Vandalia Christian Boys Claim State Basketball Championship with win over Wilmington Christian in the final:Ryan Nelson has Vikings ready and Title comes back to VCS!!!

For 26 years the NCCSA varsity boys basketball championship eluded Vandalia Christian school, 2 years ago that streak ended. And today two years later the state championship has come back to the school on Pleasant Garden Road again.

After winning two years ago coach Tommy Adams stepped down and turned the rains over to Ryan Nelson and his father Tim Nelson.

Little did anyone know the program had began a winning tradition. After winning the conference and returning to tournament last year , Nelson finished 3rd in conference and found the team seeded 3rd entering Thursday night’s game against Raleigh Christian in the NCCSA 2A state tournament.

In the 1st Round on Thursday night, with less than 3 seconds to go senior Bryson Gordon hits a 3 to send it to overtime. And then ultimately the win. Vandalia returned to what got them to the dance with stingy defense and shot selection. “The motto for Thursdays game was, never give up, it’s not over till its over. With 20 seconds left we were down by 5. Missed free throws and 2 big shots turned the momentum to us. The guys wanted it too bad for the season to end on Thursday!” At the end VCS won 95-88 behind Cameron Alston 24 points and 22 and 25 from Bryson Gordon and Noah Dunn respectively.

Friday night’s game brought a new obstacle with the opponent host school Friendship Christian. With the home team crowd behind them and gym favored, Friendship Christian took the lead in the 3rd qtr. Vandalia went on a 6-0 run and never looked back winning 54 47 .

Then to the championship game came today at 2:30. Miss Kim’s cheerleaders led the way into a gym and Coach Nelson reached back to his past few years of tournament experience and told his young team “We have worked too hard since October to finish 2nd. Offense may win ball games , but DEFENSE wins Championships!”

Out of the gate the Vikings lead 18 to 8 at end of first quarter and lead by as many as 26. And when the dust cleared it was 78-65 and the father and son team of Ryan and Tim Nelson, along with 12 of the greatest young men and families brought home the State Title again to Vandalia.

All State Honors were: Cameron Alston received 1st Team All State; Noah Dunn received 1st Team All Region; And Bryson Gordon received 2nd Team All Region.

Photo will appear here on Sunday morning at sunrise…..
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Box Score

Wilmington Christian     8  13  13  31
Vandalia Christian      18  15  19  26

Wilmington Christian
Jonah Attoe 31 pts.
Nic Carrol 8 pts.
Austin Tart 7 pts.
Caleb Fearing 6 pts.
Andrew Diggs 5 pts.
Clayton Kaufman 4pts
Nathan Bradshaw 3 pts.
Chris Karros 1 pt.

Vandalia Christian
Cameron Alston 24 pts.
Noah Dunn 17 pts.
Jared Talley 13 pts.
Matt Hobbs 11 pts.
Bryson Gordon 6 pts.
Matt Morgan 6 pts.
Tyler Crook 1 pt

Content courtesy of Vandalia Christian School basketball