The #5 ranked Thunder men's basketball team would compete in the NCCAA Central Region Tournament in the friendly confines of the Howie's Activity Center. The Thunder would be the two seed in this tournament and receive a bye into the semifinal round. The Thunder would play conference and region rival the Ozark Christian College Ambassadors, who were the three seed, on Thursday night. A 9-0 to start the game would give the Thunder momentum early. The Ambassadors would not go away tying the game at 19 with 8:54 left in the half. For the rest of the first half, both teams would trade buckets before the Thunder would take a two point lead into the break. The Thunder would get down as much as seven in the second half, and would trail by five with 2:29 remaining in the game. Back-to-back threes would give the Thunder the lead with 1:40 left, while stout defense and free throws would close out the game and give the Thunder a chance to play in the championship game on Friday. Senior, Xavier Lucas would lead the way for the Thunder with 29 points on 10-15 shooting from the field, to go along with eight boards, while sophomore, Tatum Pierce would have a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. The Thunder would shoot 46.6% from the field, 38.1% from the three-point line, and 67.7% from the free throw line.

After a grind-it-out win on Thursday, Friday would be all you could ask for in a championship game. The Thunder would battle with the #1 ranked and one seed, the Spurgeon College Knights. In the regular season, the Knights would sweep the Thunder in the two games they played. The Knight would jump out to a 10-0 lead to start, but the Thunder would go on a 6-0 to cut into the lead. The Thunder would take their first lead of the game with 4:04 left in the half and after many more ties and lead changes, the game would be tied at 45 at halftime. The second half would be much of the same as their were tons of ties and lead changes. After 40 minutes of play, regulation would not decide a winner and the game would head into overtime tied at 99. The Thunder would go on a 6-0 to start overtime and would take their largest lead of the game at nine with 1:25 left in OT. The Knights could not overcome that deficit in that much time and the Thunder would knock off the #1 team in the country, 117-111. The Thunder would hit 41 free throws and out-rebound the Knights by 11. Lucas would have another monster game with 35 points and 10 rebounds, while Pierce would do so again as well with 29 points on 9-10 shooting, to go along with six rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. Seniors, Jaxon Hurla and Fred Criqui would both have an impactful night on both ends of the floor. Hurla would net 23 points on six threes, grab five rebounds, and have three steals, while Criqui would have a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, to go along with three blocks. Redshirt-sophomore, Peyton Torres would provide a huge spark off the bench collecting 11 rebounds and dishing out four assists. The Thunder would shoot 45.9% from the field, 36.4% from the three-point line, and 73.2% from the free throw line. After winning the Central Region Tournament for the first time since 2020, the Thunder are now 24-9 headed into the NCCAA National Tournament.

The Thunder now await their seeding for the NCCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament that will be hosted by North Central University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More information on the tournament will be released in the coming weeks.

How to Follow the Thunder: For complete information and to stay up-to-date with Manhattan Christian College Men's Basketball, visit www.mccthunder.com and follow the team's social media pages on X and Instagram.