Hot Springs’ National Park College still reveling in Madness of D-II national title
BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON
As the Final Four rolls around this weekend, the best Division II junior college basketball team in nation continues to celebrate its own version of March Madness in Hot Springs.
National Park College, which has seven former Arkansas high school hoop standouts on its roster, took the national championship on March 23 when it beat top-seed South Suburban 84-79 in Danville, Ill.
It was the culmination of a six-year building process for head coach Dillon Hargrove, who led the school formerly known Garland County Community College to the title.
“Honestly it still doesn’t feel real to me,” Hargrove said. “I think you get in the mode when you are up there at the national tournament – play a game, scout and your are just fixated on the next game – and then you wake up the next morning and you are the national champ and you are like ‘when is the next one?’”
“It still feels unreal to me and I am super excited. What I am most proud of is the guys. I am super happy for them and my assistants Drake Henderson and Tim Webb. It would not have happened without them.”
The school had a on-campus celebration last Tuesday to revel in the title.
“From the very beginning, I thought we had a good group coming in, some returnees that were really good and matched them up with some new guys and the chemistry was just there from the beginning,” Hargrove said. “The chemistry was just there from the beginning and we worked our way through the season, had our ups and downs, but just kept winning games.”
The Skyhawks (31-1) lost only one game this season, a 62-60 decision to South Arkansas in the Region 2 championship game at Harding Academy that led to a dejected and then surprised locker room.
“I think that was probably the best thing that could have happened to us at that time,” Hargrove said. “It kind of fueled the fire for them. They actually didn’t know that there were at-large bids. They thought their season was over after we got beat.
“Once we told them about the at large, it kind of gave them a little hope and going into the national tournament they were hungry for it again. They felt like they had something to prove, especially being the five seed going into the tournament.”
The national tournament consists of 12 regional champions and 4 at large bids, of which NPC was given the second.
NPC downed 12th-seed Johnson County (KA) 74-68, 13th-seed North Central Missouri 83-74, No. 1 seed Davidson-Davie (NC) 92-83 before taking out second-seeded Chicago-area South Suburban in the title game.
“They just went up there and played great basketball – four games in seven days and beat the number two seed, the number one seed in back-to-back nights,” Hargrove said. “It was just a special group.”
The seven Arkansans on the NPC roster are Glenwood Kirby’s Brody Tucker, DeQueen’s Will Dykes, Conway’s Colen Thompson, Little Rock’s Madison Peaster, Cutter Morning Star’s KJ McDaniel, Lake Hamilton’s Mondo Watkins and Vandervoot Cossatot’s Hunter Burke.
“All those guys are Arkansas guys and came in, a lot of them as freshmen, and are waiting their turn (as starters), but they gain a ton of experience this year and were a big help in getting us to where we needed to be,” Hargrove said.
“Going into next year, we expect big things from them, too.”
The roster also had standouts from Texas, Nevada and Illinois prep stars – Patrick Punch, Taylor Harrell, Nakavieon White, Tavarius Vinson, Anthony Swift, Siddiq Canty, Them Kong, Keryn Collins and Ja’Bryant Hill.
The 6-11, 302-pound Harrell, named the national tournament Pin Ryan Most Valuable Player, had 22 points, Collins 19 and Hill 15 in the championship contest in which 12 Nighthawks got to play.
“We had balanced scoring and that’s how we just tried to create our teams here,” Hargrove said. “We don’t really want anybody averaging 20 points. We want about five guys averaging 15. We make sure everybody on the floor has the capability of doing that.”
Hill, a Duncanville (Texas) High School teammate of former Arkansas star and current NBA player Anthony Black sealed the championship late at the free throw line.
The 5-10, 144-pound Hill set the school record with 50 points in a game earlier in the season.
“Ja’Bryant Hill is just a winner,” Hargrove said. “…He’s been a winner since he has been in high school at Duncanville. He won two state championships there and he just comes here and has won consistently. Since he has started here at National Park, he has lost just three games.
“He added the last four free throws against South Suburban – both one and ones – and there was no doubt from anyone that he was making those. He is a big-time who comes up big in big-time moments.”
NPC has developed a big following in Hot Springs, where they played in an arena nicknamed The Kettle, which is what a group of Nighthawks is called.
“We started with about 30 student-athletes on campus, no dorms and no cafeteria and now I think we have 185 student-athletes and we have dorms, a cafeteria and the works,” Hargrove said. “I am pretty sure we have the largest athletic brand junior college-wise now in Arkansas.
“There were a ton of fans there in the first year and to see it come all the way to this year, just having the community come out, is so special. They have been so supportive and we are just so happy we could bring a national championship back to Hot Springs.”
Photo courtesy of National Park College
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