championship, it was not relief, it was the expectation. They set that expectation for themselves all year long. We never said anything about it as a coaching staff. Those players wanted it and that is why they were able to do it. So, they had that expectation for the entire year."
White discussed leading his team to a national championship.
"Man, it feels great. I am blessed to be in this position. I am blessed to have the teammates and the coaches I had to trust me to do this. It is still kind of crazy, it is still kind of hard to believe. It still feels surreal. It still feels like we are in season. That was the last game ever as a JUCO player," he said.
White is receiving NCAA Division I attention.
Sophomore center Taylor Harrell was chosen as MVP of the national tournament. He discussed his national tournament performances.
"It kind of was just like second nature," he said. "I kind of was not even paying attention to it. I was just doing what I know I am supposed to be doing out there. I was not really paying attention to it."
Hargrove said it meant so much to see his team succeed.
"I was just happy for the guys. They had worked all year long for that moment and they achieved it," he said.
The radio broadcasters for the NJCAA commented that Hargrove did not believe in timeouts. Hargrove laughed and addressed that philosophy.
"I was happy to learn that they had media timeouts when we went up there," he said. "There at the end, we definitely used some timeouts when it was a close game, but you know that was kind of a thing for us all year. I just feel like we practice that way, where I do not talk to them a ton when they are playing in practice. I think it is good for them to figure it out when it gets hard. We kind of stuck with it there for a little bit."
Hargrove said it was surreal knowing he was a national championship coach.
"Honestly, it does not feel real. You are up there for seven days straight and your only mindset is to win the next game in front of you and then get ready for the next game -- win that one and go to the next one. And that seven days was long but it was really fast too," Hargrove said.
He said before he knew it, the Nighthawks were in the final game.
Harrell said it feels good to be champions.
"I cannot lie to you I am still processing it, but it feels good," Harrell said.
White said he would miss the road trips the most with his teammates.
"Just the road trips with my guys," White said. "Just having fun with these guys, in practice, out of practice. This is a great group and I am going to miss them."
The season was full of memories, such as Jan. 29, when the Nighthawk baseball team stormed the student section and helped cheer the basketball team to a 99-85 victory over North Arkansas in the Kettle.
Hargrove highlighted the support of the community and the memories made.
"I am just really happy and the community here at National Park and in Hot Springs, they really supported us all of the way through it," he said. "And just for the guys... I am glad people know who the guys are now because they deserve it."
Harrell said he would miss his teammates the most after he moves on to another college.
"The family, the love that was built on this team," he said. "We really just all have the same mindset going into everything with each other. Whether we were arguing about something, we knew it was all love at the end of the day."
Seeing the students, faculty, and members of the community come out in support of the Nighthawks basketball team on Tuesday showed a growing interest in Nighthawk athletics that will support the team for seasons to come.