TVCC men’s basketball returns to Athens after winning first-ever national title

ATHENS, Texas (KETK) — Trinity Valley Community College men’s basketball head coach Greg Heiar said his goal when he stepped foot on campus in Athens in July of 2024 was to win a national championship.

In just his first season as head coach of the Cardinals men’s hoops squad, Heiar helped lead the Cardinals to their first-ever national title after TVCC topped Connors State 69-61 to capture the 2025 NJCAA D1 Men’s Basketball National Championship Saturday, March 29 in Hutchinson, Kansas.

The historic national title victory capped off a 34-3 season for the Cards which was their winningest in program history.

The Cardinals returned to Athens Sunday, March 30 after cutting down the nets up in Hutch.

They were greeted outside of Cardinal Gym by a strong contingent of TVCC fans, athletes, students, family and friends in a celebration fit for the champs.

Heiar talked about how proud he was of his players for buying in from the moment he showed up and putting in the work to make history on the hardwood.

“I gotta give all the credit to these young men because they bought into me from the day that we got here and from the day that they arrived on campus in July they bought in. They had some really difficult days. They had some really tough days. Especially when you’re a defensive-minded, toughness, rebounding, take care of the ball type program. Those things sound easy but they’re the hardest thing in the game to do over and over and over and over again. We’ve got this group to do that. I’ll say it, it takes special people to do special things. I’ve got special people that I get to coach every day and I got a special staff, my staff is unbelievable. And we’re at a special place,” Heiar said.

TVCC sophomore point guard Tre’Lin Green reflected on the hard work he and his teammates put in to get to the mountaintop.

“Blood, sweat and tears for sure. Countless days. But it’s for the city man. We love Trinity Valley man it’s for them,” Green said.

TVCC sophomore guard and former Bullard Panthers basketball standout Garrett Nuckolls spoke about what it meant to bring back the national title to the 903.

“It’s special I mean I used to live here in Athens for 11 years before I went to Bullard and just I came to camps growing up here. I’ve been here my whole life and to bring the first one ever is…it’s unreal. I don’t even have any words for it really to be honest it’s crazy,” Nuckolls said.