LANCASTER, CA - The Nebraska Christian Men's Basketball Team earned the #1 seed at the NDAG Tournament hosted at West Coast Baptist College and advanced to the Championship Game. The challenger is the #2 seed Yellowstone Christian College Centurions who beat the #3 seed host West Coast Baptist the night before. YCC is led by Head Coach Jamil Santiel who was the Lead Assistant at NCC for 2 years prior to his first season at the head of YCC. The competitiveness between the two programs could be felt during warm-ups and the atmosphere was fitting for a win or go home matchup. The Centurions struck first in this matchup but were quickly matched by the Sentinels. That being said, offense was hard to come by early as the defenses were put on display. With 6:31 left in the first half the score was just 17-16. The Centurions were in the midst of an 11-0 run that ended with an NCC timeout at 4:36. The Sentinels were down 26-16 and Uzi Felix stepped up to deliver a much needed three. Uzi Felix provided the much of the first half offense for the Sentinels including 3 big buckets from downtown. The Sentinels steadied the game and were down 32-26 at the half. 

Coach Williams helped his group shake off the rust at half time and they came alive just after break. NCC went on a 13-0 run to start the second half and held YCC scoreless for the first 5 minutes. The Sentinels would never look back again. Once they grew the lead to double digits, it never got closer than six points. YCC attempted multiple rallies, but NCC always had an answer. The Sentinels held off all challenges and cut down the nets after a 65-53 victory. 

Uzi Felix led the Sentinels in scoring with 18 points off the bench including a perfect 4-4 from behind the arc. Senior, Jordan Makanjuola also came up big for the Sentinels with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Nebraska Christian stuck to their well balanced approach and had an additional 6 players score at least 3 points to finish off the season. 

The win puts the Sentinels at 16-12 and headed to the NCCAA DI National Tournament hosted by Grace College in Winona Lake, IN. This is the second consecutive appearance for NCC at the National Tournament and gives them back-to-back qualifying championships. The Sentinels are poised to make some noise this year as so many have returned from last year's trip to the National Tournament. NCC will compete for the title from March 18th-21st.