Sullivan, Ky., may have stumbled at the start of the season and been unranked in the final National Junior College Athletic Association regular season poll. But at season's end the Executives are No. 1 among 253 Division I junior college schools.
Sullivan, a school of 1,500 students in Lexington, defeated Allegany, Md., 104-98 in overtime Saturday to win the NJCAA tournament championship.In other games, Butler County, Kan., defeated Connors State, Okla., 82-66 for third place; Mesa, Ariz., beat Northwest Mississippi 69-59 for fifth; and Spartanburg Methodist edged Central Florida 60-58 for seventh.
Sullivan claimed its first NJCAA basketball crown and Kentucky's first since Paducah won it in 1969.
The Executives helped turn the trick with a first-year coach and a hometown freshman star
"You can't get any better than winning a national championship," said coach Gary Shourds, a former Sullivan player. "At the beginning of the tournament we honestly thought it would be possible."
Logic said otherwise.
After all, at 23-10 Sullivan had the worst record among the 16 teams at the outset of the five-day, 26-game tournament. And after starting the season with a 5-8 record, the Executives didn't even rate honorable mention in the final NJCAA regular-season poll.
The Executives nevertheless beat four of the top 15 ranked teams - No. 5 Utah Valley, No. 1 Indian Hills, Iowa, No. 7 Butler County and No. 15 Allegany.