Eagles Work Hard to Claim 2005 Title

Often the outcome of a game can be decided before either team takes the court. That was the case as the RHEMA Eagles won their fifth national championship in seven years by defeating the Dallas Christian College Crusaders 63-51 in the 2004–2005 ACCA National Championship.

“I know we worked harder than any team we played in that tournament,” said Eagles Head Coach Perry Shockley. “Before the game I told the team, ‘Our harvest is out there. We earned it, but somebody is going to try to take it from us. What are you going to do about that?’ We had such an expectation of reaping our harvest that we knew nobody was going to take it from us!”

With that mindset going into the game, the Eagles took control early and never let up. Randy Hill won the opening tip, which led to a basket from Tournament MVP Adrian Cook. Just a few minutes into the contest, RHEMA, seeded fourth in the tournament, had an 11-2 lead over second-seeded Dallas Christian. Nick Adie had a steal and layup as time expired for the first half to give RHEMA a 30-18 lead.

The Eagles started the second half with a 6-0 run and eventually built a 17-point lead at 41-24 with 15:36 remaining in the game. Over the next nine minutes, Dallas Christian cut the lead to seven after a 16-6 run, but RHEMA increased its lead to 15 with four straight buckets and only 3:34 remaining on the clock. The Eagles were able to make their free throws down the stretch to seal a 63-51 victory over a Dallas team that had beaten them twice during the regular season.

“We believed we were better,” said Coach Shockley. “We wanted to play that team. They were an experienced team, but we had something to prove.” On their way to the championship, the RHEMA Eagles also knocked off number one-seeded Grace Bible College.

Anthony Ferebee finished with a team-high 18 points, while Myron Fair chipped in 13. Randy Hill finished with eight points, 16 rebounds, and six blocked shots, and Jeremy Reamer contributed 10 points and seven boards.