ANKENY, Ia. - A year after winning its first ever NCCAA DII National Championship, Randall University Men's Basketball completed its journey to back-to-back titles with a 90-76 win over Kentucky Christian. The game followed a thrilling overtime win over #1 overall seed Grace Bible College in the Final Four, where the Saints had to complete a late comeback to force overtime. The Final against Kentucky put the Saints up against one of the best players in the country in Junior Forward Hayden Dunn, who had led the #7 seed Knights of Kentucky Christian to upsets over #2 seed Manhattan, and #3 seed Valley Forge to make the final. Junior Xavier Hunter, named the tournaments Most Outstanding Player, once again led the way for the Saints with a game high 22 points. Adam Morales finished his brilliant tournament performance (recognized by being named to the All Tournament Team) with 21 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds. Morales was also the only Saint to make multiple three pointers (3) on an uncharacteristically cold shooting night from the outside. Junior transfer Isaac Bowles had a monster game off the bench with 10 points and 14 rebounds. National Player of the Year, Junior Trey Sneed, once again was the focus of the opponents defense, but managed to still score 11 points and have 7 rebounds while dealing with foul trouble. Sophomore Kashus Lyons also had a strong game with 15 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. 

1st Half - The Saints got off to a cold start to the game, not making their first field goal until the 17:00 minute mark when Lyons cut the Knights lead to 7-3. Balanced scoring for Randall kept them in the game, but Kentucky's Dunn proved difficult for the Saints to handle in the first half. Dunn had 12 of his 19 points in the first half, and grabbed 5 of his 9 rebounds. Morales had 6-3-3 in the first half, and Isaac Bowles had 6 points and 8 rebounds off the bench, playing 14 minutes with Senior starter Anthony Williams in foul trouble. Randall trailed nearly the entire half, grabbing their first lead with under two minutes left. A jumpshot by Hunter, followed by an offensive rebound and basket from Adam Morales gave the Saints a 36-33 lead at half. 

2nd Half - Randall came out in their 1-3-1 zone that had proved so effective against Grace in the semifinal, and despite a couple early misses from Kentucky, rebounding trouble and outside shooting from Kentucky forced them back into their man-2-man. Foul trouble followed as Kashus Lyons, who had guarded Hayden Dunn essentially the entire first half, and Trey Sneed both had to go to the bench with foul trouble. Junior Ben Collier, primarily known for his offense and outside shooting, ended up playing 14 of his 20 game minutes in the second half, with the task of guarding the runner up for National Player of the Year Hayden Dunn. The combination of Lyons before his foul trouble, and Collier held Dunn to only 7 second half points, which made it impossible for the Knights to keep up with the high powered Saints offense. That offense was lead by Hunter and Morales in the second half. Hunter scored 18 second half points, while Morales contributed 15. Bowles added 6 more rebounds in the half off the bench, and Lyons still provided 7 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds in the 2nd despite dealing with foul trouble. The Saints quickly extended the lead to double digits with 16:00 remaining, and Kentucky never got closer. Randall poured it on offensively, while shutting the Knights down, opening up a 71-50 lead with under 8 minutes remaining. 

The Saints have won back-to-back National Championships for the first time, and have been in the last 3 National Championship Games. Randall loses Senior starter Anthony Williams, Senior Captain Ryan Hickerson, and Senior reserve Derrick Allen, but returns the majority of their minutes for the 2017-2018 season.