By Bob Narang –
Triton College men’s basketball head coach Steve Christiansen experienced the pinnacle of his profession for the first time Saturday.
He hopes to have the experience again.
Talking to his team and assistant coaches in the locker room Saturday, Christiansen reflected “on the journey.” Minutes earlier, the No. 1-seeded Trojans defeated No. 2 Pima College (Ariz.), 89-85, to capture the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II championship in Danville.
It was program’s first national championship. In his 14th year at the school in River Grove, Christiansen, a former basketball player at North Central College and assistant coach at Northern Illinois University, experienced first-hand the beauty of March Madness.
“It was quite a performance,” Christiansen said. “It was a great week for us. It feels amazing. It’s so hard to just get there. It was really emotional in the locker room, just after dealing with so many tough losses in the past. It was just euphoria. There’s no pricetag you can put on that (championship) feeling, when you are surrounded by people you love. It’s been an incredible journey. After the (final) buzzer, I looked up to the heavens and was thinking of my dad.”
Seconds after the final buzzer, Christiansen, a 1995 Hinckley-Big Rock High School graduate and former assistant at the school, gave credit to his father, Al, for helping him accomplish his dream. Al Christiansen died in 2009.
“The guys (then) absolutely doused me with water, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt better in cold clothes. This memory will never fade. Just hearing the (players) pour out their hearts, the love they have for each other and that we shared as coaches and players. Just heavy stuff, great stuff.”
The Trojans, 34-4, had a dominating showing in the four-game tournament. They won the first three games of the tourney by an average margin of 27.3 points. With the potential of eight guys on the team set to play at a four-year college either next season or the year after, Alondes Williams paced the Trojans in the championship game with 22 points and seven rebounds. Deonta Terrell was named the tournament Most Valuable Player Award winner. He finished with 15 points and seven rebounds and Najee Brown-Henderson scored 16.
Christiansen, the all-time winningest coach at Triton, praised Williams, Terrell, Brown-Henderson, Courtese Cooper, Devin Blake, and Martrell Barnes, plus his dedicated coaching staff for leading the Trojans to new heights.
“It was an amazing experience,” he said. “We had so many great performances, and everybody contributed along the way to help us win the national championship. I’ll never forget this feeling.”
